School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses

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The origins and rise of the Victorian brown coal industry 1835-1935

Spaull, Andrew D. ( 1966)

This history thesis was written at a time when the Victorian brown coal industry approaches its jubilee. It is also a period when the industry, together with the power and fuel industry, faces a new era of challenge and expansion. With this in mind, I have attempted to analyse, firstly, the various forces behind the establishment of a brown coal industry. Often these forces have been neglected or taken for granted, generally on the basis, that here was an expensive mineral resource open for exploitation. This particular reasoning is far from accurate, as I will attempt to show by a detailed study of the course and tempo of developments before the formal establishment of the industry. The second concern has been an attempt to capture and assess the problems of the industry in its gradual rise to the eventual position of a modern and vital Victorian industry.