Chris is a part-time PhD candidate in the School of History at the Australian National University. He is researching the Colonial Government’s role in the establishment of agriculture in Australia between 1788 and 1860. The research will focus on the government’s influence in driving early technical changes and the adaptation of European farming methods to the Australian conditions, including its attempts to overcome the challenges that the Australian environment posed to introduced methods of agriculture. This will include exploring how the government interacted with the private sphere to promote agricultural development, technical change and improved management practices, particularly among small-scale farmers.
