Colonial Technology: Science and the Transfer of Innovation to Australia

by Jan Todd

• ISBN13: 9780521109840
• ISBN10: 0521109841
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Australia has always imported overseas technology, largely out of necessity, but has this been exploitative, fostering a relationship of dependence, or used to Australia's advantage? Jan Todd explores this question in the context of nineteenth-century science. In her important study, Todd argues that the technology transfer was far more complex than has been widely acknowledged. She shows that technology systems reflect national characteristics, institutions and priorities, drawing general conclusions about Australian science and technology in an imperial context. Much of the book is devoted to two fascinating case studies: the anthrax vaccination for sheep and the cyanide process of gold extraction, both transferred from Europe. In both cases, considering a range of economic, political and cultural factors, she traces a process of creative adaptation to these technologies.

Table of Contents

Overview

Dependency at the periphery: debates and questions

Cross-currents of change

Microbes, Rabbits and Sheep

Microbes versus poisonous plants

Contagion, conflict and compromise

From paris to Narrandera

From foreign to domestic capability

Rocks, Cyanide and Gold

Australian gold, British chemists

Transfer agents and colonial connections

A challenge for technological imperialists

governments, experts and institutional adjustment

From Glasgow to Kalgoorlie

Out of the hands of 'rule-of-thumb' men

Linkages, Learning and Sovereignty

Transfer, diffusion and learning

Colonial science: an intellectual bridge

Toward an Australian system

Notes

Index

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.