Introduction

What can we say of the Australian colonists' economic performance between 1810 and 1840? One achievement was the establishment of a reasonably flexibly operating market economy, despite convict origins and the absence of much in the way of political representation of the private sector in government decision making. Another was the development of a relatively complex structure of economic activities, combining natural resource use and urban-oriented industry, trade and services. A third achievement was the establishment of a substantial capability to export and to attract private capital from Britain. A fourth indicator of performance was the maintenance, with some instability, of extremely high rates of economic expansion or, alternatively, extremely high rates of labour absorption as convicts and, eventually, free immigrants flooded in.

These might all be taken as indicators of colonial ‘success’. Moreover, they might be more significant than the usual tests of performance in terms of productivity and standards of living, given that we are dealing with a foundation process. Nevertheless, these usual tests remain to be made. What levels of labour productivity, of gross domestic product per unit of factor input or of product per head of population were achieved? Did these levels grow over the thirty years and, if so, at what rate? Similarly, we might ask, in standard of living terms, what was the level and rate of growth of income, consumption or gross national expenditure per head of population?