ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the historiography and methodology underlying the book. Australian historiography has generally overlooked co-operatives or dismissed them as not being significant. The chapter explores the Visual Historical Atlas of Australian Co-operatives, which in July 2023 contained data on 9,557 Australian co-operatives dating from the 1820s until the present and provides the data for the book to analyse the development of Australian co-operatives. Co-operatives have been an important part of Australian life and played a significant role in particular communities and regions. There are a wide variety of types of co-operatives that have developed. The chapter examines where they are geographically concentrated and their average life span.
