Scientific Enterprise and the Colonial `Model': Observations on Australian Experience in Historical Context

Abstract

The subject of this paper is the nature and development of the scientific enterprise in Australia, with a particular focus on the period from the 1880s to 1916. At its beginning, this period was dominated by the formation of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, and at its end it witnessed the formation of the Commonwealth Institute of Science and Industry. The `colonial' characteristics of Australian science are considered by means of a critical examination of George Basalla's analysis of the spread of Western science from its `centre' to peripheral regions. This is followed by a more detailed historical treatment of aspects of Australian science in the period 1888-1912. I argue that the nature of the Australian scientific enterprise of these years was increasingly conditioned by changing local economic imperatives, a reflection of the loosening of more established imperial relations.