The development of Australian communication studies has closely followed capitalization upon the opportunities provided by major structural changes in the higher education system in the early 1970s and the late 1980s as well as those provided by disciplinary development and student demand. Before 1970, little in the way of communication studies was researched or taught in Australia. In the early 1970s, long-established universities were complemented by "new" universities, institute of technology, and colleges of advanced education that provided the opportunity for the introduction of communication studies. From 1970 to 1987, communication teaching and research was characterized by considerable diversity of disciplinary starting points and ideological positions. In 1987, a highly significant year, the 85 higher education institutions in the former university and advanced education sectors of higher education became 36 universities in a new unified national system. Overnight, communication studies was taught, and became the subject of major research initiatives, in universities which had previously resisted its introduction. Since 1987 postgraduate activity has grown and research activity has expanded. The field of communication studies is likely to grow in the future and because of Australia's growing links with its Asian and Pacific neighbors, Australian communication studies will probably be drawn to an increasingly Asian focus. However, a contemplated major shift of government emphasis and expenditure away from the university sector may provide the first major crisis for communication studies in Australia. (RS)