At the end of the 19th century, the land of Australia was in chaos. Ostensibly under the rule of the British government, in practice the landmass was split into six different colonies. Each was under Crown rule, but also had its own laws, parliament, and system of governance. They collected their own taxes, often at different rates.
It was hard enough for traders to traverse the vast and challenging distances of Australia without adding in the complications of local government charging different tariffs for their goods, which ultimately resulted in ordinary Australians having less access to products that weren’t immediately available locally. At best this was an inconvenience for wealthier Australians purchasing luxuries, but at worst it was something that could plunge subsistence farmers into famine, cause entire herds of livestock to succumb to easily treatable diseases, and create a resentful have-and-have-not divide between the major towns and cities and the vast tracts of Outback beyond. Traders themselves complained that it was impossible to cover the costs
