This book describes and analyses the financial system in Malaya and Singapore as it had developed up to 1967, revealing, in particular, the transition from external domination to financial independence which has taken place in the last decade. While the work concentrates on the period after World War II, it also gives a complete account of historical events concerning the evolution of the system. This is the first up-to-date and comprehensive discussion of the financial problems of the Malayan region.

The existing literature on the experience of Australia and Australians in wars is surprisingly vast. Also in time of peace, particularly before the First World War, there have been vigorous episodes in the national defence debate which are well documented but in sources which are frequently difficult to discover. This volume attempts to survey and list the major historical sources in these fields, both official and non-official, for the period 1891-1939, the years which will be spanned by Volumes 7-12 of the Australian Dictionary of Biography.

Sheep and their wool, the strong backbone that helped colonial Australia walk upright, have a proud place in Australian hearts and in the national record. But the romance of wool has often shrouded the hard facts, and the myths developed by and around the pioneers have distorted an important story. John Garran, sheep-breeder and historian, was convinced that the history written from the study chair be corrected from the farm. He brought a critical eye, practical experience and a great interest in genetics to tracing the origins and development of sheep in Australia.

A flexible social system with a monetised economy and many of the features of a modern capitalistic society is unusual among underdeveloped peoples. Such a system existed among the Tolai of New Britain long before European contact, though at the same time they were a primitive, cannibalistic people. In the last seventy years they have come to be regarded as the most advanced and sophisticated people in the whole of New Guinea.

This book on Fiji provides a fascinating case study of planning in which the small scale and isolation of the economy enables major issues to be seen in almost laboratory-like clarity. In particular it throws light on problems of a multi-racial society in which some important economic and political roles are racially differentiated, and it illustrates the special difficulties of modernisation and growth where a major component in an economy is affluent by reason of a subsistent agriculture that does not earn a monetary income.

Before the First World War most Australians shared the emotions and traditions of the British Empire. Proud of their British heritage, anxious to raise the Imperial status of Australia, they were eager to fight and, if need be, to die in defence of their race and country. But the horror and tragedy of the conflict brought fundamental changes in outlook. Many of the pre-war enthusiasms persisted, but the days of unquestioning allegiance to Empire were beginning to come to an end, to be replaced by the bittersweet tradition of Anzac. Dr Gammage shows how and why these changes took place.

Despite a growing body of literature on reform and revolution in late Qing China relatively little has been written about the New Army and its role in the Revolution of 1911. This book fills the gap with a description of the military reform which led to the establishment of the New Army and the relationships of the New Army with the social order. The book also investigates a previously neglected area, the disaffection of the army and its direct contribution to the revolution.