Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Maps, Tables, Figures and Measurement
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction to the Third Edition
- Introduction to the Second Edition
- 1 The British Period, 1788–1870
- 2 The Military and the Frontier, 1788–1901
- 3 The Colonial Period, 1870–1901
- 4 A New Nation and Its Military Forces, 1901–1914
- 5 The Great War, 1914–1918
- 6 The Inter-war Years, 1919–1939
- 7 The Second World War, 1939–1941
- 8 The Second World War, 1942–1945
- 9 The Postwar Challenge, 1945–1955
- 10 The Wars of Diplomacy, 1955–1972
- 11 From Cold War to Global War on Terror, 1972–
- Appendix 1 Chronological List of Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces
- Appendix 2 The Armed Forces: Strength and Expenditure
- Select and Annotated Bibliography
- Index
3 - The Colonial Period, 1870–1901
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Maps, Tables, Figures and Measurement
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction to the Third Edition
- Introduction to the Second Edition
- 1 The British Period, 1788–1870
- 2 The Military and the Frontier, 1788–1901
- 3 The Colonial Period, 1870–1901
- 4 A New Nation and Its Military Forces, 1901–1914
- 5 The Great War, 1914–1918
- 6 The Inter-war Years, 1919–1939
- 7 The Second World War, 1939–1941
- 8 The Second World War, 1942–1945
- 9 The Postwar Challenge, 1945–1955
- 10 The Wars of Diplomacy, 1955–1972
- 11 From Cold War to Global War on Terror, 1972–
- Appendix 1 Chronological List of Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces
- Appendix 2 The Armed Forces: Strength and Expenditure
- Select and Annotated Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The withdrawal of the main body of British troops from the Australian colonies in August 1870 caused no great perturbation. Some newspaper editorials praised the opportunity the change had created for serious thinking about the defence of the colonies, but the second Intercolonial Conference in Melbourne in July – after reminding the British government of its duty to provide for their maritime defence needs – returned to its usual round of squabbling over free trade, tariffs and a customs union. If the motivation in London behind the troop withdrawal had been to instil a more mature appreciation of colonial defence responsibilities in the Australian colonies at least, the period until Federation in 1901 was to prove a disappointment.
The last thirty years of the 19th century saw a period of enormous prosperity up to 1888, followed by a devastating bust in the Australian colonies. The 1870s and, even more, the 1880s were a time of great expansion in the economy marked by the inflow of British capital and its utilisation in land booms and speculation. Sophisticated communications networks and considerable building activity refashioned the major cities, especially Melbourne, which became the financial capital of the country and a great Victorian city. Population growth had tapered off after the end of the gold rush and was not to experience a further spurt until the wave of assisted passages in the decade before the Great War. The early 1890s saw an economic depression which only the crash of 1929 would surpass in severity.
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- A Military History of Australia , pp. 41 - 65Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008