Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The project’s main aims: 1.To contribute to knowledge by engaging in a study of the relationship between Australia, New Zealand and international capital markets 1850-1950 which would focus on three key themes: i.The history of Australia and New Zealand as borrowers and debtors. ii.The rise and consolidation of the British 'colonial' market in the London capital market from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1920s. iii.The interaction between the market disciplines to which all borrowers were subject, and the opportunities and constraints created by membership of the British Empire. The study would also evaluate recent arguments (Cain and Hopkins, 1993) about the role of the City of London in the dynamics of British imperial expansion and control with respect to two British settler societies, Australia and New Zealand. 2.To extend and revise the statistics of Australasian public debt in the period 1850-1950. 3.To create a database of Australasian overseas public loans during that period. The project’s specific objectives were to complete three stages of research: 1.The consultation of archival and printed official sources in the United Kingdom and Australia relating to Australasian borrowing activity and relations with overseas creditors during nineteenth century. These either had not been available to, or were not consulted by, earlier historians. 2.The collection of quantitative data for revised statistics of Australian and New Zealand public debt between 1850 and 1950. 3.The collection of data for a database of Australasian overseas public loans during that period.Main Topics:The database contains a record of every Australasian government loan offered in London by public advertisement between the first such issue in 1857 and 1914. The governments concerned are those of the seven British colonies of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and...