There is no simple answer because the comparative value of money is derived from the costs of goods and services, e.g. how many loaves of bread do you get for $X today versus in the past, or how much to rent a 2 bedroom cottage today versus in the past? However, the costs of all goods and services do not increase at the same rate. For example, wheat was in short supply in the early colony so bread was far more of a luxury item than it is today and would have cost comparatively more of a person's wages. Conversely, a cottage in the Rocks overlooking Sydney Harbour was probably cheaper in the past than it would be today. This is why it is such a complex business today to calculate the CPI (consumer price increase) which attempts to measure overall how much worse off we are each year due to rising prices. As Douglas Adams put it in Hitchhikers's Guide to the Galaxy: The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as How, Why, and Where phases. For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question "How can we eat?" The second by the question "Why do we eat?" and the third by the question "Where shall we have lunch." It is fair to say our early Australian ancestors were in the survival phase, whereas in the 21st century we have certainly achieved sophistication! Kerry