In 1896, Victoria, Australia, amended the Factories and Shops Act to create a wages board. The wages board did not set a universal minimum wage; rather it set basic wages for six industries that were considered to pay low wages. First enacted as a four-year experiment, the wages board was renewed in 1900 and made permanent in 1904; by that time it covered 150 different industries.Waltman, Jerold. "The Politics of the Minimum Wage." University of Illinois Press. 2000
