Sir Alfred Charles Davidson and the Australian Exchange Crisis of 1929–31

This chapter examines the role played by Sir Alfred Charles Davidson during the monetary turbulences in the early years of the Great Depression in Australia. Davidson was a leading private banking executive and developed into an influential money doctor as he took on a national leadership role during the Great Depression. Davidson implemented a floating exchange rate regime in 1930–31, which has been widely regarded as one of the major contributions of Australian monetary policy to the recovery from the Great Depression. We re-evaluate Davidson’s monetary policy interventions over 1929–31, present a new analysis of Australia’s early departure from the gold standard in December 1929 and review the role that the government-owned Commonwealth Bank played in this process.