The Great Days Of Wool: 1820-1900
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: Very good
Pages: Good
From the sunburnt plains of colonial Australia to the bustling wool auctions of Sydney and Melbourne, The Great Days of Wool: 1820-1900 chronicles the extraordinary rise of an industry that shaped a nation. Joan Palmer and David Symes reconstruct eight pivotal decades of Australian pastoral history, tracing the arc from the earliest merino flocks to the thundering wool drays and vast station empires that defined the continent's economic and social character throughout the nineteenth century. The narrative presents a vivid tableau of squatters, shearers, bullock teams, and boundary riders — the men and women whose sweat and ambition transformed a colonial outpost into the world's foremost wool-producing powerhouse. Beyond the machinery of commerce, this work illuminates the deeper cultural and environmental forces at play in the shaping of the Australian identity, arguing that wool was not merely a commodity but the very thread from which the nation's early character was woven. Palmer and Symes draw on historical records, station diaries, and period illustrations to render the pastoral era with authoritative detail and atmospheric richness. Their collaborative style balances scholarly rigour with an accessible, storytelling sensibility that brings the dust, drama, and dynamism of the woolshed to life. For anyone curious about the foundations of modern Australia, this volume asks a quietly compelling question: how much of the nation's soul was spun on a shearing floor?
Author: Joan Palmer / David Symes
Format: Hardback
Genre: Australian history
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: Very good
Pages: Good
From the sunburnt plains of colonial Australia to the bustling wool auctions of Sydney and Melbourne, The Great Days of Wool: 1820-1900 chronicles the extraordinary rise of an industry that shaped a nation. Joan Palmer and David Symes reconstruct eight pivotal decades of Australian pastoral history, tracing the arc from the earliest merino flocks to the thundering wool drays and vast station empires that defined the continent's economic and social character throughout the nineteenth century. The narrative presents a vivid tableau of squatters, shearers, bullock teams, and boundary riders — the men and women whose sweat and ambition transformed a colonial outpost into the world's foremost wool-producing powerhouse. Beyond the machinery of commerce, this work illuminates the deeper cultural and environmental forces at play in the shaping of the Australian identity, arguing that wool was not merely a commodity but the very thread from which the nation's early character was woven. Palmer and Symes draw on historical records, station diaries, and period illustrations to render the pastoral era with authoritative detail and atmospheric richness. Their collaborative style balances scholarly rigour with an accessible, storytelling sensibility that brings the dust, drama, and dynamism of the woolshed to life. For anyone curious about the foundations of modern Australia, this volume asks a quietly compelling question: how much of the nation's soul was spun on a shearing floor?