Cirrus@Austlit

‘Universities by their very nature are involved in publishing. From exam papers through faculty handbooks and calendars to academic papers and books, they have since their beginnings been reliant on the written word. Australian universities have been no exception. Their activities were confined essentially, however, to producing printed material for a small audience of their own students and a handful of academics in other institutions. There were no university presses as such in nineteenth-century Australia. Instead, the four universities which then existed had to rely on local printers for student materials. Since the academic focus was on the classics, theology and European subjects, their research and book needs were largely satisfied with imports from England. ’(Introduction 328)