ABSTRACT
The few comparative studies of California with Victoria tend to concentrate on specific themes in which the two states share a common history. Before gold, California and Victoria were isolated minor pastoral European settlements on the Pacific Rim. Initially the gold rushes led to an expansion of agriculture in California, but a contraction in Victoria. In both California and Victoria, wheat-growing was the cornerstone of the agricultural economy after the initial gold finds. The decline of wheat in Central Victoria has generally been viewed as due to falling prices. The last third of the nineteenth century saw a great worldwide increase in wheat production and a consequent fall in prices. Gold and wheat are two examples of how comparisons between California and Victoria can lead to a greater understanding of developments within these two regions. Whereas regional urban growth in Victoria occurred in gold towns, in California urban development was in non-gold towns.
