Country town growth in South-eastern Australia : three regional studies, 1861-1891
type: CreativeWork
description: Australia’s galloping urbanization was the major feature of settlement in the second half of the nineteenth century, and - then as now - its outstanding characteristic was the dominant role of metropolization in this process. The fifties were a time of formative upsets to the pattern of settlement in Victoria, and, to a lesser extent, in New South Wales, and the nineties again saw a temporary disruption in the trend of urbanization in each colony. The generation from 1861 to 1891 was relatively free of such upsets, and this study addresses the question of urbanization in that period, focussing particularly on the country towns, focussing, that is, on the reverse of the urban coin of which the Australian metropolis is so manifestly the obverse. The retardation of provincial towns has made relics of many of them; but although to gaze on the streets of many such towns is to gaze on the nineteenth century, they have commanded little scholarly attention. As an introduction, then, Chapter One contrasts nineteenth century awareness of urbanization (and denigration of country towns) with the delay in professional attention to the subject, and sketches the approach made in this study. In particular, the lack of previous studies has conditioned a concentration on the basic question of country town growth. Chapter Two, having defined 'country towns', is concerned with determining, in a broad way, the role of country towns in south-eastern Australia in the process of urbanization during this period. Two main facts emerge: the country towns as a body did not grow as strongly as Sydney and Melbourne; and the country towns of New South Wales, as a body and individually, grew more strongly than the Victorian towns. This, then, was what happened, and Chapters Three to Nine are directed towards finding out why. To do this, the history of three country towns and their hinterlands have been studied, namely, Creswick, a Victorian gold-mining town near Ballarat, Hamilton, a pastoral town…
abstract: Australia’s galloping urbanization was the major feature of settlement in the second half of the nineteenth century, and - then as now - its outstanding characteristic was the dominant role of metropolization in this process. The fifties were a time of formative upsets to the pattern of settlement in Victoria, and, to a lesser extent, in New South Wales, and the nineties again saw a temporary disruption in the trend of urbanization in each colony. The generation from 1861 to 1891 was relatively free of such upsets, and this study addresses the question of urbanization in that period, focussing particularly on the country towns, focussing, that is, on the reverse of the urban coin of which the Australian metropolis is so manifestly the obverse. The retardation of provincial towns has made relics of many of them; but although to gaze on the streets of many such towns is to gaze on the nineteenth century, they have commanded little scholarly attention. As an introduction, then, Chapter One contrasts nineteenth century awareness of urbanization (and denigration of country towns) with the delay in professional attention to the subject, and sketches the approach made in this study. In particular, the lack of previous studies has conditioned a concentration on the basic question of country town growth. Chapter Two, having defined 'country towns', is concerned with determining, in a broad way, the role of country towns in south-eastern Australia in the process of urbanization during this period. Two main facts emerge: the country towns as a body did not grow as strongly as Sydney and Melbourne; and the country towns of New South Wales, as a body and individually, grew more strongly than the Victorian towns. This, then, was what happened, and Chapters Three to Nine are directed towards finding out why. To do this, the history of three country towns and their hinterlands have been studied, namely, Creswick, a Victorian gold-mining town near Ballarat, Hamilton, a pastoral town…
author: Richmond, James Mark
language: en
date published: 1969
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:55:02Z
provider: Australian National University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Australian National University

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1885/123842