The Tyranny of Distance: How Distance Shaped Australia's History

A lot of history is the history of the decisions of government. Blamey has written a book which looks at why in the early history of Australia this is only part of the story. In the late 18th Century a number of European countries knew that a large landmass existed south of what was to become Indonesia and that parts of it looked as though it was good agricultural land. The reality was however that there was no particular reason to colonise the land. Blamey explains why in some detail. The reason relates to the economics of the time. Australia was an immense distance from Europe and the only reasons for colonising it would be if there were goods to trade. To move people there to farm staples such as wheat was simply not economic considering the price of transport. The sorts of goods, which were attractive at that time, were those produced by local natives and which could be traded for European goods. Australia at that time was inhabited but its natives were hunter gathers who did not produce large volumes of exotic goods. For that reason most European powers ignored the continent. England however developed a problem after the American Revolution. That was a surplus of convicts. Prior to the revolution England had exported convicts to America as labourers. This meant that she did not have to pay for the cost of guarding or feeding those convicted of crimes. With the loss of the colonies the number of convicts in England began to explode. England decided to set up a penal colony in Australia as a means of getting rid of the convicts and also perhaps to be able to use the flax and pines which grew on Norfolk Island to provide naval stores. A large number of convicts were sent to the colonies and they developed some subsistence agriculture. This was not a great success and the colonies were not self sufficient in food until the 1840?s. What developed was a network of settlements that were part of a prison network. Sydney cove and Hobart took most of the convicts and places of punishment were set up for those convicts who continued to commit offences at Norfolk Island and Port Macquarie. Australia might then have simply stagnated as a sort of Devils Island except for a number of developments. The first of these was the discovery of large numbers of whales close to the coast. In the early 19th Century whales were the source of lighting (Europe was illuminated by whale oil lights until the commercial discovery of kerosene), material for making soap and perfumes and lastly whale bone was an important ingredient of women?s clothing. Whale products were valuable and the costs of transportation did not destroy their profitability. The second development was the growth of the market for wool. Australia turned out to be a country ideally suited for raising sheep. Whilst sheep started to spread through Australia, European demand started to skyrocket. This was in part due to a decline in European wool production due to using sheep more for meat production. The

Almost every history book, whether on France or on China, takes a certain period, then sketches out, in greater or lesser detail, the main characters and events of that epoch. Better history books also concentrate on economic trends, movements of ideas and people, cultural styles and artistic creativity. Some historians write on a period through the life of a particular historic personage. History writers that march to a different drummer are scarce, perhaps because of the requirements of publishers and promotion committees. Geoffrey Blainey is one of a small band indeed. Those familiar with contemporary Australia will recall the heaps of scorn poured on this gentleman by all kinds of people when he made some public comments against Asian immigration. No doubt these were unfortunate, but they do not in any sense take away from the quality of his work (which is free from racist remarks). THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE takes geography as the main "character" in Australian history---that is, the fact that Australia is so far from the colonizing country, Britain. Blainey opens with a discussion of isolation. Instead of establishing colonies along a seaboard, as they did in America, the British founded "limpet ports", clinging to the vast continent at the very edge. While the early settlers in these widely-separated ports needed to import all forms of equipment from Britain, there was little in the way of cargo for the return voyage, neither wool nor gold weighing much. Thus, there was not much incentive to send ships to the distant continent. The story then turns to whalers, gold seekers, and the rising necessity to manufacture many items locally since importing them was too slow and too expensive. Why didn't this beautiful, resource-rich land attract more settlers like the USA ? Mainly, Blainey argues, because of distance. The long-lasting "assisted passage" plan (government paying for immigrants' voyage) came into existence when the other kind of "assisted passage"---sending convicts, tapered off. The second part of the book examines how Australia tamed the tyranny of distance through steamships, railways, airplanes, and through the other developments of the 20th century. This well-researched book is written in a most readable style, in fact, it is hard to put down. There are 5 useful maps and many interesting illustrations. If you would like one book that gives you an idea about Australia's history, that tells you why it was never just "another America" (and never will be), I strongly recommend THE TYRANNY OF DISTANCE.

Reads like a Paul Johnson history book. Lots of interesting insites to Australia (for the non-Australian). What could be argued as the most important date in Australian history? Answer: July 4, 1776. When the U.S. declared independance England needed a new place as a penal colony. The next interesting question is why Australia - the other side of the world. I picked the book up several years ago in Sydney and enjoyed it on the plane rides. I've recommended it several times to Americans visiting Australia.