Milestones in the Australian Wool Industry

Overview

Within Australia almost every crisis in the industry has resulted in an inquiry of some form and/or restructuring of the grower funded organisations. However there have also been other activities that were launched from more positive platforms to pave the way for significant changes in the way the industry operates. This page provides access to a summary of the milestones associated with all these activities. It is intended as a guide to anyone interested in the industry.

Naturally, the identification of a milestone is very dependent on the specific interests of the writer. Consequently this list very much reflects the my personal perspective of the history of the industry and the key events that occurred as it evolved. 

Although the emphasis is on milestones for the Australian Industry, appropriate milestones that occurred in other countries are also included. The list is not exhaustive - some milestones, particularly in the early part of the 20th century may have been missed, but these are added when they are identified. Every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy.

Wool Industry Milestones

The milestones are organised on a yearly basis, with specified periods incorporated into single pages. These are as follows:

1788 - 1799
1800 - 1849
1850 - 1899
1900 - 1924
1925 - 1949
1950 - 1959
1960 - 1969
1970 - 1979
1980 - 1989
1990 - 1999
2000 - 2009

Supporting Reference Material

Access is being provided to electronic versions of the complete or parts of relevant source documents. These are constantly being added to as new material is located. A link to a page summarising all the supporting reference material is provided below. Where electronic versions of this material are available links to these documents are included in this summary.