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INVENTION AND INNOVATION IN THE AUSTRALIAN NON‐FERROUS MINING INDUSTRY: WHOSE TECHNOLOGY?
Author(s) -
Menghetti Diane
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
australian economic history review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.493
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 1467-8446
pISSN - 0004-8992
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8446.2005.00135.x
Subject(s) - software portability , adaptation (eye) , technology transfer , industrial organization , mining industry , business , commerce , economy , economics , engineering , international trade , computer science , mining engineering , physics , optics , programming language
Metalliferous mining was of major importance to the Australian economy throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The industry depended heavily on technology transfer for efficient and economical operations. The country's isolated mining fields tended to rely on adaptation rather than on invention, with toughness, portability and ease of repair and use being the prime criteria for the adoption of new machinery. This article argues that both the internationalism of the mining industry and the nature of its technology transfer blur the lines between invention, innovation and adaptation. Mining machinery, techniques and people were all highly mobile. Hence, attributing national origins to mining technology often seems irrelevant.