Resource-export
Australia might be the most economically backward Western country. Has the export profile of an African country. [2024]
That Australia is so wealthy yet relatively uncorrupt, egalitarian, and high functioning — despite primary goods being main export for 200 years — says something interesting about institutions, culture, human capital, and urbanisation
Wool
In the early 1800s, sheep occupied land the size of Ireland every year. Their flesh made food abundant, but it could not be exported in a time before refrigeration. It was their wool that monetised the vast land. Under those conditions, the sheep were self replicating, along with their wool. They required no feed cost nor to be houses against harsh northern European winters. They were merely tended to, and returned bountiful bales of wool.