Australia's Regional Economy

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Brief History

Familiarity with the History of Australia as a nation will take us back to the time of the arrival of the first British settlers into the colony where the continent-Island of Australia as a colony was Penal by nature - convicts, ex convicts and problem citizens were sent to the colony after Capt. James Cook established the New South Wales Crown Colony in the 1770's where Port Jackson by 1788 became a bustling colonial port. Prior to British/European settlement though, aborigines and Australasian peoples have already inhabited the world's smallest continent some 48,000 years ago - these peoples were hunter gatherers and some continue this way of life to this day. Upon the establishment of Port Jackson, new explorations were taken on by the settlers of the vast Australian territories until the entire continent was mapped out into varied political/economic sections. The Northern Territory was a 'free colony', that is, no convicts were accepted there. Other colonies - South Australia, Victoria and Queensland were also free colonies but later on due to labour shortage took on penal settlers. Until 1931, Australia was subject to the British Monarchy as part of the British Empire. It was a Commonwealth. Even after the Statute of Westminster in 1931, Australia still remains, at least by historical affinity part of the British Commonwealth but not of the Kingdom. Australia is an independent nation with its own duly elected democratic government headed by the Prime Minister, Paul Rudd although Australians still look to Britain as their ancestral home.

Australian Economics

In the early days of the colony, fishing, trading, lumber & mining were the industry. That and the highly successful cattle and beef industry that spanned the agricultural might that was Australia in the 1800's to this day. The 'Bush' created a kind of unique cowboy lifestyle not unlike that of their American cousins in the West. Today, Australia is a prosperous nation of over 21 million people only considering the nation's vast land & territories. Western capitalist & free market by nature, this is how the Australian economy boils down to:

? services sector (70% of GDP)
? agricultural and mining sectors (10% of GDP combined) account for 57% of the national export
? industry (20% of GDP)

According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, Australia is a ...