australia

• ANZAC Historiography

  April 1915 - Battle of the Wazzir

  AIF maligned for drunken exports, newspaper tried to shift the blame
• Ken Ingli’s challenged traditional view in 1960s

  • initiated discussions of ANZAC as ‘substitute religion’
• A Social Laboratory

  Population - 5 million

  Country - socialist

  Economy - based on agriculture and natural resource production
• A Social Laboratory

  Largely urbanised with vast expanses of the country was empty despite bushman stereotypes. There was a compulsory ‘free’ eduction, government allowances (no unemployment benefits) and the establishment of a ‘base’ wage. This was different from England’s rigid class system. Union membership was incredibly high.
• Life Expectancy born between 1901 - 1910

  Male - 54.9 years old

  Female - 58.3 years old

  4% of population were 65 years or older
• Working man’s paradise

  ‘White Australia’ policy - Immigration Restriction Act 1901

  50-word dictation test - determined whether a migrant will be granted entry into Australia

  1359 tests administered - only 52 people would be granted entry
• High tariff led to keeping out cheap goods, promoting Australian made products
• The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 created the 'working man's paradise'
• The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 was the first act passed by the government after federation
• The Immigration Restriction Act 1901 granted immigration officers the power to make any non-European migrant sit a 50-word dictation test
• After 1905, the dictation test could be given in any prescribed language
• The dictation test was administered 1359 times prior to 1909
• Only 52 people were granted entry to Australia after taking the dictation test
• Harvester Judgement

  Justice Higgins - set the first federally arbitrated wages standard

  Sunshine Harvester Factory - used as a test case

  Reasonable wage - 7 shillings per day
• White Australia (’Australian Britons’)

  ‘White Australia’ - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders viewed as a dying race

  Daisy Bates - collected information from Aboriginal people dying

  Newspaper Article (1921) - ‘the only good half-caste is a dead half-caste’
• White Australia

  Anthropologist collected information from remotely living Aboriginal people from WA and SA, which resulted her in believing that they were a dying race and had a horror of inter-racial breeding.
• Women

  Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 - women gained the right to vote at federal elections

  WA (1899) and SA (1884) - already granted the right to vote

  Maternity Allowance - introduced on 10 October 1912 as 5 pounds to cover medial care
• Women

  Maternity allowance was proposed as a means to lower infant mortality rate, 80 male and 63 female babies per 1000 would die before the age of one. The allowance was about two weeks worth of wages to married and single women who had given birth. Though, Indigenous, Asian or Pacific Islander women were not eligible to access the benefit.
• Working Women

  Men and women shared jobs - women would have wage rates pushed down

  Unions - resisted women’s calls for fair pay
• Working Women

  It was argued that giving women a basic wage would draw them away from home and the birthrate would drop. Unions advocated for a ‘family wage’ for men to accommodate his family.
• Food was very simple at this time, mostly sausages, potatoes and carrots.
• History of Australia’s Democracy

  1st of January 1901 - Australian colonies → States of the Commonwealth

  9th May 1901 - Opening of First Parliament (opened by Duke of Cornwall and York)

  Lord Hopetoun - First Governor-General
• Protectionist - Taxing imports

  Free Trader - Believed in no trade barriers
• Voting

  1924’s Electoral Act was a response to failing participation rates, (turnout was less than 60% in 1922) this resulted in turnout never having been below 90%. Having enrolment compulsory allowed a more equal distribution of electorates within states based on enrolled voters.
• The Labor Party

  Formation - worker’s unions realised that strikes do not guarantee better working conditions

  The Labor Party supported laws that were favourable for workers such as fair wages, quick way of settling strikes, tariffs and a ‘White Australia’
• Major Political Events

  Labor Party - split three times

  1916 - First Labor Split (conscription)

  1931 - Second Labor Split (depression)

  1955 - Third Labor Split (communism)
• Liberal - Protectionist

  Protectionist - tariffs to protect local business

  Liberal - no poverty and disease
• Going to war

  War - declared by Britain on Germany

  Andrew Fisher - PM commits Australia to ‘the last man and the last shilling’

  Volunteers - 20k within six weeks

  June 1915 - 36.5k new volunteers
• These powers introduced by the War Precautions Act 1914 included the enforcement of censorship, internment of ‘enemy aliens', the establishment of the Australian Special Intelligence Bureau (citizen surveillance) and use of propaganda demonising Germans and celebrating allied success.
• Britains demands were to replenish ranks of AIF suffering heavy losses in France, Billy Hughs (labor party) said ‘In no circumstance would I agree to send men out of this country to fight against their will’ and called for conscription a couple months after. Two referendums were to enforce conscription, in 1916 and 1917 which were narrowly defeated.
• Conscription and the ALP

  1916 - Billy Hughes introduces conscription with referendum

  November 1916 - Hughes and 23 pro-Conscriptionist MPs formed a new National Labor Party

  Liberal Party - Hughes remained PM with their support

  January 1917 - The National Labor Party and the Liberal Party merges as the Nationalist Party
• Conscription

  January 1916 - Great Britain introduces conscription

  Demands of Britain - 16.5k troops per month

  Billy Hughes - called for conscription after stating being against it

  October 1916 and December 1917 - failure of referendums
• War Precautions Act 1914 - Federal Government given wide powers to control civilians in war
• Economic Impact

  Reduced imports - led to expansion of manufacturing industries (especially steel)

  Supply and demand - increased war production led to increased profits of capitalists

  Strikes - 1916 Coal Strike and 1917 ‘Great Strike’

  Federal Income Tax - introduced
• Cost of war

  Casualties - 60k dead and 150k wounded

  Economic cost - 377 million pound (70% borrowed to be repaid)

  Germans in Australia - destroyed their community and ethnic hostility prominent

  Classes - heightened class divisions

  Benefits - medical care and welfare benefits to returned soldiers or dependent of those dead
• Elements of the ANZAC Legend

  • independent spirit
  • bravery
  • spirits of the bushmen
  • mateship
• Paris Peace Conference

  18 January 1919 - Start of conference (lasted nearly six months)

  New nations - Map of Europe of redrawn
• PM Hughes at Versailles

  Protection - Hughes keen to ensure Australia’s interests are protected

  ‘Fourteen Points’ - ideals were hostile to the White Australia Policy

  Voice - Hughes spoke for the 60k dead and as a member of the British Empire
• Especially in the Pacific, Hughes was keen to secure the safety of Australia’s interests. Wilson’s ‘Fourteen Points’ were idealistic proposals to Hughes, it additionally did not align with the White Australia Policy and the nation’s postwar aims. Australia strived to secure imperial trade preferences, punish Germany and to take control of Papua New Guinea. The PM’s voice was amplified as he spoke for the dead Australian solders and their sacrifices and furthermore, he spoke as a member of the British Empire.
• PM Hughes Achievements

  Rights - Australia and other dominions had the right to represent themselves

  Papua New Guinea - Became an Australian mandate

  Race Equality Cause - Hughes argues against this (successful)

  Reparations - Hughes argued for 464 million pounds