Australia: Outpost of Empire

There several competing arguments in relation to the founding of the Australian colony, all of which centre on the question of motive. Essentially each seeks to the answer to the question: why set up a colony in a relatively unknown, unchartered land so far from 'civilisation'?

Geoffrey Blainey, in his Tyranny of Distance, published in 1966, presented an argument which was both new and controversial. His view was that the decision to create a penal colony in Australia was influenced more by the desire to exploit the resources that the new colony could provide than the need to find a place for unwanted convicts.

To support his argument, he highlights the importance of two resources in particular: flax and pine in the global context of the time, and quotes Lord Sydney to the effect that these resources “would be of great consequence to us as a naval power.¹” Much of Blainey's argument also appears to rest on the concept that the costs and length of time involved in setting up a colony in Australia compared with alternative Northern Hemisphere solutions would automatically prohibit it's selection. Indeed, according to him, “if British cabinet ministers, in full knowledge of these alternatives, selected Australia solely as a dumping ground for convicts, then they must have been temporarily deranged.²”

The problem with this argument is that it assumes that the cabinet ministers who made the decision were logical, rational thinkers like Blainey himself. How he arrives at this conclusion is anyone's guess; it would be interesting to see what evidence he bases it on.

Returning to the original question, the key idea that can be taken out of Blainey's Tyranny of Distance is that the decision to set up a colony in Australia was influenced by a myriad of factors; from over-crowded gaols and the potential for new resources, to global contextual factors for a growing empire, such as the potential for new markets and new presence in the region.

Pine Trees," Norfolk Island. State Library Victoria http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/pictoria/gid/slv-pic-aab73359

1Blainey, Geoffrey 'The Tyranny of Distance' in Gare, Deborah, Ritter David Making Australian History: Perspectives on the Past Since 1788, Cengage Learning (Sydney 2008) p. 39

2Blainey, Geoffrey p.38