A History of the Colony of Victoria

A History of the Colony of Victoria
Author: Henry Gyles Turner
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 405
Release: 2011-11-24
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1108039839

This authoritative two-volume history by Henry Gyles Turner (1831-1920) explores the political and social development of Victoria, Australia.

Colonial Bureaucracies

Colonial Bureaucracies
Author: Habib Zafarullah
Publisher: Universal-Publishers
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2014-09-25
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1627340211

This book attempts to understand the nature and course of change and reform in the bureaucracies of the six colonies in Australia following the launching of responsible government in the 1850s. The trends in the development of the six colonial bureaucracies are examined to illustrate the similarity in the politics involved and problems encountered from colony to colony in initiating and managing change in colonial administration. Between 1856 and 1905, 15 inquiries encompassing the entire public service structure were undertaken in the six Australian colonies. By using a set of seven variables (context, objectives, the degree of political commitment, membership, methods and problems, nature of recommendations, and the extent of adoption/implementation of reports of commissions), each of these inquiries is analysed independently to highlight the peculiarities of its working and the implications of its results for the bureaucracy. Cross-inquiry and cross-colony comparisons are made, and judgments offered which to some degree challenged existing assumptions about the process of change in nineteenth century Australian public administration. The major issues that emerged in each colony during the first three decades of responsible government were political influence in personnel administration, the effects of 'departmentalism', the development of career principles, economy and efficiency. By the early 1880s administrative reform began to take a different course; most colonies had either accepted or began to accept new ideas---independent non-political control of the public service, open competition in the staffing process, recognition of merit and ability, and classification of positions according to value of work. Taken as a whole, the commissions of inquiry made substantial contribution to these reforms. Some were successful in terms of implementation of their recommendations; others were notable for the intrinsic value of their reports; some, admittedly, were undertaken to postpone reform while others were instituted merely to validate predetermined governmental policies. Only a few had no apparent political overtones behind their establishment. However, generally, speaking, most inquiries did make significant contribution to the administrative reform process in nineteenth century Australia and they compared favorably with similar efforts overseas.

Pastoral Accounting in Colonial Australia

Pastoral Accounting in Colonial Australia
Author: Garry Carnegie
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2014-02-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 113566577X

First Published in 1997. Set in colonial Australia, this explanatory, investigative study examines the dimensions of accounting information prepared for pastoral industry engagement in the Western District of Victoria during 1836-1900 and the local, time-specific environmental factors which shaped these dimensions. Based on examinations of surviving business records, the study provides evidence of the structure and usage of pastoral accounting information in an unregulated financial reporting environment. As an interpretive historical study, it attempts to provide explanations of the accounting practices observed.

The Queensland Caesar

The Queensland Caesar
Author: Denver Beanland
Publisher: Boolarong Press
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2013
Genre: History
ISBN: 192210955X

This new book provides a fresh analysis of Queensland during the colonial era. It provides new insights into Queenslands past. Sir Thomas McIlwraith thundered across Queensland's political and business landscape for 30 years. The three times Premier took bold and audacious actions, and had the energy and motivation to drive not only the colony's economic development, but also his own business enterprises. The biography analyses McIlwraith's progressive beliefs in economic development, European settlement, railways, responsible government, nationalism, federation, republicanism, defence and foreign policy, issues that are as relevant today as they were in the colonial era. The publication narrates the history of one of Queensland great political figures, charting the trials and tribulations of arguably one of the most significant Scotsmen to come to the Antipodes. Modern day historians have presented McIlwraith as a larger-than-life conservative entrepreneur rather than a classical laissez-faire liberal who strived to make Queensland the premier colony of Australia.

Kulin and Kurnai

Kulin and Kurnai
Author: David Frankel
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 266
Release: 2014
Genre: History
ISBN: 1326124773

During the nineteenth century many European settlers, government officials and missionaries documented their obervations of the Indigenous people's of Victoria they were displacing. This selection of over 700 extracts from a wide variety of these sources provide glimpses into a rich and complex world. This reader is a convenient entry point into this disparate literature and will be of use to anyone with an interest in Victorian ethnography and history and of particular value to teachers, students and Aboriginal communities.

The Victorian Premiers, 1856-2006

The Victorian Premiers, 1856-2006
Author: Paul Strangio
Publisher: Federation Press
Total Pages: 456
Release: 2006
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781862876019

In the century and a half since Victoria was granted responsible government in 1856, 44 premiers have presided over the state and colony, from 'Honest' William Haines to Steve Bracks. Here is their story. For the first time this book brings together a comprehensive collection of biographical and political portraits of the Victorian premiers written by leading Australian historians and political scientists. The result is a compelling journey through a turbulent, occasionally anarchic, political landscape. A cast of fascinating characters is brought to life--the mercurial Graham Berry, who in the 1870s threatened broken heads and flaming houses in his heroic struggle to tame the colony's intractably conservative upper house; the roguish Tommy Bent, the turn of the century 'can do' premier whose development enthusiasms were unhindered by probities of office; the bohemian Tom Hollway, who conducted Victoria's affairs from his suite in the Windsor Hotel; the 'accidental' leader Henry Bolte, who became Victoria's longest serving premier; and the larrikin metropolitan, Jeff Kennett, who turned the state into a neo-liberal laboratory in the 1990s. A tale of premiers, the book is also a narrative of politics in a state that has vied with New South Wales as Australia's most prosperous and powerful. It recounts many extraordinary episodes: the precocious development of democracy in a fledgling colony turned upside down by gold immigrants; the titanic bicameral struggles of the 1860s and 1870s that brought Victoria to the brink of insurrection; the bank crashes of the 1890s; the police strike of 1923; the great Labor split of the 1950s; the hanging of Ronald Ryan in 1967; the social democratic adventurism of the Labor decade of the 1980s brought to a shuddering halt by another era of financial collapses; and the neo-liberal experimentalism of the Kennett government. This carefully researched and engagingly written book will leave the reader in no doubt that politics in the 'Garden State' has seldom been sedate and its premiers rarely predictable.

The Constitution of Victoria

The Constitution of Victoria
Author: Greg Taylor
Publisher: Federation Press
Total Pages: 600
Release: 2006
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9781862876125

"[T]his work is comprehensive in its treatment of all aspects of Victorian constitutional law whether they be historical, jurisprudential or practical. Occasionally the author offers his own views upon the direction which the law has taken or should take, but in a manner which adds freshness to the text or adds interest for the reader.This is a legal text-book and is bound to be a standard text for many years to come. There is no other comprehensive work which covers Victorian constitutional law. But it is digestible in a way that many other text-books are not. It will provide a wealth of understanding and insight to teachers, students, practitioners, public servants, members of Parliament and others for whom an understanding of the Victorian Constitution is of interest and, often, necessity. It is not only the courts which are concerned with constitutional law. This work has a practical application in many other areas and for many who are not lawyers. It will provide practical guidance where that is possible and, where it is not, will provide a scholarly foundation upon which to build the correct answer."Sir Daryl Dawson, from The Foreword - full text below (see Extracts)This is the standard reference work on the Constitution of Victoria. Since the election of the Bracks government and its gaining a majority in both Houses of Parliament, the Victorian Constitution has undergone far-reaching change, making it markedly different from other Australian State Constitutions in a number of respects.This work analyses and comments on the new and old provisions of the Victorian Constitution and is essential for understanding the effect of the changes, some of which are of doubtful validity.