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