The global expansion of British insurers in the nineteenth century has been a feature of insurance history that has highlighted the strategic nature of the multinational enterprise (MNE). The growth of the Australian colonies from the mid-nineteenth century attracted the interest of these overseas insurers. This article considers the challenges these firms faced and the way in which these trials were overcome. Effective networks were important in establishing a market presence in the Australian colonies. A combination of enterprise, luck, and resilience assisted in building these links. The experience of British insurers in the colonies sheds light on the processes of MNE expansion into markets beyond their range of tacit knowledge and expertise.

英国保险公司在19世纪的全球扩张一直是保险历史的一个特征，突出了跨国企业（MNE）的战略性质。从19世纪中叶开始，澳大利亚殖民地的发展吸引了这些海外保险公司的兴趣。本文考虑了这些公司所面临的挑战以及克服这些试验的方式。有效的网络对于在澳大利亚殖民地建立市场地位至关重要。企业，运气和弹性的结合有助于建立这些联系。英国保险公司在殖民地的经验为跨国公司向市场扩张的过程提供了隐性知识和专业知识以外的经验。