ABSTRACT
IN THE EARLY NINETIES, the land position in the Australian colonies was unsatisfactory. The area cropped had not kept pace with the alienation and the country population was not increasing. The farmers could not compete with other nations, and fast clippers came almost weekly from San Francisco with negro-grown wheat. The price of grain was falling1 and tariffs, such as Dibbs' semiprotection in New South Wales, did not meet the situation. The men on the land were in trouble.
