Australian Studies, Vol 1, No 1 (2009)

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Free trade versus protectionism: New South Wales, Victoria, and the tariff debate in Britain, 1881-1900

Edmund Rogers

Abstract


Free trade was a central part of economic and political orthodoxy in late nineteenth-century Britain, but the period also saw the policy come under attack from advocates of import tariffs. Both sides in this debate made ample use of overseas examples to bolster their arguments. This paper examines the unique contribution of Australia, in which a free trade colony, New South Wales, was pitted against a protectionist neighbour, Victoria, in the seemingly ideal ‘experimental’ conditions of the New World. Free traders, determined to prove that free trade was a universal economic and political good, and eager to give their claims ‘scientific’ backing, saw this juxtaposition as particularly useful.

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