From simply walking around to using space shuttles, human beings have a vast array of transport methods. In colonial Australia, the importance of the horse to all types of human activities is often not recognised. Camels and oxen also played a role in the history of business, industry and just getting from one place to another. The availability of transport determined how settlement spread in early Australia. The enormous distances between the settlements, the expense of road-building and the long reliance on shipping around the coast to get from town to town, were all aspects of life in colonial Australia that were completely different from those the first settlers were used to back in Britain.
The style of living we take for granted in Australia today was very different in the past. Many everyday tasks involved using tools and implements that are unrecognisable in our modern world. The Australian Aboriginal history of daily life, as well as that of the first colonists, all provide intriguing stories of how we all used to live and how we gradually moved on to depending on gadgets, fast food and other modern ways of life that our ancestors from the past would find amazing.
