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Posted in: TestingChanging Roles for Women
For most women during the early part of the 20th Century, their role mainly consisted of looking after the family and children in the home. Very few women had other jobs. However with the men gone women were also left with shortages of resources, as well as their fears for the future, and the grief and trauma of losing loved ones.
During World War I, it was uncommon for many women to have jobs, apart from domestic serving roles. The number of women working outside the home did increase slightly during this war but mostly in food, clothing and printing industry jobs that were already established as female roles.
Many women were also actively involved as nurses and in other active service duties, and contributed more actively to war efforts...
kokoda
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Mark
The Kokoda Trail or Track was a path that linked Ower's Corner, approximately 40 km north-east of Port Moresby, and the small village of Wairopi, on the northern side of the Owen Stanley mountain range. From Wairopi, a crossing point on the Kumusi River, the Track was connected to the settlements of Buna, Gona and Sanananda on the north coast.
The name Kokoda, was taken from the village of Kokoda that stood on the southern side of the main range and was the site of the only airfield between Port Moresby and the north coast.
The Japanese had originally planned to capture Port Moresby by a seaborne landing. However this was disrupted by the battle of the Coral Sea, so as a result the Japanese saw the Kokoda Track as a way to capture...
Changing Relationship with America
At the beginning of World War II Australia considered itself to be still apart of the British Empire, and as a result always supported Britain’s interests. In 1939 when Britain declared war on Germany, Australia followed Britain’s lead.In support of Britain, Australia sent troops from the 6th, 7th and 9th battalion to the Middle East, and 27000 Australians in the air force became involved in the Empire Air Training Scheme that provided air crews to fight in Britain. Australia also sent half of their navy to the Mediterranean to assist in the war effort.Australia considered Britain as their ‘Mother Country’ and that in times of crisis Britain would come to Australia’s aid. This belief was supported by the fact that in Singapore stood a British...
Bombing of Darwin and Sydney
During World War II Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, was a major port for the Australian Navy and a major base for the Australian Army. Darwin was used for repairs, re-supply and home for Australian commando units. Being so close to the Asia region, Darwin was considered a strategic location by both Australia and Japan.On 19 February 1942 war finally came to Australia for the first time since white settlement.A fleet of around 200 Japanese aircraft were despatched to attack Darwin from a point off the coast of Timor. Early that morning the aircraft passed over Bathurst Island and Catholic missionaries based there radioed Darwin to warn the Australian mainland. However, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) refused to act...
Australia Becomes Involved
In 1939 Germany’s ambition of controlling Europe soon became apparent to France and Britain. After taking over Austria on March 13, 1938 and being handed a large portion of Czechoslovakia at the Munich Conference in September 1938 by Britain and France, Germany took control of the rest of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. Great Britain and France did not want to repeat the bloodshed of World War I and as a result were willing to appease Hitler and avoid another world war by allowing Germany these few concessions. However emboldened by these events, Hitler was confident that he could again move east, this time acquiring Poland without having any other country interfering. As events unfolded, Poland looked toward Britain and France to assist it in...
Pearl Harbour
In October 1938, the President of the United States of America, Franklin Roosevelt, asked Congress for $500m to increase the United States of America's defence forces. This action was done because he believed that Germany was a threat to America. Especially considering the continued German military rearmament program and the events at the Munich conference. The Japanese however, saw this build up as a direct threat to their Empire because, America was the only country in the Pacific which could impede their expansion.Japan had prepared war plans to deal with any military intervention by America. The Japanese plan was to conduct one large naval battle against the American Navy, destroying it and resulting in the inability of America to interfere...
Australia Stands Alone
After the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbour they looked towards Borneo, Burma, Malaya and the Dutch East Indies, which is now known as Indonesia. They also planned to attack Singapore, as this was a strategically important position within the Asia region.The British Allied forces also considered Singapore important, for it was the location of the British Naval base for the defence of the Far East. In support of Britain Australia had stationed a large number of troops in Singapore and as a result, as long as Britain and the Allied forces were present there Australia believed it would be protected from any Japanese attack.In December 1941 Australian Prime Minister John Curtin appealed to the United States of America for help, however much to...
Rise of Fascism
The years between 1919 and 1945 have sometimes been called the age of fascism. We have all heard of the Nazis and fascists, but our perception of these people is usually a German soldier wearing a grey or black uniform with a swastika on their left arm, whilst holding their right arm high toward the sky. However whilst this image maybe the most famous symbol of fascism, it is not the whole story.The word NAZI was the acronym for the National Socialist German Worker's Party. It was a fascist movement that had its roots in the European nationalist and socialist movements, and had developed a biological view of so-called superiority, with the "Aryan" race being at the top of the warped biological ladder. See: Timeline of Nazi Persecution and Genocide.Fascists...
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was born on 20 April 1889 in Braunau-am-Inn on the Austrian-German border. His father was a customs official. Hitler left school at 16 with no qualifications and struggled to make a living as a painter in Vienna. This was where many of his extreme political and racial ideas originated.In 1913, he moved to Munich and, on the outbreak of World War I, enlisted in the German army, where he was wounded and awarded the Iron Cross medal. In 1919 he joined the extreme right wing (fascist) German Workers' Party (DAP). As propaganda minister for the party, he promised extremist 'remedies' to Germany's post-war problems, such as the Depression, unemployment and the weak global position Germany had been forced into after losing World War I,...
Japanese Expansion
Japan modernized between 1868 and World War I. It emerged as a modern industrial economy with giant companies that assumed great importance as trading enterprises and in World War One, Japan had acquired the German islands north of the Equator. The Japanese mainland was barely touched by World War I and as a result Japanese industry had expanded to fill the gap left by Europe's devastated industry. However Japan had an ever increasing and demanding population and did not have sufficient natural resources to sustain itself.With the onset of the Great Depression the Japanese government had no solutions to the problems that were presented by the worldwide economic climate. The unemployed of Japan looked to the strength of the army to assist their...
Jack Lang
John (Jack) Thomas Lang was an estate agent and politician, he was born on 21 December 1876 in George Street, Sydney.In 1903 Lang was the secretary of the Granville Labour League and in 1913 he was president of the Granville Electoral Council. He was associated with St Joseph's Hospital and took part in Catholic social life. In 1907-14 he represented Newington Ward on the Auburn council and was mayor in 1909-11.In 1920 Labour narrowly won the state election, held under proportional representation. Lang gained one of the Parramatta seats and became treasurer in the Storey ministry; he continued in office until the fall of the Dooley government in 1922.Lang knew that members of the Communist Party of Australia had infiltrated the Labour Party,...
Extreme Politics
The growth of private armies was an unexpected and disturbing reaction to the depression in Australia. The best known of these were the ‘New Guard’ and the ‘White Army’. These groups were usually made up of World War I veterans and organised along military lines. The New Guard was led by ex AIF officer, Eric Campbell. He and his followers feared that the unemployed workers might turn to communism to solve the economic problems of the day.In early 1933 Eric Campbell toured Europe to supplement his 'data about Fascism'. In London he met representatives of both the British Union of Fascists (BUF) and the Imperial Fascist League. Brandishing a letter of introduction from the BUF's Sir Oswald Mosley, Campbell continued his European fascist tour,...
Sydney Harbour Bridge
The Sydney Harbour Bridge was opened on March 19th 1932 by Premier Jack Lang, after six years of construction. On the day it is estimated that between 750,000 and one million people were present within the city and around the harbour foreshores for the event. Made of steel, the bridge contains 6 million hand driven rivets. The surface area that requires painting is equal to about the surface area of 60 sports fields. The Bridge has huge hinges to absorb the expansion caused by the hot Sydney sun.When it opened it cost a car 6 pence to cross. A horse and rider was 3 pence.Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world's largest, but not longest, steel arch bridge, and has become a renowned international symbol of Australia.After inviting worldwide tenders...
Donald Bradman
Sir Donald Bradman was born on 27 August 1908 in a rural town in New South Wales called Cootamundra. He grew up in Bowral as an athletic child where he began by playing backyard cricket. While at home he used to bounce an old golf ball off a water tank and hit it on the rebound with a cricket stump.The "Run-Making Machine", as he would become known in his later life, showed talent throughout his younger years, scoring his first century in the Bowral High School cricket team while still only twelve. At 17 he was a regular player for the Bowral senior team and during the 1925-1926 season, he made 1318 runs in 23 innings. He then progressed on to playing cricket for Sydney's St. George Club at a first grade level until he was selected in 1927...
