Markets, Money and Empire

This provocative analysis challenges the belief that, in the first half of this century, Australia was dependent on Great Britain. Instead, "Markets, Money and Empire", suggests that Australia enjoyed considerable influence and autonomy. Australia may in fact have "exploited" Great Britain. The author follows the wool industry through wars, booms and depressions, tracing the complex and shifting alliances between Australian companies, their British counterparts and rivals, banks, woolgrowers and governments. Economic nationalism, not loyalty to the British Empire, was often the primary motivation of the various Australian governments. During the 1930s and early 1940s government action even reached a point where it effectively sabotaged British foreign policy.