WHEN AUSSIES WERE RICH
I keep meaning to menion here that I've resumed posting things over
at the History Snippets section. This latest spurt has gone back a
century to items from the 1800s. Photographs of 1880s/90s London,
assorted prints of mid 19th century Europe (etc.), and most
recently one of those facinating general reference publications
which were popular before the internet, "Nuggets: A Handbook of
Useful Information".
gopher://aussies.space/1/~freet/historysnip
The few dated pieces of information inside 'Nuggets' are from the
mid 1890s, so I assume that's about the date of this surely
rarely-survived little paperback booklet. Published in New York,
this copy was apparantly imported by a bookstore in Geelong,
Victoria, Australia. It's a little treasure trove of antiquated,
though sometimes still vaguely applicable, 'nuggets' of
information. Interspersed, that is, with hillariously frequent
pieces promoting the merits of Stearns' Wine of Cod Liver Oil,
Stearns having clearly oiled the book's publisher in more ways than
one. It's quite funny simply because the intentions are so blatant,
but of course it's not very far removed from advertising on the Web
pages where people might look to for such information today.
But between tales of cod liver miracles, one piece of infomation
that struck me as particularly notable given my recent post
2024-06-25As_Rich_as_a_Gazan.txt, was "WAGES OF THE WORLD", copied
here:
gopher://aussies.space/I/~freet/historysnip/nuggets_wages_of_the_world_1.png
gopher://aussies.space/I/~freet/historysnip/nuggets_wages_of_the_world_2.png
Comparing with the current geographical figures I compared my own
income with before, there are some surprising and ironic
observations to be made. Some South/Central American countries, now
known for poverty levels which drive people to leave for the USA,
are recorded among the richest in the world: Cuba - $6.50USD/week,
Venezuela - $7.25USD/week, Equador - $8.00USD/week. Compared to an
average of $4.70USD/week in the UK and less in most other parts of
Europe (Gibraltar being a surprising exception at $7.05USD/week).
The poorest listed are the Japanese, on just 90c/week, a little
less than the Chinese.
But the richest? Us Aussies! In fact more specifically, those like
me in the state of Victoria, making the most money in the world at
$10.50USD/week. The list doesn't actually mention wages in the USA,
perhaps presuming that Americans don't want to compare themselves,
but it does concede that Australa "leads the way and surpasses the
rest of civilized nations in industrial remuneration". So clearly,
while still on average richer than those in some parts of Europe,
we've come down the the world over the last ~130 years.
Sheep and Gold drove Australia to its statistical position back
then, but of course it's fair to assume that the figures don't
count native people since it was then illegal to pay aboriginals
here a wage. Also, as today, surely some benefited far more than
others from this country's new-found potential to create wealth,
and many poor soles like me today could have only looked at such
current average wage figures with envy. But then again back in the
same century my great, (mumble), grandparents actually hosted Queen
Victoria for lunch during a royal tour of Australia, at a farm that
the family had to sell due to lack of funds in the 1940s (after a
bad drought), so from that angle I can sort-of match a story with
the statistics.
- The Free Thinker
