Apprenticeship came to Australia from England with the establishment of the colony of New South Wales in 1788. By the end of the 19th century, apprenticeship was well recognized throughout all the states, which retained responsibility for its regulation and administration after federation. A common provision in states' apprenticeship legislation was for the establishment of committees with representatives from trade unions and employer associations that played significant roles in moving apprenticeship training from being "on the job" training to where it included a technical education component. From 1950-72, inquiry after inquiry confirmed the benefits of apprenticeship but criticized its inflexibility; changes did occur, including introduction of day attendance in technical and further education and pre-apprenticeships; most options for effective systemic change were known but the lack of action demonstrated the difficulty of making fundamental reforms, especially without grassroots support from employers and unions. Between 1972-84, a great deal of official attention was directed at working through many of the shortcomings with apprenticeship that had proven to be difficult to address in earlier years. For years after 1985, the commonwealth and states put much energy into developing traineeships; trade apprenticeship was virtually left alone. Training reform from 1990-98 resulted in combination of apprenticeships and traineeships under the umbrella title of "New Apprenticeships." (Contains 44 references.) (YLB)