13 - Manufacturing

Summary

The range and volume of local manufactures increased over time, but, in the 19th century, the natural resource sectors were the prime drivers of Australia's economic performance. This chapter explores the growth in employment, value of production and labour productivity of different industries. Nineteenth-century development laid a substantial foundation for industrialisation, manufacturing's share of GDP stood at around 12 per cent in 1901. The direction of technological change, until the 1970s, favoured high-volume production of standardised machinery, in particular, the capital-intensive mass production of standardised components to narrow tolerances, which also provided economies at the assembly stage. Consumer spending on durables began to increase in the 1920s with the introduction of more mass-produced and affordable items, beginning with the motor vehicle and household electrical goods, such as jugs, toasters and radios. Industrialisation added a range of new, technically sophisticated industries, including consumer goods, producer goods and intermediate materials, to the industrial base established by Federation.