Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.
The project’s main aims: 1.To contribute to knowledge by engaging in a study of the relationship between Australia, New Zealand and international capital markets 1850-1950 which would focus on three key themes: i.The history of Australia and New Zealand as borrowers and debtors. ii.The rise and consolidation of the British 'colonial' market in the London capital market from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1920s. iii.The interaction between the market disciplines to which all borrowers were subject, and the opportunities and constraints created by membership of the British Empire. The study would also evaluate recent arguments (Cain and Hopkins, 1993) about the role of the City of London in the dynamics of British imperial expansion and control with respect to two British settler societies, Australia and New Zealand. 2.To extend and revise the statistics of Australasian public debt in the period 1850-1950. 3.To create a database of Australasian overseas public loans during that period. The project’s specific objectives were to complete three stages of research: 1.The consultation of archival and printed official sources in the United Kingdom and Australia relating to Australasian borrowing activity and relations with overseas creditors during nineteenth century. These either had not been available to, or were not consulted by, earlier historians. 2.The collection of quantitative data for revised statistics of Australian and New Zealand public debt between 1850 and 1950. 3.The collection of data for a database of Australasian overseas public loans during that period.
Main Topics:
The database contains a record of every Australasian government loan offered in London by public advertisement between the first such issue in 1857 and 1914. The governments concerned are those of the seven British colonies of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and the four New Zealand provincial administrations of Auckland, Canterbury, Otago and Wellington which also attempted to raise capital by this means. There are no records of loans floated by the Commonwealth of Australia (the federal government created in 1901) because its first issue in London did not occur until 1916. Purely conversion operations in which holders were offered the exchange of new securities for old have been excluded. The dataset provides information about the activities of a significant group of borrowers in the London capital market during its rise and prime as the dominant international financial centre in the world economy. It contains details about the characteristics of all publicly advertised loan issues; their marketing arrangements; and their results. It therefore can be used to examine the way in which Australasian borrowers approached the London market, the success with which they did this, and the ways in which both changed over time. It can be used for comparison with the activity of other borrowers. More broadly, it contributes to our understanding of development of the London capital market during the period. Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.
No sampling (total universe)
Compilation or synthesis of existing material
