In the pre-1914 era Australia did not develop an ocean-going merchant navy. The problem is well recognised in previous studies that assumed that it was high Australian wages that made the operational cost of deep-sea vessels uncompetitive on a global scale. This article reconstructs historical shifts in the Australian market for a seagoing workforce and demonstrates there was low recruitment of Australian labour. Drawing on new sources and inspired by efficiency wage theory the article argues that it was this shortage of a domestic labour supply that constrained the development of a national deep-sea shipping industry.<p></p>
Publication Date
2022-07-01Journal
Australian Economic History ReviewVolume
62Issue
2Pagination
20p. (p. 141-160)Publisher
WileyISSN
0004-8992Rights Statement
© 2021 Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd. This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ostapenko D & Kirkby D (2022). ‘Australian sailors wanted’: Labour supply and Australian shipping, c. 1870–c. 1914. Australian Economic History Review, 62(2), 141-160, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1111/aehr.12232. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
