This work investigates the economic volatility and structural shifts within the Australian economy during the critical decade of 1887 to 1897. Ernest Arthur Boehm, drawing upon his doctoral research at Oxford, provides a rigorous examination of the factors contributing to the boom and subsequent collapse of the period. The text utilizes extensive statistical data and historical analysis to construct a framework for understanding the interplay between capital inflow, land speculation, and banking instability in colonial Australia.

Experts recognize this text as a foundational study for understanding the economic history of late 19th-century Australia. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and the thoroughness of the statistical appendices.