Before the Gold Fleets: Trade and Relations between Chile and Australia, 1830–1848
Even at first glance, one can see remarkable similarities in the topography, geography and patterns of land use of the west coast republics of South America and of the states of Australia which stretch along that continent's eastern and southeastern shores. Not only are the latitudinal parameters comparable, but similarities in climate and patterns of agriculture abound. The resemblances are particularly defined as we consider the geographical extravagance of Chile and compare it alone to the eastern edge of Australia. The desert north of Chile has as its counterpart the arid lands of the island continent's interior, while the semi-arid Norte Chico is much like the area immediately inland from the Australian Dividing Range. Central Chile's Mediterranean climate finds its mirror image in the Riverina, and the rain forest of eastern Australia is much like the deep and tangled woods of Chile's south-west coast. Finally even green and mountainous Chiloe finds a transPacific image in rugged Tasmania.1 Apparently, climate and geography molded both Chile and Australia as producers of primary products for the world markets. Such parallel evolution would suggest that there would be little trade and exchange between the areas, yet trade did indeed develop and came to be significant during several decades of the nineteenth century. This study considers the economic relations which existed between the Republic of Chile and the areas of Australia encompassed by the contemporary states of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria.2