What is Australian history and economic history about? Is Australia to be seen as an offshoot of Britain and Europe that is gradually, if reluctantly, moving towards Asia? Is it the product of a special socio-imperial experiment, with the initial convict colonies gradually emerging as freed and free societies with deeply engrained ideas of class relations? Is the economy one focused on natural resource development, with a brief interlude in the twentieth century when urban industry and services were given some primacy in policy decision-making? Is the economy a small appendage of the trading world, tied by trade, capital, migration and technology to one or two major countries (most notably, for much of its history, to Britain)? How far is there an ‘internal dynamic’ to be identified in Australian economic development, most obviously but not exclusively arising from the high degree of urbanisation achieved at an exceptionally early date?

These are some of the themes that run through writings on Australian history and economic history. This volume, Economics and the Dreamtime, suggests some possible differences in emphasis. One does not simply throw away established historical traditions and elements in an attempt to present a revised picture, but there is a fundamental difference of approach in this volume as compared with most past general histories. Prominence is given to the Aborigines — their presence over many millennia, their role in shaping the local environment, the form of their economy, their contribution and resistance to eventual colonial occupation and their substantial demise.