Queen’s College and Australian Economics: 1900-1955

Abstract

In the first half of the twentieth century, Queen’s College in the University of Melbourne attracted a remarkable group of undergraduates who were to become leading Australian academic economists. Around one-half of the most important Australian academic economists of the period as singled out by Peter Groenewegen and Bruce McFarlane went to Queen’s College. The paper explores explanations for this. The students came predominantly from Nonconformist backgrounds and were greatly assisted by scholarships. Mentoring by more senior economists played an important part.