Australian maritime unions of the Cold War period are renowned for their militancy and rhetorical commitment to communist ideas. In contrast, concentrating on the policies and actions of the Seamen’s Union of Australia (SUA) and the Waterside Workers’ Federation (WWF) towards the Australian National Line (ANL), this article reveals their political and industrial pragmatism in advancing a national shipping agenda. It demonstrates that union support of the Line took two main forms. First, maritime unionists sought to protect the state-owned shipping company from unfair international competition by launching protest actions against substandard foreign carriers. Second, they willingly cooperated with Australian shipping industry stakeholders to boost seagoing labour productivity and thus the global competitiveness of the ANL. The article argues that it was the increasing integration of the Australian maritime enterprise into the highly competitive global shipping market that prompted the SUA and the WWF to take an active role in defending national shipping interests.

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The conventional view of the fortunes of European newcomers who cropped land in mid-nineteenth-century Victoria is confined to a description of their difficulties. This article critically assesses the scope for profit-making in the local farming sector in the late 1830s to early 1870s. The microeconomic environment in which early colonial farmers operated is reconstructed in this article with the use of modern Michael Porter's five forces of competition model. The article shows the high profit potential of crop farming -even when on a small scale -throughout the period, with the exception of the last few years when intensified competition among farmers affected their profits. JEL categories: N17; N37; N57; Q12

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