The Pastoral Age: A Re-Examination
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Long regarded as the backbone of Australia's colonial economy, the pastoral industry has attracted enduring historical debate — and The Pastoral Age: A Re-examination by G. J. Abbott presents a rigorous, revisionist reassessment of this foundational era. Abbott systematically challenges long-held assumptions about the rise of wool and grazing industries in colonial Australia, scrutinising the economic, social, and political forces that shaped the so-called pastoral age from the ground up. Drawing on meticulous historical research, the work argues that prevailing narratives have overstated or mischaracterised the nature and impact of pastoralism on Australian development, offering fresh interpretations grounded in empirical evidence. Abbott writes with the precision of an economic historian and the clarity of a seasoned scholar, making complex agrarian and colonial dynamics accessible without sacrificing analytical depth. The Pastoral Age sits firmly within the tradition of Australian revisionist historiography, joining a body of work that interrogates the myths embedded in national identity. Co-published by Macmillan of Australia and Dalgety Australia Limited — itself a storied name in the pastoral industry — the book carries an ironic authority that only deepens its central argument. Readers with an interest in colonial Australia, rural economic history, or the politics of national myth-making will find this a compelling and provocative corrective to the standard account.
Author: G. J. Abbott
Format: Hardback
Published: 1971, Macmillan of Australia / Dalgety Australia Limited
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Chipped and worn with some minor damage
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Long regarded as the backbone of Australia's colonial economy, the pastoral industry has attracted enduring historical debate — and The Pastoral Age: A Re-examination by G. J. Abbott presents a rigorous, revisionist reassessment of this foundational era. Abbott systematically challenges long-held assumptions about the rise of wool and grazing industries in colonial Australia, scrutinising the economic, social, and political forces that shaped the so-called pastoral age from the ground up. Drawing on meticulous historical research, the work argues that prevailing narratives have overstated or mischaracterised the nature and impact of pastoralism on Australian development, offering fresh interpretations grounded in empirical evidence. Abbott writes with the precision of an economic historian and the clarity of a seasoned scholar, making complex agrarian and colonial dynamics accessible without sacrificing analytical depth. The Pastoral Age sits firmly within the tradition of Australian revisionist historiography, joining a body of work that interrogates the myths embedded in national identity. Co-published by Macmillan of Australia and Dalgety Australia Limited — itself a storied name in the pastoral industry — the book carries an ironic authority that only deepens its central argument. Readers with an interest in colonial Australia, rural economic history, or the politics of national myth-making will find this a compelling and provocative corrective to the standard account.