Australia during the great depression
A depression is a deep and extended slump in total business activity, where both buying and selling drop, causing a decline in production, prices, income and employment. Money becomes limited, many businesses fail and many workers lose their jobs. Unemployed workers have less money to spend, which leads to further drops in sales and demand for products, which leads to decreased production and more employees losing their jobs. This seemingly endless downward spiral can continue until the economy is able to recover, employment and demand for products increases and life may continue normally. A depression of this kind can affect a single industry, a region, a nation or even the entire world. The Great Depression began in 1929 after the Wall Street Crash - shares in the United States were at an all-time high. Investors panicked and sold all of their shares because they knew the prices of their shares could not go any higher - only decrease. This massive sell-up of shares was the catalyst for the Great Depression, which was to cripple the economy of the leading nations of the world for almost a decade. As the American economy withered, so did the economies of the countries it had ties with. Australia was one of the worst to be affec
By about July of 1932, the worst of the Depression in Australia was over, but Australia was to live on, and learn from the challenges that were presented. Australia has been shaped by its responses to changing economic circumstances. Today, we as Australians have certain attitudes that have been shaped by the Great Depression. The 'dole bludger' image came from the days of the 'susso', when the so-called dregs of society relied on the government to provide for them. The Australian dream is to own a house, car and land and live peacefully with one's family. This came about because of the struggles of those who experienced the Depression first-hand. Our dislike of authority figures was also born of the Great Depression, when police officers publicly humiliated those who came to get the susso. Most Australians have some degree of criticism towards the government, and many feel the need to analyse every idiosyncrasy of each politician in power, possibly to avoid having an ill-prepared government as they did in late 1929. Finally, one of the most important lessons learnt through the Great Depression is how much Australians value egalitarianism. We pride ourselves on having a relatively equal society. In the 1920's, Australia's economy prospered because of their healthy income from exports and tariffs. In February of 1923, the Bruce-Page government came into power and brought with it the "Men, Money, Markets" policy. This was a policy designed to bring labour and capital from the United Kingdom in order to expand Australian industry, and at the same time provide products for the British Empire. From 1932 onwards, the economy of Australia started to recover. This was primarily a result of the manufacturing section of industry and metal mining. Although the secondary producers were improving, primary industry relied heavily on government grants, the clearance of their debts to state governments and tariffs.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Jack Lang, James Scullin, Australia Australia, , Commonwealth Bank, Australia Depression, Depression Usual, Street Crash, Labour Party, Depression Australia, labour party, depression australia, jack lang, edward theodore, government expenditure, overseas loans, commonwealth bank, trade unionists, lang premier, premier nsw, wide web url, world wide web, jack lang premier, lang premier nsw, worst affected depression,
Approximate Word count = 2500
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
