ISBN: 978-0170244084

9 780170 244084For learning solutions, visit cengage.com.au

SARAH MIRAMS AND MERREDITH SOUTHEE SERIES EDITOR: TONY TAYLOR

NELSONMODERNHISTORY

NELSONMODERNHISTORY

NELSONMODERNHISTORY

Nelson Cengage has developed this series for Australian senior secondary students of Modern History. The series includes titles that encompass the period from the 18th century to the contemporary world and they explore the social, cultural and political developments that shape the 21st century. Written by experienced educators and experts in their fields, each book builds on a narrative framework to incorporate recent research and historiography, primary and secondary sources, and learning activities. These key features combine to support the development of historical knowledge and understanding and historical skills that will enable students to interpret and reflect on the experience and developments that have created the world in which they live.

A Globalised World

Age of Imperialism

Australia 1918–1950s

China and Revolution

Civil Rights in the United States of America

Decolonisation

Germany 1918–1945

India

Recognition and Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Russia and the Soviet Union

The Changing World Order

The Enlightenment

The French Revolution

The Industrial Revolution

The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East

United States of America 1900–1945

Women’s Movements MIR

AM

S SOU

THEE

AU

STRA

LIA 1918–1950s

Australia 1918–1950sThe Great Depression was one of many global developments that influenced Australia during the first half of the 20th century. Triggered by a range of economic factors, the Depression resulted in a rise in unemployment, which peaked at around 30 per cent of the male workforce in 1932 and a sharp decline in Australia’s economic production. This economic crisis led to the emergence of new political movements, such as the New Guard, the Unemployed Workers’ Movement and Langism, and influenced the political priorities of governments after the Second World War as they endeavoured to modernise and reconstruct the Australian economy. The impact of the Depression on Australians varied, depending on their social class, age, gender and whether they lived in cities or country areas. This 1934 photograph of schoolchildren queuing for free soup and bread at Belmore North Public School, Sydney, highlights the hardships endured by some Australians during the Depression years.

James ScullinScullin became prime minister of Australia on 22 October 1929, one week before the

stock market crash that triggered the Great Depression. He led the Labor Party government for the first two years of the Depression, a period he described as a ‘nightmare’.

Read more about James Scullin in Chapter 3.

AUSTRALIA 1918–1950s

australia_sb_44084_cvr_gatefold_finalart_2pp.indd 1-4 29/04/15 11:13 AM

It is time for young Australia to become adult

Percy Reginald Stephensen

Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore • Spain • United Kingdom • United States

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Contents

Index 197

001 Introduction

006 CHAPTER 1‘Something for the rising generation’: Australia 1900–17

030 CHAPTER 2‘The land of opportunity’: 1918–29

064 CHAPTER 3‘Would you give me two days work?’: 1929–38

094 CHAPTER 4‘A tiny drop in a coloured ocean’

122 CHAPTER 5‘Australia is also at war’: 1939–45

158 CHAPTER 6A new Australia

190 Conclusion

About the series iv

Series editor acknowledgements vi

Author acknowledgements vii

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Timeline1914–1955

1910 1930 1940

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1914

4 AugustAustralia entered the First World War

1915

25 April Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli in Turkey

1918

11 November Armistice ended four years of war

1919

Paris Peace Conference

1929

22 October James Scullin became prime minister following the Labor Party’s election win

24 OctoberWall Street Crash triggered the Great Depression

1932

19 March Sydney Harbour Bridge official opening ceremony interrupted by the New Guard

19 DecemberUnited Australia Party won federal election; Joseph Lyons became prime minister

1931

June Unemployment of trade unionists nationally reached 30 per cent

26 January First national Indigenous Conference and Aboriginal Day of Mourning

1939

September Britain and Australia declared war on Germany

1938

About the series

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AUSTRALIA 1918–1950s

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‘Would you give me two days work?’: 1929–38 CHAPTER 3

C H A P T E R T H R E E

‘Would you give me two days

work?’: 1929–38

❮ Two small children standing on the footpath during the Great Depression, Surry Hills, Sydney, 20 June 1932

This chapter explores what life was like for Australians during the worldwide

economic crisis known as the Great Depression, during which there were

unprecedented levels of unemployment. It considers to what extent class, race,

location, profession, age and gender determined people’s experiences, and examines

the effectiveness of the official response to the crisis. New political groups emerged

during this period – from both the left and the right –

offering alternative visions of Australia’s future. This chapter

also discusses the way historians have interpreted the

experience of the Great Depression and discusses some of

the historiographical debates that have emerged over the use

of oral history.

+ Was there one common experience of the Great Depression in Australia?

INQUIRY QUESTION

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

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Civil rightsFreedoms accepted in a democratic society, such as the freedom of speech, movement, the press, association and religious freedom.

Cold WarThe term used to describe the ideological conflict between capitalist and communist nations, which included propaganda as well as military, astronautical and territorial competition. The dates of the duration of the Cold War are disputed but 1947–1991 is common.

Conscription Compulsory military service.

ConservativeA political belief or social outlook that supports traditional institutions and values and is distrustful of changes to the established order.

DominionsSelf-governing territories of the British Empire, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

FederationWhen a group of states unite to form a central government. In Australian history the term is used to describe the combining of colonies to create the Commonwealth of Australia.

Great DepressionThe period of worldwide economic downturn after the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. The Depression ended US loans to Europe and caused economic crises and destabilisation. It was an important factor in the rise of extremism in

world politics and a cause of the tensions that led to war in 1939.

InternationalismThe belief in the importance of cooperation and understanding between nations in order to avoid war and conflict.

Keynesian economicsBased on the economic theories of the English economist Maynard Keynes, Keynesian economic theory calls for public (government) expenditure to regenerate demand and investment to assist in economic recovery. The Curtin and Chifley governments were proponents of these ideas during the 1940s.

MarxismThe social, political and economic theories developed by Karl Marx (1818–83) and Friedrich Engels (1820–95). They argued that class struggle is a feature of world history and that capitalism inevitably will be overthrown through a revolutionary struggle and replaced by a classless society. In 1848 they published The Communist Manifesto, a pamphlet that popularised their ideas.

NationalisationThe process of the State or government taking ownership of a country’s resources.

SectarianismDivisions within a mainstream religious group based on different interpretations of their creed or beliefs. Sectarianism in Australia during the period under study was primarily between Catholics and Protestants.

SocialismThe political theory that claims that the means of production and exchange should be owned by the community, not private individuals.

‘Susso’ Slang term for sustenance relief, referring to government support for the unemployed during the Depression in the form of food vouchers.

Total warThe mobilisation of a whole nation, including its people and the economy, to support the war effort.

White Australia PolicyAn umbrella term used to describe Commonwealth legislation that restricted non-white, non-British immigration into Australia.

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Using Australia 1918–1950sAustralia 1918–1950s has been developed especially for senior secondary students of History and is part of the Nelson Modern History series. Each book in the series is based on the understanding that History is an interpretive study of the past by which you also come to better appreciate the making of the modern world.

Developing understandings of the past and present in senior History extends on the skills you learnt in earlier years. As senior students you will use historical skills, including research, evaluation, synthesis, analysis and communication, and the historical concepts, such as evidence, continuity and change, cause and effect, significance, empathy, perspectives and contestability, to understand and interpret societies from the past. The activities and tasks in Australia 1918–1950s have been written to ensure that you develop the skills and attributes you need in senior History subjects.

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‘Would you give me two days work?’: 1929–38 CHAPTER 3

C H A P T E R T H R E E

‘Would you give me two days

work?’: 1929–38

❮ Two small children standing on the footpath during the Great Depression, Surry Hills, Sydney, 20 June 1932

This chapter explores what life was like for Australians during the worldwide

economic crisis known as the Great Depression, during which there were

unprecedented levels of unemployment. It considers to what extent class, race,

location, profession, age and gender determined people’s experiences, and examines

the effectiveness of the official response to the crisis. New political groups emerged

during this period – from both the left and the right –

offering alternative visions of Australia’s future. This chapter

also discusses the way historians have interpreted the

experience of the Great Depression and discusses some of

the historiographical debates that have emerged over the use

of oral history.

+ Was there one common experience of the Great Depression in Australia?

INQUIRY QUESTION

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CHAPTER 2‘The land of opportunity’: 1918–29

settlers’ dependence on government loans. During the depression of the 1930s, farming prices plummeted. Soldier settlers whose farms were deemed inefficient were paid to leave the land.

The Country PartyThe Country Party was established in 1920 to represent the interests of rural producers and businesses. Its supporters believed both the Nationalist and Labor Parties were neglecting the needs of the bush and were more interested in the cities and those who lived in them. The leader of the Country Party in 1921 was Earle Page, a Grafton doctor. Following the 1923 federal election, the Nationalist Party and the Country Party governed as a coalition. A condition of this political partnership was the resignation of Billy Hughes.

Stanley Melbourne Bruce (1883–1967)Stanley Melbourne Bruce was born in St Kilda,

Victoria. His father was a successful businessman

and Bruce was educated at Melbourne Church

of England Grammar School and Trinity College,

Cambridge. He fought with the British Army and

was awarded the Military Cross. After studying

law, he worked in his family business in London.

He returned to Australia in 1918 and was elected

to the seat of Flinders for the Nationalist Party. He

was appointed Australian delegate to the League

of Nations in 1919. Bruce was prime minister of

Australia from 1923 to 1929. He became the longest-

serving Australian High Commissioner to Britain

and was the President of the League of Nations in

1936. He became Lord Bruce of Melbourne in 1947. Nat

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Men, money and marketsStanley Bruce became prime minister of the Nationalist–Country Party coalition government in 1923. Bruce believed efficiency was the means by which Australia could become prosperous, develop its rural industries, maintain living standards and increase the population. In a speech he delivered at the 1923 Imperial Economic Conference in London, he outlined his future plan for Australia, arguing that ‘men, money and markets’ would transform Australia.

AUSTRALIA 1918–1950s

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The level of voluntary recruitment in Australia fell during 1917 and the AIF losses at Ypres increased pressure on Australia to supply more troops. Hughes announced that a second conscription referendum would be held on 20 December 1917. The second campaign was even more bitter and divisive than the first, playing out as it did against food riots and the Great Strike. The same arguments were made by both sides but newspaper reports suggest that meetings were far more violent, the arguments more irrational and the participants more hysterical.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, spoke out strongly for the ‘no’ vote, arguing that Australia had done its share. He became the voice of Irish working-class Catholics,who had often felt discriminated against in largely Protestant Australia. Mannix openly supported Sinn

Fein, the political group that had tried to overthrow the British to achieve Home Rule for an independent Ireland in 1916. Hughes exploited these sectarian tensions and used the War Precautions Act to stifle debate and opposition.

Despite Hughes’ efforts, the conscription referendum was again defeated, more strongly than in 1916 with the vote 1 181 747 ‘no’ and 1 015 159 ‘yes’. Victoria voted ‘no’ and the West Australian ‘no’ vote increased. The AIF vote was ‘yes’, but only by a slim margin. Journalist Keith Murdoch suggested that Australians would not support the ultimate sacrifice of conscription to fight in a war in far-away Europe. He argued that Australians would only ever accept conscription if war came to the Pacific and Australia was under direct threat.

‘Thumbs down!’Norman Lindsay (1879–1969) was an Australian artist who produced many cartoons and artworks in support of the war. He often used caricatures to depict the Germans as depraved monsters and members of the AIF as romantic, pure heroes. This cartoon was produced during the first conscription campaign in 1916 in support of the ‘yes’ vote.

SOURCE 1.10 ‘Thumbs down!’ cartoon by Norman Lindsay, published in The Bulletin

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sectarianismDivisions within a

mainstream religious

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interpretations of its creed

or beliefs. Sectarianism in

Australia during the period

under study was primarily

between Catholics and

Protestants.

Key figures And orgAnisAtions, Key terms And ConCepts, Key doCumentsfeature brief biographies, profiles, definitions and summaries of key documents as a ready reference for learning and revision.

illustrAted timelineis a bird’s-eye view of the topic and summarises the major developments of the period.

ChApter introduCtions provide a context to the issues that are addressed.

inquiry questions are listed at the start of the chapter. These questions provide a focus for you as you read each chapter.

signifiCAnt indiViduAls are biographical profiles and assessments of key historical figures and frequently include questions and activities.

sourCe studies of visual and text primary sources and secondary literature appear frequently throughout the text and are combined with questions and activities to aid your evaluation and interpretation of evidence from the past.

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KEY FIGURES AND ORGANISATIONS

Minister for Immigration from 1945 to 1949, Calwell promoted the ‘populate or perish’ program to increase post-war population. He encouraged European immigration and upheld the White Australia Policy.

ARTHUR CALWELL (1896–1973)

Australian prime minister from 1923 to 1929. The son of a successful businessman, he joined the British Army and was awarded the Military Cross. He returned to Australia in 1917 and the following year he was elected to the seat of Flinders for the National Party.

STANLEY MELBOURNE BRUCE (1883–1967)

Australian prime minister from 1945 to 1949, Chifley pursued the goals of post-war reconstruction to increase economic development, maintain high employment and improve social justice.

BEN CHIFLEY (1885–1951)

Cowan became the first Australian woman to be elected to an Australian parliament when she stood successfully as the endorsed Nationalist candidate in Western Australia in 1921. Cowan was a suffragette, social worker and Justice of the Peace, and lobbied for equal pay for women.

EDITH COWAN (1861–1932)

A journalist who became leader of the ALP in 1935. He reunited the party and became Australian prime minister in October 1941, just two months before the Pacific War commenced. Curtin was a popular leader who demanded Australians commit themselves to the war effort. He died before the Pacific War ended.

JOHN CURTIN (1885–1945)

As Minister for War Organisation, Dedman administered war production, manpower regulations, promotion of war savings bonds and the rationing of domestic goods during the Second World War.

JOHN DEDMAN (1896–1973)

A feminist, pacifist and social activist with an international reputation. She was one of the first four women in the British Empire to stand for election in a national parliament.

VIDA GOLDSTEIN (1869–1949)

Australian prime minister from 1915 to 1923. After the Labor Party ejected Hughes in 1916 for supporting conscription he went on to join the elected Nationalist Party and served as prime minister until 1923. Hughes was a fervent supporter of the White Australia Policy, the British Empire, the war effort and conscription. He represented Australia at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

WILLIAM ‘BILLY’ MORRIS HUGHES (1862–1952)

Labor premier of NSW during the Great Depression. He attempted to chart an independent economic agenda called the Lang Plan, which included defaulting on British loans.

JACK LANG (1876–1975)

Clockwise from top left: National Library of Australia (an23323131); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an23351616); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-vn4831473); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an12267621); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an23302441)

KEY TERMS AND CONCEPTS

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Civil rightsFreedoms accepted in a democratic society, such as the freedom of speech, movement, the press, association and religious freedom.

Cold WarThe term used to describe the ideological conflict between capitalist and communist nations, which included propaganda as well as military, astronautical and territorial competition. The dates of the duration of the Cold War are disputed but 1947–1991 is common.

Conscription Compulsory military service.

ConservativeA political belief or social outlook that supports traditional institutions and values and is distrustful of changes to the established order.

DominionsSelf-governing territories of the British Empire, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada and South Africa.

FederationWhen a group of states unite to form a central government. In Australian history the term is used to describe the combining of colonies to create the Commonwealth of Australia.

Great DepressionThe period of worldwide economic downturn after the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. The Depression ended US loans to Europe and caused economic crises and destabilisation. It was an important factor in the rise of extremism in

world politics and a cause of the tensions that led to war in 1939.

InternationalismThe belief in the importance of cooperation and understanding between nations in order to avoid war and conflict.

Keynesian economicsBased on the economic theories of the English economist Maynard Keynes, Keynesian economic theory calls for public (government) expenditure to regenerate demand and investment to assist in economic recovery. The Curtin and Chifley governments were proponents of these ideas during the 1940s.

MarxismThe social, political and economic theories developed by Karl Marx (1818–83) and Friedrich Engels (1820–95). They argued that class struggle is a feature of world history and that capitalism inevitably will be overthrown through a revolutionary struggle and replaced by a classless society. In 1848 they published The Communist Manifesto, a pamphlet that popularised their ideas.

NationalisationThe process of the State or government taking ownership of a country’s resources.

SectarianismDivisions within a mainstream religious group based on different interpretations of their creed or beliefs. Sectarianism in Australia during the period under study was primarily between Catholics and Protestants.

SocialismThe political theory that claims that the means of production and exchange should be owned by the community, not private individuals.

‘Susso’ Slang term for sustenance relief, referring to government support for the unemployed during the Depression in the form of food vouchers.

Total warThe mobilisation of a whole nation, including its people and the economy, to support the war effort.

White Australia PolicyAn umbrella term used to describe Commonwealth legislation that restricted non-white, non-British immigration into Australia.

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Coming home: 1919Some memorials to the First World War cite 1919 as the year of peace. It was the year most Australians came home. At the end of the war 167 000 Australian soldiers were stationed overseas and there were demands to bring them home as soon as possible. Despite enormous logistical obstacles, by the end of 1919 only 10 000 members of the AIF remained overseas.

The return of the men also brought added tragedy. A virulent form of influenza had been detected among the troops in Europe in 1918. It eventually spread across the globe, killing 50 to 100 million people. Australia was unprepared for such a public health emergency and the Spanish influenza pandemic spread. Churches, schools and businesses were closed and public buildings were transformed into temporary hospitals. By 1920, when it had run its course, the Spanish influenza pandemic had killed 12 000 Australians.

The Anzac legendDespite the death, division and pain caused by the war, the AIF experience spawned a nationalist story, which has become known as the Anzac legend. The Anzac legend grew from the Australian experience at Gallipoli. Journalist and historian Charles Bean in his eyewitness accounts of the AIF presented the Australian soldier as independent, resourceful and courageous, and always displaying humour in the face of adversity. The Anzac soldiers challenged rank and authority and refused to acknowledge the class and value system of the Old World. Above everything else they valued mateship. Bean argued that these characteristics grew out of the experience of living in the bush. In 1921 the word ‘Anzac’ was protected by an act of parliament and in 1927 Anzac Day became a national holiday. The Anzac legend gave returned servicemen a special place in Australian history and society and the Anzac characteristics were said to represent all that was good about Australia. It is the view of some historians that it divided Australia into two camps during the 1920s and 1930s: those who had fought and those who had stayed behind.

The Anzac legend remained strong from 1919 through to the Second World War, when the Second AIF was formed. During the social and political upheaval of the 1960s and 1970s, including the Vietnam War conscription protests and student activism, interest in the Anzac legend declined. It was revived in the 1980s with the so-called ‘memory boom’, films like Gallipoli (1981), and the popularity of social and family history. Today, Anzac ceremonies attract enormous crowds, battlefield pilgrimages have become popular and the story of the Anzacs is a part of the national History curriculum. The Anzac legend has been recast to be less militaristic and more inclusive of race and gender; however, there is debate about its relevance in Australian contemporary society. In 2015 commemoration ceremonies and activities were held across the world to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Gallipoli landings. In Australia, some have questioned the amount of money spent on these events, suggesting it would have been better used to support veteran soldiers injured in more recent conflicts such as Afghanistan.

Questions

1 Describe the different ways in which the Anzac legend has been understood over time. 2 Why and how are historical events rejudged and assessed over time? 3 In your view, are the Anzac legend and the Gallipoli campaign worth commemorating and celebrating?

‘Australia is also at war’: 1939–45CHAPTER 5

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SOURCE 5.11 Asia-Pacific Theatre during the Second World War showing Japanese expansion by August 1942.

AUSTRALIA

NEW GUINEA

PAPUA

DUTCH EAST INDIES

PHILIPPINES

BURMAINDIA

NEPAL

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MANCHURIA

KOREA JAPAN

USSR

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Singapore

Hong Kong

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Coral SeaINDIAN OCEAN

Midway IslandsIwo Jima

MarianaIslands

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Battle of Midway

Coral Sea

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June

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June

1942 August 1942

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June 1942

August 1942

May 1942

August 1942

May 1942

Extent of Japanese advanceCountry border

Major military action

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PERSPECTIVES ON THE INVASION OF AUSTRALIA The newsreels, magazines, newspapers, posters, pamphlets, all controlled by the Commonwealth Government, reinforced the threat faced from Japan in 1942. There was a genuine belief at the time that Australia was about to be invaded, especially following the air attacks on towns in northern Australia from mid-February 1942. Many historians have discussed the prospect of an invasion. Peter Stanley, an Australian historian, reflected on the ‘Battle for Australia’ in a radio interview in 2008.

... early in 1942, Japan’s wartime leaders thought about invading Australia. They weighed up the costs and the possible results, and decided not to. Thank goodness their fortunes waned in the course of 1942, and they never got a chance to change their minds.

Australians not unreasonably thought that having conquered most of South-East Asia the Japanese would simply keep going. It was logical – and they’d been fearful of Japanese aggression for 50 years ... The Curtin government understandably warned Australians to prepare for attack or even invasion – as the notorious poster put it ‘He’s Coming South’!

In fact, ‘He’ was not, but John Curtin and the Allied Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur only understood this by about the middle of 1942.

Questions1 What does Peter Stanley

suggest Australian leaders during the war thought of the threat to Australia?

2 What evidence does Stanley use to substantiate his argument that the Japanese were not planning to invade Australia?

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Chapter summary + Australians fought in two different theatres of war from 1939 to 1945, one in North Africa

and the Mediterranean and the other in the Pacific region. + 1942 was the most dangerous year in Australia’s history. Northern towns and Sydney

Harbour were bombed by Japan and Prime Minister John Curtin called for a national commitment to ‘Total War’.

+ Approximately one million American servicemen, led by General Douglas MacArthur, used Australia as the base for war against Japan in the Pacific from 1941 to 1945.

+ The experience of Australians fighting overseas and changed circumstances on the home front resulted in significant political, social and economic changes.

+ The war led to the dissolution of the United Australia Party and the creation of a new anti-Labor party, the Liberal Party.

+ Conflicting views on the nature of postwar Australia were developing during 1944 and 1945.

Endnotes1 See Marilyn Lake, ‘Female desires: the meaning of World War II’ in J Damousi and M Lake

(Eds), Gender and War: Australians at War in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995.

2 M Sturma, ‘Public Health and Sexual Morality: Venereal Disease in World War II Australia, Signs, Vol. 13, No. 4, Summer 1988, pp. 725–740.

WeblinksWeblinks relevant to this chapter can be found at http://nmh.nelsonnet.com.au/australia.

Further resources Patsy Adam-Smith, Australian Women at War, Thomas Nelson Australia, Melbourne, 1984David Day, Menzies and Churchill at War, Simon and Schuster, NSW, 2001David Day, John Curtin: A Life, HarperCollins, Sydney, 2006P Heron, Story of a Digger, an unpublished paper based on interviews with Roy Heron, 2009Ian McLean, Why Australia Prospered: The Shifting Sources of Economic Growth, Princeton University

Press, New Jersey, 2013Peter Stanley, Invading Australia: Japan and the Battle for Australia, 1942, Viking, Camberwell, 2008James Walter, What Were They Thinking? The Politics of Ideas in Australia, University of NSW,

Sydney, 2010Christopher Waters, Australia and Appeasement: Imperial Foreign Policy and the Origins of World

War II, IB Tauris, London, 2011

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Chapter review activities1 Historian Mark Johnson attempted to characterise the typical Australian recruit during mid-

1941 in the article ‘The civilians who joined up 1939–45’, in the Journal of the Australian War Memorial. Read this article (see chapter weblinks) and evaluate the usefulness of Johnson’s definition of a ‘typical Australian recruit’.

2 Research two significant events that occurred during the Pacific war. Explain the reasons for or significance of the events from the perspective of the Japanese military and/or the Australian Government.

3 Use evidence from this chapter to explain the major social changes that occurred in Australia as a result of the Second World War. Include the experiences of women, Indigenous Australians and servicemen and women.

4 Investigate Australian prisoners of war in Europe and Asia. Compare and contrast their experiences during their captivity and the impact of the war on them.

5 Research, describe and account for the different experiences and attitudes towards German, Italian and Japanese prisoners of war in Australia. Find out where camps were located in your state, what facilities they contained and investigate stories associated with them.

6 Explain the nature and significance of the legislation enacted by the Australian federal government between 1942 and 1945 (see Source 5.16 on p. 146).

7 Use evidence from the chapter to support or refute the following proposition:

‘The Second World War was the cause of a revolution in the Australian manufacturing industry.’

8 Choose two propaganda posters from this chapter and analyse the message, origin, usefulness and contestable nature of each.

9 The commemoration of the ‘The Battle for Australia’ was supported by the federal government during the late 1990s. Research the origin and contestable nature of the decision to commemorate this event each September.

Conclusion

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C O N C L U S I O N AUSTRALIALife was very different for Australians born after the end of the Second World War, compared to those born after the First World War. Children lived longer, healthier lives, had more educational opportunities, better living conditions and the convenience and freedom that came with new technology and scientific advances. Their childhoods and teenage years were not overshadowed by the reality of global war and Depression, although memories of these events influenced economic and political developments through the 1950s. A new kind of war – a Cold War with its threat of nuclear weaponry and rivalry between the United States and the USSR – cast its own shadow across the 1950s and 1960s.

The landscape of Australia was transformed as the population grew to more than 10 million by 1960. Most Australians grew up in the suburbs, which spread from the cities in between the old railway lines. The car transformed the urban landscape and shaped these suburbs. Bush was cleared for more intensive, mechanised farming. Ideas about race, class and gender, which were largely accepted uncritically by Australians in 1918, were increasingly challenged in the postwar world by these new generations.

GOLDEN AGE?Sir Robert Menzies served as prime minister from 1949 to 1966, and was 71 years old on his retirement from politics. This was a golden age for Australia and a period of material progress for most Australians, with high employment, steadily increasing wages and working and living standards, high prices and demand for Australian agricultural exports. Asia provided new export markets for Australian wool and cotton and more bush was cleared to create larger agricultural enterprises. The days of the yeoman farmer were over.

The mining industry boomed with uranium exploration encouraged by the government. This was the atomic age and there was demand for Australian uranium, mined at Rum Jungle in the Northern Territory and Radium Creek in South Australia. During this time of economic affluence and stability, there was little political change. This economic stability was shared across the developed world as global trade expanded and the international monetary system remained stable.

With this growing affluence came a demand for new consumer goods in the houses being built across the new suburbs and regional cities. Factories produced car parts, vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, lawn mowers, wireless radio sets, televisions, clothes and furniture. These products were for the domestic market and were protected by tariffs. Manufacturing became a major employer of migrants.

The split of 1955 sent the Australian Labor Party ‘into the wilderness’ for the next 18 years. The traditional Labor vote was now divided between the Australian Labor Party and the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in 1956. The DLP, which was most powerful in Victoria, delivered its electoral preferences to the Liberal Country Party coalition, ensuring that the ALP could not obtain a clear majority in the federal Parliament. The Labor Party was divided, smeared with the

❮ For many Australians in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a car such as this gleaming Holden was the key to suburban living.

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1a What, in your opinion, were the three major changes in Australian society between 1918

and the 1950s?b What, in your opinion, were three major ways Australian society didn’t change between

1918 and the 1950s? c Select five images from this book that, in your opinion, tell the story of Australian history

between 1918 and the 1950s. Explain your choices. d What was the White Australia policy and how did it operate?e Why was Australia described as a ‘social laboratory’ following Federation?f Where is Gallipoli and why are the events that took place there seen as significant in

Australian history?g Describe the way technology improved the quality of life for Australians between 1918 and

the 1950s.h How did Australian reformers try to improve the lives of women between 1918 and 1949?i What rights were denied to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people prior to 1939?j What was the Great Depression? k Which groups in Australian society suffered most during the Great Depression?l Describe the different political responses to the Great Depression.m What determined the wages received by women workers?n Describe two major conflicts Australian troops were involved in during the Second

World War. o Explain the terms ‘Austerity’ and ‘All In’ and how they relate to the home-front experience

of the Second World War.p How did the war change for Australians in 1942?q What are Displaced Persons and how were they important in post-war Australia? r What was the Department of Post-war Reconstruction and what was its purpose?s Name three economic and social policies introduced during the postwar reconstruction

period (1944–1950s).t What were the main issues that ensured the election of Robert Menzies in 1949?u What was the Cold War?v How did the built and natural landscape of Australia, in both the city and country, change

after the war?

2Provide an example from this book of each of the following groups, terms or ideas:a conscriptionb White Australiac yeoman farmer

d communisme citizens, groupf Depression

g oral historyh sussoi feminism

ACTIVITIES

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MEN ON THE LANDBritish migrants were lured to Australia with the promise of homes, jobs and prosperity. The state and commonwealth governments introduced schemes to settle British families on the land to expand Australia’s agricultural production. Britain was keen to alleviate urban unemployment. Between 1921 and 1929, some 221 000 immigrants came to Australia, mainly from Britain under assisted schemes. Another 100 000 travelled to Australia independently. Empire schemes were negotiated between the British and Australian governments with a £34-million loan for assisted immigration in 1925. There was also an increase of ‘white aliens’ during the 1920s, in particular Italians, who were required to have guaranteed employment and £40 when they landed in Australia. During this period the ratio of European to British migration was one to four.

The schemes were based on the same principles as the soldier settlement schemes. Small parcels of land bought by the government were leased to settlers and loans were advanced. It was expected the new settlers would clear and develop their land using the family as the source of labour. These British selectors faced similar barriers to success as the soldier settlers had. Their blocks were too small, the land too marginal and they lacked the capital to employ labour or buy machinery to make farming economically viable. Most had no farming experience and although they were promised scientific training, decent accommodation and facilities, most found themselves living in isolated, primitive conditions. They were unfamiliar with the Australian climate and agricultural conditions. More than half the British selectors left the land.

We need markets! Australia will sell its agricultural produce such as wool, butter, meat, fruit and raw materials to Britain.

We need men! Australia needs to increase its population and fill the empty spaces by encouraging millions of Britons to migrate.

We need money! Australia needs to borrow money from Britain to build roads, railways and the infrastructure to finance rural settlement.

Britain will sell its manufacturing goods to Australia.

White Australia will remain a cornerstone of the nation.Australia’s standard of living will remain high.

MEN, MONEY AND MARKETS

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4 Beyond this bookThe Nelson Modern History series includes numerous titles on a range of topics covered in senior History courses around Australia. For further information about the series visit: www.nelsonsecondary.com.au.

ChApter summAry And ChApter reVieW ACtiVities conclude each chapter. They include a brief precis of the topic, suggestions for further reading, and a range of learning activities that consolidate knowledge and understanding of the chapter’s content. These tasks incorporate a range of historical understandings and skills.

the ConClusionsummarises the topic and includes a series of activities to consolidate your knowledge of it. More importantly, these final tasks will help you build an understanding and interpretation of this period in history.

diAgrAms And tAlKing sourCesare used to visually summarise complex ideas and events.

informAtion boXes contain extended discussions of key events, concepts and historical developments. Many also include questions and activities.

historiAn boXes introduce key historians and schools of interpretation as a way of making historiography clearer.

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Key figures And orgAnisAtions

Minister for Immigration from 1945 to 1949, Calwell promoted the ‘populate or perish’ program to increase post-war population. He encouraged European immigration and upheld the White Australia Policy.

Arthur CAlwell (1896–1973)

Australian prime minister from 1923 to 1929. The son of a successful businessman, he joined the British Army and was awarded the Military Cross. He returned to Australia in 1917 and the following year he was elected to the seat of Flinders for the National Party.

StAnley Melbourne bruCe (1883–1967)

Australian prime minister from 1945 to 1949, Chifley pursued the goals of post-war reconstruction to increase economic development, maintain high employment and improve social justice.

ben Chifley (1885–1951)

Cowan became the first Australian woman to be elected to an Australian parliament when she stood successfully as the endorsed Nationalist candidate in Western Australia in 1921. Cowan was a suffragette, social worker and Justice of the Peace, and lobbied for equal pay for women.

edith CowAn (1861–1932)

A journalist who became leader of the ALP in 1935. He reunited the party and became Australian prime minister in October 1941, just two months before the Pacific War commenced. Curtin was a popular leader who demanded Australians commit themselves to the war effort. He died before the Pacific War ended.

John Curtin (1885–1945)

As Minister for War Organisation, Dedman administered war production, manpower regulations, promotion of war savings bonds and the rationing of domestic goods during the Second World War.

John dedMAn (1896–1973)

A feminist, pacifist and social activist with an international reputation. She was one of the first four women in the British Empire to stand for election in a national parliament.

VidA GoldStein (1869–1949)

Australian prime minister from 1915 to 1923. After the Labor Party ejected Hughes in 1916 for supporting conscription he went on to join the elected Nationalist Party and served as prime minister until 1923. Hughes was a fervent supporter of the White Australia Policy, the British Empire, the war effort and conscription. He represented Australia at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.

williAM ‘billy’ MorriS huGheS (1862–1952)

Labor premier of NSW during the Great Depression. He attempted to chart an independent economic agenda called the Lang Plan, which included defaulting on British loans.

JACk lAnG (1876–1975)

Clockwise from top left: National Library of Australia (an23323131); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an23351616); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-vn4831473); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an12267621); National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an23302441)

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3Introduction

Australian prime minister through the Depression decade of 1932–39. He died while in office. Lyons was born in Tasmania and formed the United Australia Party after resigning from the ALP in 1931.

JoSeph lyonS (1879–1939)

Served as Australian prime minister on two occasions: from 1939–41 and 1949–66. He was a former lawyer who established the Liberal Party, which he led to victory at the 1949 election. Menzies remained prime minister during a time of economic prosperity and social change in post-war Australia.

robert MenzieS (1894–1978)

Soldier, engineer and lawyer who commanded the newly formed Australian Corps in early 1918. A series of victories leading up to the Armistice secured his reputation as a leading military tactician.

Sir John MonASh (1865–1931)

Former journalist, grocer union organiser and labourer, Scullin entered federal parliament in 1910 for the

JAMeS SCullin (1876–1953)

Established in the 1890s, the Australian Labor Party was formed as a working-class political movement with close associations with the trade union movement. The spelling of the party name was adopted in 1912, with explanations for the change in spelling ranging from the influence of the American labour movement to a simple error. Labor prime ministers during the period from 1918 to the 1950s include ‘Billy’ Hughes, James Scullin, John Curtin and Ben Chifley.

AuStrAliAn lAbor pArty

Established in 1920 after the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the CPA was aligned to the Communist International (Comintern).

CoMMuniSt pArty of AuStrAliA (CpA)

Established in 1920 to represent the interests of Australian rural producers and businesses. The party’s name changed to the National Party of Australia in 1982.

the Country pArty

Established by Robert Menzies in 1945 as a successor organisation to the United Australia Party. The Liberal Party was established as a non-Labor, anti-communist, centre-right party. The first federal Liberal government was elected in 1949 with Robert Menzies as prime minister.

liberAl pArty of AuStrAliA

Established in 1955, the DLP was an anti-communist and largely Catholic breakaway group originating from the Australian Labor Party. The spelling was changed to Democratic Labour Party in 2013.

deMoCrAtiC lAbor pArty (dlp)

Right-wing, paramilitary, anti-communist citizens group led by Eric Campbell during the Depression. It was opposed to Langism.

new GuArd

Established in 1930 by the Communist Party of Australia, the UWM acted as a self-help group for the unemployed, a protest organisation and a potential recruitment source for the CPA during the Depression.

uneMployed workerS MoVeMent (uwM)

Active between 1931 and 1945, the UAP emerged as a result of splits in the Australian Labor Party during the Great Depression and combined conservative and Labor dissenters. Leaders included Joseph Lyons and Robert Menzies.

united AuStrAliA pArty (uAp)

Top to bottom: National Library of Australia (nla.pic-an12265907); Australian War Memorial (A02691)

Established in August 1914, the AIF was the name given to the Australian Army in the First World War. The AIF was reconstituted in 1939 as the 2nd Australian Imperial Force and served in the Second World War.

AuStrAliAn iMperiAl forCe (Aif)

Australian Labor Party. He became prime minister in October 1929 at the onset of the Great Depression and governed for two years.

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Chapter 1‘Something for the rising generation’: Australia 1900–17

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C h a p t e r o n e

This chapter outlines significant political, economic and social events that helped

shape Australia in the years leading up to 1918. It provides a background to the study

of modern Australian history from 1918 to the 1950s.

In 1901 the six British colonies federated to become the Commonwealth of

Australia. This chapter describes the political structure of the Commonwealth, the

rights and responsibilities of its citizens, and considers who was included and excluded

in the new nation. This chapter also examines Australia’s

relationship with Britain, and considers how ideas of race and

gender shaped attitudes towards internal and external threats

to the new nation. It describes Australia’s participation in the

First World War and considers the impact this had on both

international and domestic politics.

❮ Australian Prime Minister, WM (Billy) Hughes, speaking in Martin Place, Sydney, c. 1916.

‘Something for the rising generation’: Australia 1900–17

+ What significant events had shaped Australian society by 1918?

InquIry questIon

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A new nation?By the 1880s the possibility of the colonies of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and Queensland uniting to become one nation was being widely discussed across Australia. Historians attribute the interest in the formation of a united Australia to a number of factors: + Australia’s distance, small population, large land mass and proximity to Asia made the

colonists fear invasion or annexation. A united Australia could protect its borders. + There was no British military presence on Australian soil. + There was a particular fear of invasion from Asia, prompted by the rise of Japan as a military

power. + The acceptance of scientific racism led to a growing concern to keep Australia white and

exclude other races that were regarded as inferior and a threat to the white Australian lifestyle and working conditions.

+ By the 1880s, the Australian-born population outnumbered the migrant population for the first time. Australian-born people referred to themselves as Australian-Britons.

+ A sense of national identity and Australian nationalism developed, which was reflected in art, sport, literature and popular culture.

+ Technological developments such as the telegraph and the railway improved communication between the colonies.

From Federation to the conscription reFerendums

1901 January Federation declared Immigration Restriction Act passed1907 Harvester Judgement established basic male wage 1914 July First World War began1915 oCtober William Morris Hughes became prime minister 25 aprIl Gallipoli landings took place at Anzac Cove1916 oCtober First conscription referendum was held1917 august Great Strike DeCember Second conscription referendum was held

The movement for Federation did not represent a desire to unite and break away from Britain to become a republic as the American colonies did in 1776. Rather, the aim was to combine the colonies into a single nation within the British Empire. Most Australians identified as Australian-Britons and were proud to be part of the British Empire. Ties of family, shared sports and the shared culture of language, reading and writing bound them to Great Britain. Schools taught

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sourCe 1.1 This Punch magazine cartoon from 1899, entitled Combine Australia!, shows the British lion captaining a colonial cricket team, with kangaroos representing each Australian colony. Mr Punch the umpire is encouraging the colonies to work together as they did in the first Ashes series against England in 1877. ‘You’ve done jolly well by combination in the cricket field, and now you’re going to Federate at home. Bravo, boys!’

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FeDeratIonBefore the colonies could unite, a constitution had to be drawn up to set out the structure of government and determine which political responsibilities the Commonwealth and state governments would have. The constitution was drafted at constitutional conventions held in 1891 and 1897–98. It was put to a referendum in 1899, which was passed in all colonies. Federation was formally declared on 1 January 1901 in Centennial Park, Sydney.

students to understand their patriotic duty and fostered a love of the British Empire through stories, poems and songs. On Empire Day, which was introduced into state schools in 1905, after Federation had occurred, schoolchildren took part in plays and pageants and swore allegiance to the King and Empire.

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Structures of Australian governmentFederation established the Commonwealth of Australia. This created a single nation from the British colonies. The Australian Constitution defines the role, responsibilities and structures of the Commonwealth. The following diagrams summarise the key features of this system.

the legIslature

the CroWnThe Governor-General represents the monarch

the house of representativesThe lower house of the Australian parliament Members are elected for three-year termsThe prime minister is appointed from the lower house

the senateThe upper house of the Australian parliamentMembers are elected from each state

the eXeCutIVethe prime minister and cabinetDecides policy and prepares legislation for Parliament

the JuDICIarythe high courtA primary role of the High Court is to interpret and apply the Australian Constitution

sourCe 1.2 The division of Commonwealth powers as defined in the Australian Constitution

New SouthWales

Queensland

Victoria

WesternAustralia South

Australia

Tasmania

AustralianCapitalTerritory

NorthernTerritory

States and TerritoriesEach Australian state andterritory has its ownlegislatures andconstitutions. Law-makingnot specified in theAustralian Constitution isleft to the states. Thismeans that statesadminister education;health; roads, railways andpublic transport; police andprisons; mining andagriculture.

The CommonwealthGovernmentLaw-making powers of theCommonwealth (federal)government are defined inthe Constitution. Theyinclude trade andcommerce; defence; postand telecommunications;lighthouses; customs;immigration; and foreignpolicy.

sourCe 1.3 Law-making powers of Australian state, territory and federal governments

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sourCe 1.4 This poster was produced in 1901, the year of Federation, and was made into a lantern slide for a series of public lectures on the discovery and development of Australia. It identifies in visual form some of the concerns held for the future of the new nation.

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Australian political parties 1900–14Three political parties were represented in the first Commonwealth parliament in 1901.

The Labor Party was established in 1892 following a series of industrial strikes and an economic depression. The Labor Party was committed to socialism and was supported by the working class and trade unionists.

The Protectionist Party was established in 1889. Protectionists believed that Australian industry and farming needed to be protected from overseas competition through the introduction of tariffs. The Protectionist Party split in 1909 with some members joining the Labor Party and others the Commonwealth Liberal Party.

The Free Trade Party was also established in 1889. It was a conservative party that believed in free trade and was opposed to protection tariffs. In 1906 the Free Trade Party was dissolved and became the Anti-Socialist Party. In 1909 it became the Commonwealth Liberal Party, led by Joseph Cook. It was also known as the Fusion Party.

socialismThe political theory

that advocates

that the means of

production and

exchange should

be owned by the

community, not

private individuals

conservative Having political

beliefs or a social

outlook that

supports traditional

institutions and

values and distrusts

changes to the

established order

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shapIng the neW natIon In the first 14 years of the Australian Commonwealth, legislation passed by elected representatives reflected the sort of nation Australia wanted to be. The first two significant Acts were the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 and the Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901. Together they became known as the ‘White Australia Policy’. They demonstrated the government’s determination to separate the races and keep Australia ‘white’. Indigenous Australians and non-Europeans were excluded from the right to vote under the Franchise Restriction Act 1902. They were also ineligible for pensions and the maternity allowance.

table 1.1 Commonwealth legislation 1900–12

Year Act Content

1901 Immigration Restriction Act

This Act controlled who could enter Australia. It barred entry for criminals, people with mental illness and people with infectious diseases. Immigrants could be required to sit a written dictation test in any European language. Officially, this was a test of literacy, but unofficially it was a means of excluding Asian and other non-white immigrants.

1901 Pacific Island Labourers Act

The Act stopped the recruitment of labourers from Pacific Islands and ordered the deportation of those working in Australia by 1907.

1902 Commonwealth Franchise Act

The Act determined who could vote in federal elections. Those who were given the right to vote included white men on the state electoral rolls, and white women, even if they could not vote in state elections as was the case in New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and Queensland. The Act stated that no ‘aboriginal native of Australia, Asia, Africa or the Islands of the Pacific except New Zealand’ could have their name put on the electoral roll unless covered by section 41 of the Constitution.

1902 Customs Tariff Act This Act protected Australian manufacturing industries by imposing customs duties on imported goods.

1904 Conciliation and Arbitration Act

This Act established the Conciliation and Arbitration Court. This federal court could rule on wages and conditions and arbitrated in industrial disputes that crossed state borders.

1908 Invalid and Old Age Pension Act

This Act introduced a system of pensions for men and women aged over 65, and for those who could not work because they were incapacitated.

1909 Defence Amendment Act

This Act introduced a system of compulsory military training for men aged between 12 and 26. The Defence Amendment Act did not allow Aboriginal people or anyone not of European descent to enlist in the Army.

1912 Maternity Allowance Act This Act introduced a sum of money paid to mothers (married and unmarried) on the birth of their child. The allowance of £5 was the equivalent of five weeks factory wage. Asian and Aboriginal women were not entitled to the allowance, which was only given to white women.

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soCIal laboratoryAustralia gained a global reputation as a ‘social laboratory’ after Federation because of the laws that were introduced to improve the lives of its citizens. With Federation came women’s right to vote – a radical idea at that time. Primary school education was compulsory and free in all states and territories. The Commonwealth Government provided allowances and pensions for the elderly, the incapacitated and new mothers. Aboriginal people and Asian migrants were not entitled to these benefits.

The Conciliation and Arbitration Court was established to deal with industrial disputes between workers and employers, lessening the chance of strikes and industrial conflict. Australia was the second country in the world, after New Zealand, to establish such a body. One of its most significant decisions was handed down by Justice Higgins in 1907 after a dispute over fair and reasonable wages at the Sunshine Harvester Works factory. In his decision Justice Higgins considered the normal needs of a family, consisting of a husband, wife and three children, to determine the wage needed to live ‘as a human being in a civilised society’. The Harvester Judgement established the idea of a basic wage, a new concept in industrial relations.

Australia UnlimitedIn 1913, journalist and writer EJ Brady was commissioned by the Commonwealth Government to write a book promoting Australia to the world. Entitled Australia Unlimited, the book was heavily illustrated with photographs and was more than 1000 pages long.

We can challenge the world in humane legislation. It is our universal hope and aim that when our population has sprung from five to fifty millions the conditions under which they labour and live shall be better than they are today.

In Australia at the present moment neither starvation, nor sweating, nor juvenile labour, nor illiteracy nor injustice is tolerated. And what we have not done we are on the way to do. To protect women and children, to care for the sick and aged throughout Australia – this has come to be a recognised function of the administration. No change of government will alter this outlook ...

… Step by step we are building up a system of applied humanity, which alone shall entitle us to walk with the vanguard of civilised nations.

EJ Brady, Australia Unlimited, George Robinson, Melbourne, c. 1918, p. 820

Questions

1 What examples of ‘humane legislation’ does Brady give in this extract?2 What is the relationship between the state and the people according to Brady? 3 What future does Brady see for the Australian nation? 4 How valid is Brady’s claim that there was ‘no injustice’ in Australia? 5 This book has been called ‘an advertisement for Australia’. What does this mean and how accurate is this

description, based on this extract? 6 Explain the phrase ‘vanguard of civilised nations’. Why does Brady believe Australia deserves this status?7 If you were a factory worker in Britain or Europe, what impression of Australia would this extract give you?

sweatingAlso ‘sweated labour’.

Term used to describe the

exploitation of workers

in factories. Sweated

labourers endured long

hours, often in unsafe

conditions, for low wages.

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aborIgInal australIans Aboriginal Australians were excluded from the benefits that came with the newly federated nation. They were regarded as a dying race, low on the evolutionary scale, and it was thought that they would soon be superseded by the superior Europeans. The states retained responsibility for the Aboriginal population under the Constitution, and each state set different laws to control the lives of Aboriginal Australians. By 1912 all state governments had taken over the church-run mission stations and reserves and Aboriginal people became wards of the state. Aboriginal Protection Boards controlled and managed the lives of Aboriginal people. The exception was Tasmania, where Aboriginals were deemed to have

died out in 1876. In the states with the largest Indigenous populations – Western Australia, Queensland and

the Northern Territory – protectors were appointed to oversee aspects of everyday life such as marriage, employment, freedom of movement and cohabitation. In these states, Aboriginal people were made to live in compounds, separated from white society. In New South Wales and Victoria, Aboriginal people of mixed descent were forced to move from reserves that had been their homes since the 19th century and into white society. They were also forced to cut ties with their families. It was hoped that their Aboriginality would gradually be diluted and ‘bred out’.

Many children of mixed descent were removed from their families and placed in homes and institutions where they were trained to work as domestic servants or farmhands. These removals were based on the idea that children with more European ancestry were capable of blending into white society. By 1914, with the growing popularity of the pseudo-science of eugenics, child removal became more systematic.

ward of the stateA person, usually an infant

or someone defined as

incompetent, who has a

guardian appointed by

the court to manage their

affairs.

Scientific racismDuring the late 19th century, white scientists and anthropologists drew upon Darwinian theories about evolution and argued that intelligence was determined by race. According to this theory, the most superior race, physically and mentally, was the Nordics and there followed a progression downwards with Western Europeans, Eastern Europeans, Asians, Jews and finally ‘Negroes’ or blacks at the bottom of the intelligence scale. Australian Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders were considered among the most childlike and primitive of races. These views on race were widely accepted in the United States, Europe and Australia and were used to justify the colonisation of Africa and Asia and the restriction of non-white immigration. The intermingling of the races was seen as dangerous, as the ‘lesser’ races could pollute and weaken the white race.

eugenics The study of the

improvement of the

human race through

selective breeding

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Vida Goldstein (1869–1949) Vida Jane Goldstein was born in Portland, Victoria

in 1869 to Jacob Goldstein and Isabella Hawkins.

Her mother was a supporter of women’s suffrage

and a social reformer. Goldstein was well educated

by private governesses and attended Presbyterian

Ladies’ College in Melbourne. She briefly ran a

school with her sisters during the 1890s.

Goldstein’s first role in the women’s suffrage

movement was collecting signatures for the

‘Monster Petition’, tabled in Victorian Parliament

in 1891. She became a leading figure in the radical

women’s movement in Melbourne and by 1899

was an accomplished speaker. She travelled

to the United States (where women didn’t get

the vote in federal elections until 1920) and

spoke at the International Women’s Suffrage

Conference in 1902. She founded the Women’s

Political Organisation in 1903. The organisation

was dedicated to educating women about

politics and organising women’s votes in the interests of children, women and the home.

Goldstein believed the mainstream political parties did not represent women’s interests. Her

international reputation developed and she attracted huge crowds when she visited England

in support of the suffrage movement in 1911.

Australian women received the right to vote in federal elections in 1902. Goldstein was

one of the first four women in the British Empire to be nominated and stand for election in

a national parliament. She stood for federal parliament, unsuccessfully, four times between

1903 and 1917 and continued to agitate for women’s suffrage in Victoria, which was not

achieved until 1908.

Vida Goldstein promoted women’s issues in her journals The Australian Woman’s Sphere

and the Woman Voter, as well as undertaking lecture tours across the country. One of her

successful campaigns resulted in the passing of the Children’s Court Act 1906, which ruled that

children would not be tried as adults. She also campaigned for equal property rights for men

and women, to raise the age of consent, and against sweated labour.

Goldstein was a committed pacifist and was opposed to Australia’s involvement in the

First World War. She established the Women’s Peace Army in 1915. This group called for

the abolition of militarism and conscription, sought equal rights for women and supported

socialism. Goldstein represented Australia at the Women’s Peace Conference in Zurich in

1919, then remained in Europe for three years. On her return to Australia she supported

the causes of internationalism and equal pay for equal work, and worked to improve living

conditions. She believed women were the world’s civilisers and should play a role in politics.

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internationalismThe belief in the

importance of

cooperation and

understanding

between nations in

order to avoid war

and conflict

suffrage The right

to vote

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The condition of AustraliaThere was general agreement among politicians that Australia’s small population, extensive border and large landmass made the new nation vulnerable. Phrases such as ‘empty spaces’ and ‘unoccupied land’ were used to describe the vast tracts of land in the tropical north and inland that were unoccupied by whites. It was believed that overpopulated countries in Europe and Asia looked enviously south, ready to pounce. The nation could not be defended, it was believed, until the population in the bush rapidly increased.

Another concern for politicians and social reformers was that a very high proportion of Australia’s relatively small population lived in cities. Despite its reputation as a land of open spaces and primary producers, Australia was one of the most urbanised countries in the world. City life was considered unhealthy, both morally and physically, and city women had smaller families. A young healthy fertile nation, therefore, needed more of its people to live in the bush. To encourage this, all states ran schemes in which small acreages were leased to potential settlers. Despite these schemes, the drift to the city continued. The government’s own policy of protecting Australian manufacturing industries from competition by imposing taxes on imported goods meant that the number of jobs in factories increased. By 1911, 20 per cent of the population was employed in manufacturing and the number of people working in primary industry had declined.

table 1.2 States and major city populations 1914

State Major city Population of major city

Percentage of state’s population in the major city

NSW Sydney 752 500 40.38VIC Melbourne 675 000 47.11QLD Brisbane 154 011 22.76SA Adelaide 205 443 46.10WA Perth 122 400 37.89TAS Hobart 40 000 19.85

Questions

1 Which changes relating to the rights and responsibilities of women and children did

Vida Goldstein campaign for during her career?

2 What role did Goldstein believe women should play in the political sphere? How did she

demonstrate this through her own actions?

3 How did Goldstein communicate her beliefs?

4 What do Vida Goldstein’s career and political campaigns suggest about Brady’s claim in

Australia Unlimited (p. 13) that there was no injustice in Australia?

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Defence of Empire and nation Australia had proven itself willing to act in defence of the British Empire by sending volunteer troops to fight under the British flag in the Sudan (1885) and in the Boer War in South Africa (1899). The Defence Act 1903 combined the armies and navies of the colonies into a single defence force in response to national concerns and a changing regional situation. Japan was emerging as a military and economic power by the beginning of the 20th century and replaced China as the perceived threat to Australian sovereignty.

Australia was dismayed when Britain signed the Anglo–Japanese Alliance in 1902. When Japan defeated the Russian Navy in the Russo–Japanese War in 1905, it signalled its place as a major power in the Pacific. This was the first time in the modern era that an Asian power had defeated a European one. The United States, with its Pacific seaboard, was also concerned by the rise of Japan and sent seven warships, known as the Great White Fleet, around the Pacific as a signal of US naval strength. In 1908, Prime Minister Alfred Deakin invited the Americans to visit Australia, and the largest crowds in Australian history came out to greet the warships when they docked in Albany, Melbourne and Sydney.

sovereigntyThe right of a state to

govern itself or another

state

sourCe 1.5 One of the many souvenir postcards and memorabilia produced to celebrate the visit of the US Navy’s Great White Fleet to Australia in 1908

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Following the visit of the Great White Fleet and the realisation that British support was not guaranteed, Australians were determined to establish their own defence force. Australia’s fear of the external threat of invasion was addressed in the Defence Amendment Act 1909. Military training became compulsory for boys and men aged between 14 and 20, and the Commonwealth was granted the power to call up men for military service within Australia in time of war. The Royal Military College at Duntroon and the Royal Australian Navy were established in 1911. Defence spending increased from £1 million in 1908–09 to £3.3 million by 1913–14.

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last man anD last shIllIng On behalf of the British Empire, Britain declared war on Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1914 as allies of the French and Russians. Australia, India, New Zealand, Canada and Britain’s African colonies were all drawn into the conflict that became the First World War. A federal election was in progress in Australia when war was announced and both Prime Minister Joseph Cook and opposition leader Andrew Fisher pledged Australia’s men and money to the

war effort. In the streets the announcement of war was greeted with celebrations, such was the patriotism and loyalty felt towards the British Empire.

The Labor Party won the election and the new prime minister, Andrew Fisher, immediately introduced the War Precautions Act 1914. This gave the Commonwealth Government wide-ranging powers over civilian life during wartime. The government had the power to introduce censorship, control the newspapers and prosecute anyone who impeded recruitment or spoke against the war. Civil rights were curtailed. The political activities of Australians were subject to increased surveillance. The government also had the power to restrict the movement of ‘aliens’, or non-Australians, and it was forbidden to trade or conduct business with a German company.

The Royal Australian Navy was dispatched to Europe to fight under the command of the British Admiralty. Australian waters were to be defended by the Japanese navy for the duration of the war. Men flocked to join the newly formed Australian Imperial Force (AIF) – within six weeks 20 000 men had joined up, and many more were turned away. Some joined for patriotic reasons, some for the adventure and some to escape family responsibilities. Many were drawn by the good wages. Australia was coming out of a drought in 1914, and the six shillings a week payment was generous – British soldiers only received one shilling. The expectation was that this would be a quick victory for the British; the war could be over by Christmas and men didn’t want to miss out.

There was little opposition to the war in the broad Australian community. Small groups of Christian pacifists were opposed, as were more radical groups on the political left such as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). The ‘Wobblies’, as they were called, were influenced by Marxism and were committed to the overthrow of capitalism. They urged workers not to fight and risk death in a war between competing capitalist empires.

gallIpolIThe AIF were sent to Egypt to train with New Zealand troops and they became the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, or ANZACs. Turkey entered the war as Germany’s ally in 1915 and a strategy was developed to capture the important Dardanelles strait and the Turkish capital city, Constantinople. This would open up a warm-water port to support Britain’s ally, Russia.

The attack began on 25 April 1915, when Australian forces landed, under naval bombardment, at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The troops faced steep sandstone cliffs with no cover and were sitting targets for the Turkish forces above. Despite the Allied troops failing to advance there was no strategic retreat, and so they took shelter in the cliffs and dug in.

On 29 April 1915, Andrew Fisher announced in the federal Parliament that Australian troops were under fire. The country waited to see how ‘our boys’ had performed in battle. The Australian nation had been created in peace and Australians had the reputation of being fun loving and sporting; they were not taken seriously in the Old World. Battle was considered a means of

civil rights Freedoms accepted in a

democratic society, such

as the freedom of speech,

movement, the press,

association and religious

freedom

MarxismThe social, political

and economic theories

developed by Karl Marx

(1818–83) and Friedrich

Engels (1820–95). They

argued that class

struggle is a feature of

world history and that

capitalism inevitably will

be overthrown through a

revolutionary struggle and

replaced by a classless

society. In 1848 they

published The Communist

Manifesto, a pamphlet that

popularised their ideas.

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proving their place in the Empire and dispelling the fear that white people transported to hot tropical climates became weak and degenerate, their racial stock weakened. Australia had ensured the AIF was ‘racially pure’ by initially refusing enlistments of Asians and Indigenous Australians.

When the first news reports of the landings at Anzac Cove were published, the bravery of the Australian soldiers was celebrated. British journalist Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett described the Australian soldiers as a ‘race of athletes’ that had not been found wanting. Despite the ANZACs being only a small part of the Allied invasion force, this landing had, and continues to have, enormous symbolic significance for Australia. The landing at Gallipoli was described as a ‘baptism of fire’, where the ANZAC force displayed courage and heroism and proved itself among the nations of the world in its first battle in the global arena. Recruitment numbers surged in Australia when the news of the diggers’ exploits became public. In July 1915, 36 576 men volunteered, the highest level in the war.

Official war correspondent Charles J Bean sent home reports of the ANZACs’ exploits. He described their sense of mateship, courage and egalitarianism. This formed the basis of the ANZAC legend. But despite all the stories of courage and bravery, as a military venture Gallipoli was a failure. Attempts to advance and take the heights were met with stiff resistance and heavy casualties. After nine months the Allied troops were evacuated under cover of darkness. The death toll among the Australians was 8700, the remaining Allied forces lost 35 000 men and the Turks double that number.

the Western Front From March 1916 an expanded AIF was committed to the Western Front in Europe, where a tactical and strategic stalemate had developed. Allied and German troops faced each other across a no-man’s land, dug into complex trench systems on a front that stretched from the French coast to the border of Switzerland. This was a defensive war, where each side bombarded the other with bombs and mortars, flamethrowers and poison gas. Advances were measured in yards, not miles, and casualties numbered in the thousands a day. Men lived and fought in mud and slush and even snow in winter. Soldiers suffered frostbite, gangrene and infectious diseases.

sourCe 1.6 Members of the 1st Division Signals Company being towed to Anzac Cove, 6 a.m., 25 April 1915

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The casualties and deaths on the Western Front far exceeded those at Gallipoli. Australians at home learnt the names of new, more deadly places, such as Fromelles, where there were 5533 casualties in 24 hours, and Pozières, where 23 000 Australians were killed in 45 days. Strict censorship under the War Precautions Act hid the horrors of war on the Western Front from most Australians, but the letters of the soldiers gave those at home a glimpse of what the men were facing in far away France and Belgium.

The home front The war had been greeted with jubilant celebrations in 1914, and the news of the landing at Gallipoli sparked further outpourings of loyal support. Society mobilised with schools, churches and government united in supporting the ANZACs. Patriotic rallies were held to encourage recruitment. The Red Cross held fundraising events, such as theatrical performances, concerts and dances in the city and country towns to raise money for comforts. Schoolchildren across the country were encouraged to play their part, knitting for the soldiers and writing letters.

Despite this apparent unity of purpose, divisions began to appear in Australian society as early as 1914. The government’s propaganda machine highlighted reports of German atrocities against civilians in Belgium. In cartoons and the press, Germans were depicted as brutal, savage and bloodthirsty. Germans living in Australia, including some long-term residents, were subject to harassment, assault, job losses and even internment in camps. There were 6890 people interned as enemy aliens, 400 of whom were naturalised Australian citizens, including some voluntary internees

sourCe 1.7 Wrapped in his overcoat, an unidentified Australian soldier sleeps in the trenches in the Bois-Grenier sector in northern France, June 1916. Another soldier can be seen lying down on the far left.

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who were unemployed or subject to harassment from neighbours. Such was the level of suspicion that letters were sent to the newly formed Australian Special Intelligence Bureau accusing people with European names of spying, signalling German submarines and sending radio signals to German ships. There were reports of German planes landing on the coast of Australia and dropping off spies. Australians were subject to surveillance and any suspicion of disloyalty to the British Empire was punishable by a prison term. Towns with German names were Anglicised or renamed after generals and battles. Germantown in NSW became Holbrook, German Creek became Empire Vale, and in South Australia, Blumberg was changed to Birdswood and the Rhine River to The Somme.

Class tensions were exacerbated with the middle class accusing the working class of showing less commitment to the war. There was pressure to ban popular sporting events enjoyed by the urban working class such as football, racing, cricket and boxing. The temperance movement, which lobbied to ban the consumption and sale of alcohol, had 6 p.m. closing of pubs introduced in all Australian states with the exception of Western Australia, which opted for 9 p.m. closing, and Queensland, where early closing was not introduced until 1923. Temperance supporters believed support for the war should be demonstrated through moral as well as military actions, and were alarmed at stories of drunken diggers rioting in England and Egypt.

Tensions also arose when the war began to affect prices and wages. A shortage of shipping meant that Australian exports could not reach their European markets. The economy contracted by 10 per cent. Wages rose slowly, prices quickly. Bread prices increased 50 per cent in Melbourne between June 1914 and 1918 and the price of flour rose 86.9 per cent. Those on the left of the labour movement accused the businessmen and capitalists of making profits from the war at the

sourCe 1.8 Holsworthy Internment Camp in New South Wales housed 6000 people, including Germans and people from the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Four hundred were naturalised British subjects and 70 were Australian-born. Many were deported at the end of the war. This photo is from c. 1916.

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expense of the working class. Attempts by the Commonwealth and state governments to control prices and profiteering were largely ineffectual.

Women anD WarIn Britain the war had a profound impact on the role of women in society. There, women became part of the military machine in women’s auxiliary forces and were conscripted into munitions factories, transport, mines and businesses to replace the men who had gone to the front. There was to be no similar mobilisation in Australia during the First World War. The 2000 Australian nurses who served in the Australian Army Nursing Service were an exception, but they did not hold military rank. There were some shifts in women’s employment, with many abandoning domestic work, and women also moved into new areas of employment once considered ‘male’ such as clerical work, banking and the public service.

However, Australian women in general were expected to fulfil their traditional roles as wives and mothers, and to contribute to the war effort through fundraising, packing comfort supplies and encouraging recruitment. Not all women thought it was their duty to ensure their sons or brothers went to fight. Vida Goldstein, for example, campaigned against the war, arguing it was unnatural for women to send their children to die in battle.

sourCe 1.9 The Over Seas Club was set up so children across the British Empire could raise money for the Allied soldiers. These certificates were awarded to children who took part. A total of £74 314 was raised between 1914–18 to buy tobacco and cigarettes for the AIF.

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ConsCrIptIon 1916 William (Billy) Hughes succeeded Andrew Fisher as prime minister of Australia in October 1915. Hughes, a Welsh immigrant, came to politics through the trade union movement and was a founding member of the NSW Labor Party. Hughes was passionately attached to the British Empire and committed to a British victory. He was also acutely conscious of Australia’s isolated position on the world stage. Military historian Joan Beaumont described Hughes’ personality as ‘pugnacious, emotional, abrasive and at times irrational’. She wrote of the ‘erratic brilliance’ that he displayed at times. Hughes, she wrote, pursued a political agenda during the war, which was to destroy what remained of ‘the political consensus within Australia’. Beaumont continues that:

Individuals alone cannot be held accountable for major historical change but it is certain that Australian politics would have been radically different in 1919 if another man had led the country for much of the war. Joan Beaumont, Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2013, p. 143

Increasing death rates and casualties on the Western Front led to Great Britain introducing conscription in January 1916, a policy that had been rejected in Australia in 1915 by the ruling Labor Party. Between July and November 1916, 28 000 AIF troops had been killed, and 58 000 wounded in the First Battle of the Somme. To replenish the ranks of the AIF, the British War Office estimated 16 500 troops were needed per month. These numbers were not being met through voluntary recruitment. In August 1916 Hughes announced he proposed to hold a referendum on the issue of conscription despite Labor Party and trade union opposition. Hughes was immediately expelled from the NSW Labor Party.

For two months the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ supporters fought the issue out in the press, in meeting halls, councils, on the streets and in churches. Each side accused the other of bloodlust, disloyalty and murder, and meetings were frequently marred by violence. The government used the powers of the War Precautions Act to censor debate and win the public over. Academics, conservatives, the Protestant church, the majority of newspapers and the middle and professional classes broadly supported the ‘yes’ vote. The ‘no’ vote was more likely to be supported by trade unionists, pacifists and, to some extent, Catholics.

The ‘yes’ vote was narrowly defeated by a margin of 72 456 votes, or 3.2 per cent of the valid votes cast. Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania voted ‘yes’. The highest ‘no’ vote was in New South Wales. More women voted ‘yes’ than ‘no’. The figures suggest some general trends: working-class Catholics voted ‘no’, the middle class ‘yes’. There was a small majority of ‘yes’ votes in the AIF serving overseas. These are broad generalisations, however, as not all people voted by their gender or religion or class.

conscriptionCompulsory military

service

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4Who will defend Australia from Japanese attack when all the men are fighting in Europe?

Why should workers’ lives be sacrificed when capitalists are making profits from the war?

Military conscription would be followed by industrial conscription. Workers would lose their rights and privileges and become wage slaves.

It is a violation of civil liberties to force men to kill each other.

Women as mothers should protect their children from war and not send them to die. Vote NO!

CONSCRIPTION: THE CASE FOR ‘NO’

War to protect Australia’s liberty

Loyalty to Britain

A moral war against a great evil

Suffering of war should be shared

If only volunteers fought and died, only the weak and degenerate would be left

Women demonstrate your citizenship by voting YES!

CONSCRIPTION: THE CASE FOR ‘yES’

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1917: a divided nationThe defeat of the conscription referendum split the Labor Party. Hughes and those supporters who had also left the Labor Party formed a new political group, the Nationalist Party, with the support of the federal Liberal Party. Hughes’ ‘win the war’ party won a stunning victory in the federal election in May 1917, suggesting that although Australians voted against conscription, there was still support for the war effort.

There were, however, deepening divisions on the home front. There were 444 industrial disputes during 1917 and more than four million working days lost in strikes and industrial action. The Conciliation and Arbitration Court failed to resolve these disputes. A general strike, known as the ‘Great Strike’, began in August on the New South Wales railways. The strike then spread through New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland. More than a quarter of New South Wales unionists went on strike. There were pitched battles between strike-breakers and unionists in the coal fields and in the yards of the New South Wales railways when middle-class volunteers and private-school boys were brought in to run the trains.

Women’s peaCe moVement Thousands of working-class women, organised by the Women’s Peace League, the Victorian Socialist Party and the Women’s Peace Army, marched in demonstrations in support of the strike and against rising food prices and profiteering. In Melbourne, women smashed shop windows and were charged by the police. Leaders of the demonstrations, such as Adela Pankhurst, were arrested under the War Precautions Act and the Unlawful Association Act. The strikers were painted in the conservative press as ‘wreckers’, a nickname inspired by the Bolshevik revolutionaries in Russia who sought to overthrow capitalism and institute a workers’ state. The strike failed and many unionists (including Ben Chifley, a future Australian prime minister) who returned to work were not reinstated, and found themselves locked out of workplaces unless they swore they were not part of the union. The strike seriously weakened the union movement.

the seConD ConsCrIptIon CampaIgnOn the Western Front, the relentless battles continued throughout 1917 with the AIF fighting at Bullecourt and Ypres, Menin Woods and Passchendaele. The highest casualty rate of the war occurred during 1917, with more than 76 000 Australians killed, wounded or missing. This was mass industrial warfare with airpower, poison gas, flamethrowers and artillery launched against men in trenches. Many of those listed as missing had often been lost in the mud or pulverised by the constant barrage of shellfire. Photographs of these battlefields show desolate landscapes of mud and craters. This loss of life resulted in few military gains for the Allied powers by the close of 1917.

We hated and dreaded the days that followed this incessant thundering, when torn, bleeding and pitiful broken human beings were brought in, their eyes filled with horror and pain: those who could walk staggering dumbly, pitifully in the wrong direction. Days later men were carried who had been found lying in shell holes, starved, cold, and pulseless, but, by some miracle, still alive. Many died of exposure and the dreaded gas gangrene.

May Tilton (an Australian nurse), The Grey Battalion, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1933, pp. 258–59

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The level of voluntary recruitment in Australia fell during 1917 and the AIF losses at Ypres increased pressure on Australia to supply more troops. Hughes announced that a second conscription referendum would be held on 20 December 1917. The second campaign was even more bitter and divisive than the first, playing out as it did against food riots and the Great Strike. The same arguments were made by both sides but newspaper reports suggest that meetings were far more violent, the arguments more irrational and the participants more hysterical.

Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne, Daniel Mannix, spoke out strongly for the ‘no’ vote, arguing that Australia had done its share. He became the voice of Irish working-class Catholics,who had often felt discriminated against in largely Protestant Australia. Mannix openly supported Sinn

Fein, the political group that had tried to overthrow the British to achieve Home Rule for an independent Ireland in 1916. Hughes exploited these sectarian tensions and used the War Precautions Act to stifle debate and opposition.

Despite Hughes’ efforts, the conscription referendum was again defeated, more strongly than in 1916 with the vote 1 181 747 ‘no’ and 1 015 159 ‘yes’. Victoria voted ‘no’ and the West Australian ‘no’ vote increased. The AIF vote was ‘yes’, but only by a slim margin. Journalist Keith Murdoch suggested that Australians would not support the ultimate sacrifice of conscription to fight in a war in far-away Europe. He argued that Australians would only ever accept conscription if war came to the Pacific and Australia was under direct threat.

‘Thumbs down!’Norman Lindsay (1879–1969) was an Australian artist who produced many cartoons and artworks in support of the war. He often used caricatures to depict the Germans as depraved monsters and members of the AIF as romantic, pure heroes. This cartoon was produced during the first conscription campaign in 1916 in support of the ‘yes’ vote.

sourCe 1.10 ‘Thumbs down!’ cartoon by Norman Lindsay, published in The Bulletin

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sectarianismDivisions within a

mainstream religious

group based on different

interpretations of its creed

or beliefs. Sectarianism in

Australia during the period

under study was primarily

between Catholics and

Protestants.

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ConclusionThe unity, prosperity and peace that had characterised Australia in the early years of Federation were under threat by 1917. For three years, Australian men had been fighting and dying in support of the British Empire, in the world’s first mass industrial war. The resulting casualty figures were unprecedented in Australian history. Australia remained a democratic nation where, despite the government increasingly curtailing civil liberties, citizens were able to reject military conscription at the ballot box. Despite social, political and economic tensions, in 1917 the majority of Australians were committed to winning the war. However, the bitter conscription debates and industrial unrest had exposed religious and class divisions, and the war had hardened rather than challenged entrenched attitudes towards race and gender.

Questions

1 Examine the various visual elements in the cartoon. What is the dominant image? What impression of the soldiers is given in this image? What impression of the ‘no’ demonstrators is given? Consider elements such as stance, clothing, facial expression and elevation in your answer.

2 Explain the significance of the term and image ‘thumbs down’. 3 What message is conveyed in this document through words and images? 4 What feelings or emotions is this cartoon designed to evoke in a 1916 Australian audience?5 What does this cartoon suggest about divisions in Australian society at the time?

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Chapter summary + The Australian Commonwealth introduced a range of progressive social legislation in its

first 13 years. + Australia was loyal to the British Empire, and dependent upon its navy in the Pacific. + Australia feared the political and military ambitions of Japan. + The Australian nation was committed to its White Australia Policy and to increasing the

population of Australia. + Aboriginal people were denied the rights of citizenship under the Constitution and

subsequent Commonwealth legislation. + Australia willingly committed troops to the Allied forces in 1914. + Gallipoli was regarded as a defining moment in Australian nationhood. + Trench warfare resulted in soldiers suffering horrific physical and mental injuries and high

death rates. + The conscription campaigns highlighted and intensified economic, social and political

tensions within Australian society. + Despite opposition to the war from radical and pacifist groups, the majority of Australians

were committed to winning the war in 1917.

WeblinksWeblinks relevant to this chapter can be found at http://nmh.nelsonnet.com.au/australia.

Further resourcesJoan Beaumont, Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, 2013Patricia Grimshaw, et.al., Creating A Nation, McPhee Gribble, Ringwood, 1994Mark Peel and Christina Twomey, A History of Australia, Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2011Gavin Souter, Lion and Kangaroo: Australia 1901–1919, The Rise of a Nation, Fontana Collins,

Sydney, 1976Stuart Macintyre, The Oxford History of Australia: The Succeeding Age 1901–1942, Oxford University

Press, South Melbourne, 1986

Chapter review activities1 How did the Commonwealth government contribute to Australia’s reputation as a ‘social

laboratory’?2 What was the White Australia Policy and what was it intended to achieve?

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3 What inequalities existed in Australian society in the first decades after Federation?4 Study Source 1.4 on page 11. Describe six visual elements in this image and explain what

they represent. What story is this image telling through words and images? 5 What were the ‘empty spaces’ and why did they need to be filled? 6 Why did Australia go to war in 1914?7 Write one sentence about each of the following people:

a Vida Goldsteinb Billy Hughesc Andrew Fisherd EJ Bradye Norman Lindsay

8 How was the experience of fighting on the Western Front different from previous wars?9 Drawing upon the discussion of conscription in this chapter, complete this empathy

exercise. Write a letter to an imaginary son, sibling or partner fighting on the Western Front, explaining why you voted ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the two conscription referendums.

10 In his book Lion and Kangaroo: Australia 1901–1919, The Rise of a Nation, historian Gavin Souter wrote, ‘The war on the home front was really a war among Australians’.

Drawing upon what you have learnt in this chapter, to what extent do you agree with his assessment?

11 a Study source 1.9 on page 22. Describe the visual elements in this postcard, including the landscape, the different figures and any symbols. What view of war does this postcard present? What story does the image tell through words and images?

b Is this postcard a piece of advertising or propaganda? Justify your answer.12 Respond to the following statements in a short paragraph (at least four sentences) drawing

upon what you have learnt in this chapter. + To be counted as Australian you needed to be white in the early 20th century. + Gender determined your experience of war. + Australia was a tolerant and benevolent nation in 1901 by the standards of the day. + Geography helped determine Australians’ attitude to defence and race. + The First World War was embraced by Australia as a way of proving its worth to Britain.

13 Study source 1.14. Imagine you are giving a lecture on Australia’s development in 1901. Write a one-page speech introducing and explaining this slide to an audience in 1901.

14 Use your answers to the questions above to help you answer the chapter’s enquiry question: What significant events had helped shape Australian society by 1917?

15 Respond to the following essay topics:a Was Australia a far more united society in 1901, than in 1917?b Did the First World War both divide and unite Australians?c What impact did the War Precautions Act have on the lives of Australians on the home

front?