Colonial Period, Immigrants, History, Australia & New Zealand, Land use, Economic conditions, Australia 

A classic of Australian history, this book provides the detailed story of the men who created or were caught up in the land boom fever, and of their personal triumph or destruction. It tells the story of colonial Victoria, made rich by gold and populous by the immigrants who followed. The flourishing economy saw speculation rewarded, and no apparent limits to expansion. The depression which followed was a catastrophe, the supreme crisis for the colony.  

Content:
Part One, Victorian Dreams and Nightmares -- 1. A Golden Street in Marvellous Melbourne -- 2. The Lush 1880s -- 3. The Perilous Course of Events -- 4. The Hungry 1890s -- 5. Victorian Politics, 1875-1985 -- 6. The Railway and Tramway Boom -- 7. Wild Days on the Stock Exchange -- Part Two, The Muckrakers -- 8. Maurice Brodzky, Editor of Table Talk -- 9. The Meudell Mystery -- Part Three, Builders and Bankers -- 10. The Building Society Scandals -- 11. The First Banking Scandals -- Part Four, The Munro-Baillieu-Fink Group -- 12. James Munro and His Clan -- 13. Munro & Baillieu, Partners in Audacity -- 14. W.L. Baillieu, the Triumphant Savior -- 15. Keeping the Federal Bank in the Family -- 16. Theodore Fink, a Solicitor of the Rialto -- 17. Benjamin Fink, the Greatest of Them All -- Part Five, The Matthew Davies Group -- 18. The Rise and Fall of Sir Matthew Davies -- 19. The mercantile Bank Cases -- 29. How Thomas Bent Escaped the Net -- Part Six, Finale -- 21. Feeding the Hungry -- 22. Reforms and Remedies -- Appendicies A. The Secret Compositions of 1892 -- B. The Secret Compostions of 1893 -- C. Occupations of Those Who Made Secret Compositions in 1892 and 1893 -- D. Insolvent Stockbrokers of the 1890s -- E. A Guide to Land and Finance Companies of the 1880s.  

Includes biographical references (pages 221-238) and index.
Item donated by Graham Price.
Categorized by publisher, then author, then date.