In the early years of the Australian colonies, the focus was on producing enough grain to feed their own populations, but as agriculture became more developed, interest in export markets grew. Despite a system of tariffs that gave preference to products from British colonies, wheat exports to Britain attracted a duty that made Australian grain uncompetitive. This was particularly galling because grain from Canada, another colony, attracted a lower duty.
As early as 1832, samples of Australian wheat had been shipped to the “mother country”. The Sydney Monitor quoted an English report holding out the prospect of future exports of wheat and flour:
We have also lately had some parcels of white Wheat upon our Market from Hobart Town Van Dieman’s Land, a portion of which, from the superior quality, commanded the highest rates…The Wheat arrived in excellent condition notwithstanding the length of the voyage. We have likewise seen a sample of Red Wheat from New South Wales, grown at Abbotsford, upon the banks of the Cow Pastures River, about forty miles from Sydney…Van Diemen’s Land has already made considerable Exports of Wheat to the Mauritius, Valparaiso, and Rio de Janeiro, and when Mills are brought into full operation, the exportation of Flour will exist no doubt to a large extent, much of which will, in all probability, find its way to the English market.
Over following years, despite small shipments by individual growers, the British market remained largely closed thanks to the Tory government’s Corn Laws (“corn” at the time was a general term referring to any kind of grain including oats, wheat and barley).
Pressure to accept Australian wheat exports increased in the 1840s as the new colony of South Australia began to produce a surplus of grain. A British MP, William Hutt, had been one of the commissioners responsible for the foundation of South Australia and he took up the cause of Australian growers. In 1845, after receiving petitions from several colonial governors, he rose in the House of Commons to propose a resolution:
That it is expedient that Corn imported into the United Kingdom from the British possessions in South Africa, India, and Australasia, be made subject to the same duty which is levied on Corn imported into the United Kingdom from Canada.
The Canada Corn Act had been passed in 1843, allowing Canadian flour and wheat exports to enter Britain at a lower duty than was paid by other colonies. In part, it was prompted by a desire to allay anti-British feeling in Canada, which had erupted in rebellions during the late 1830s. Hutt suggested that the peaceable nature and loyalty of the Australian colonies was disadvantaging them in comparison to turbulent Canada.
In the event, the urgings of Hutt and petitions to Queen Victoria did not change the fortunes of Australian wheat farmers. There had long been pressure from British industrialists to reduce or abandon import duties, but it was the Irish famine, beginning in 1845, that eventually convinced the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, that propping up food prices with tariffs was unacceptable. The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846, opening the way for Australian exporters.
By the 1870s, the export trade was well established, and by 1910, Australian wheat exports had reached a million tons, with 75 per cent of it going to Britain.