Why Did They Come?

We know from earlier chapters that possibly as many as a thousand MNEs had arrived in Australia before 1914, with around 466 survivors remaining by then. Their origins, timing of arrival and destination industries were each discussed in detail in Chaps. 4 and 5 . These results particularly included the arrival of many British miners, banks and transport and pastoral companies in the middle decades of the century, followed by more British miners in the 1880s and 1890s, and American manufacturers and Continental European wool traders in the final quarter century to World War One. For many firms, particularly free-standing companies, their arrival as MNEs was their initial contact with Australia. For others, local investment followed earlier stages of exporting and agency often spread over a period of years. Stationery producer John Dickinson, for example, progressed from a local agency in 1886 to its own branch in 1907, and finally local production in 1920 (Evans 1955).