E-business courses were introduced in many universities around the world about ten years ago. Sometimes they were introduced at the undergraduate level, sometimes at postgraduate level and sometimes at both. This paper will present a case study examining the postgraduate e-business courses in two Australian universities and how they have changed over the last few years. The paper describes factors that influence the development of e-business courses and outlines a theory of subject development, originally intended to explain the development of new school subjects in 19fe century England. We make use of this theory to explain what has happened, and is still happening, in the case of e-business curriculum in Australia.