Australia is known as the “Lucky Country” for good reason. It is rich in many natural resources and all one has to do dig them up and export. I came across the following fascinating chart on the Australian export mix in the past two centuries.

Gold and Wool dominated exports for much of the 1800s. Since the 1970s iron ore, coal and oil & gas have become major export commodities.

Click to enlarge

Source: Australia’s bounty: is it just diversified luck? by Ashley Owen, Stanford Brown and The Lunar Group