Gordon Beckett

A Brief Economic History of Colonial Nsw: the Golden Years of the Colonial Era Re-examined Gordon Beckett

Any economic history written in the 21st century of colonial Australia, will highlight the economic gains made by Governor Macquarie, especially in the broad planning approach to efficiently and effectively use convict labour for economic improvement in the colony. Whilst Macquarie tried to make the colony safe and attractive to investors and entrepreneurs, he used the various Government business enterprises, such as the Lumber and Timber Yards, the Stone Quarry and the naval yard, to supplement the gains already accomplished by the Government Farms and the Government Store (the Commissariat) to underpin outstanding economic growth and impressive GDP in the colonial economy. The various aspects of the colonial economy make interesting reading not to mention the comparison of the Aboriginal economy of 1788 with the white economy. The study is a different approach to the colonial economy and is the first of an impressive series of studies of each of the aspects of the economy between 1788 and 1835.