2:05 AM
Mark
At the time leading up to the Great Depression, the federal government did not have a centralised unemployment assistance program. Other than relief from charities and a patchwork of agencies and private organisations, destitute people had to rely on employment projects and public works projects often funded by state government loans from overseas.After the Wall Street crash, the federal government allocated £1,000,000 to the states to provide relief to the unemployed. It was hoped that the money - to be used for road works - could also free up funds to help the unemployed in other areas. But the numbers of unemployed continued to grow.
In July 1930, a further £1,000,000 was made available to the states for proposed public works (only projects that turned enough of a profit to cover interest repayments on loans were accepted), followed by another £500,000 in December of that year. Most of the work generated was hard manual labour. The narrow road built to the summit of Mount Wellington in Tasmania is an example of the kinds of projects unemployed Australians were carrying out.
With so many people out of work, many men had no other option but to leave home and to try and find work elsewhere. For married men, work for the dole was sometimes available which would include pick and shovel work. The cash payment they received for this was often below the basic wage and it often meant working in poor conditions. Most work that was undertaken was public works, such as railways, roads and water supply.Failure to accept work for the dole would mean the men would not get paid and could be sent to the bush, far from families and with very poor living conditions. In the early 1930s the best a man could expect was one or two days work per week. By 1935 – 1936 there was only enough money to employ one fifth of the estimated 300,000 unemployed.
Being unemployed had a severe impact on people’s standards of living. Many were evicted and had to live in ‘shanty towns’, which often lacked basic sanitation facilities and running water. A vast number also had to rely on charities and the ‘susso’ (food vouchers) to feed themselves and their families. Morale was low and family units fell apart, as humiliation at having to accept handouts from the government turned many husbands to alcohol and suicide.Exercises:
On a new page in your books put the Heading “Work for the Dole”. Under the heading write a 1/2 page summary based upon the information above. After you have completed the summary, using Microsoft Word create a newspaper front page which includes the name of the newspaper, the headline "Out of Work!" and an interview with someone who has lost their job. Once finished print out the front page and glue it into your books on a new page.
The term Great Depression refers to the great economic slump, which started in 1929 but the crisis timeline extended to the 1930s.The whole world slouched under the burden but the worst affected centres were North America and Europe. The backbones of heavy industry based cities drooped under the Great Depression. The industrial countries like United States, Canada, Britain, Germany, France, and Australia were the worst sufferers.
Essentially, during the 1920's there was a stock market boom in the United States of America formed by the result of general optimism: businessmen and economists believed that the newly-born Federal Reserve would stabilize the economy, and that the pace of technological progress guaranteed rapidly rising living standards and expanding markets. The U.S. Federal Reserve's attempts in 1928 and 1929 to raise interest rates to discourage stock speculation brought on an initial recession.
Caught by surprise, firms cut back their own plans for further purchase of producer durable goods; firms making producer durables cut back production; out-of-work consumers and those who feared they might soon be out of work cut back purchases of consumer durables, and firms making consumer durables faced falling demand as well. This then led to investors panic selling in an attempt to avoid any potential losses on their investments and thus the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest stock market in the world, crashed.
As a producer of primary exports and a large borrower of overseas money, the impact of the depression hit Australia hard and fast. The combination of a sudden drop in earning ability from exports and overseas loan repayments brought Australia close to bankruptcy in the early 1930s. The result was massive unemployment. By 1932 the unemployment rate in Australia reached between 29% and 32% depending on which figures are used.
Life in Australia during the 1920's was very different to life today. The roaring twenties was a decade known for the vast changes within society. There was the wide scale implementation of electricity, automobiles, public transport, radio and refrigerators. At the beginning of the 1900's one in eight Australian workers were working as servants, by the 1930's these workers had been replaced due to the availability of electricity and gas. Household electric appliances, such as toasters, irons and washing machines started to become more common.
By the end of 1923 Australia's first commercial radio station, 2SB, had began broadcasting and in 1924 the Ford Motor Company offered Australian's the opportunity to purchase a Model T Ford automobile that was assembled in Australia for 185 pounds.
The Australian government set up the Soldier Settler Scheme and spent almost fifty million pounds to encourage people to settle in rural areas, unfortunately very few of them were successful at farming. The governments of the day heavily promoted and glorified the idea of living a rural life, with the image of the outback and the idea of being born and bred on the land becoming the stereotype of being 'Australian'.
The idealism and hope for a new and better future quite often turned into discontent when people's wages did not increase and unemployment continued to rise. Workers from many different industries began to strike and protest over low wages and poor conditions and as a result tensions and mistrust between trade unions and the government began to increase.
The level of hygiene would depend very much on a person's place in society. The wealthy people in society would bathe fairly often for they had servants that would carry water from the kitchen stove to the bathtub. The peasants however, would possibly only have a bath once or twice a year. To add to the problem of hygiene, there was very little in the way of sewerage and waste disposal systems in place and as result all of the human waste and rubbish was thrown into the street. This became a problem when it rained for all of the waste would be washed into the nearby creeks and rivers. These rivers and creeks were also the drinking water supply for the population.
Due to the living conditions in the Middle Ages disease was quite common. There was very little understanding of the causes of disease and medical practice during this time, as a result many people died from diseases that would be simply fixed today with a trip to the local doctor. Many children died before they were five years old and adults usually would not live past the age of fifty.
The Black Death surfaced in Europe in 1348 and was so deadly that it wiped out almost half of Europe's total population in two years. Due to the limited medical knowledge there was very little anyone could do to stop it spreading and killing more people. The effects of the plague are still remembered today in the children's nursery rhyme 
Those living in the manor house, that is the the lord and his family, would usually have available a wide range of foods such as capons, geese, larks, and chickens. They would also dine on other meats; bacon, lamb, beef and those who lived close to water may have regularly eaten salmon, herring, eels and other fresh water fish. Fish would either be sold smoked and salted or fresh. Wealthy people could also afford large quantities of milled flour and other meals made from grain along with dairy products such as cheese and butter.
Their options were very limited when compared to that of the wealthy society. Peasant breads were made from barley and rye and baked into dark heavy loaves. To quell their thirst peasants would drink water drawn from the well sweetened with honey and make Ales from barley. Due to their limited diet, peasants would get what little proteins they could from beans and peas that would be added to pottage and bread.
They would also make thick soups from cabbage, onions, nuts, leeks, berries, spinach, garlic and parsley. Raw were rarely eaten because they were considered unhealthy, but in general anything that could grown, with the exception of known poisonous plants, would be added to the mix.
The clothing worn by the lower classes was vastly different from that which was worn by nobility and the upper classes.
Early in this period the men would wear loose and flowing tunics, however by the end of the 13th century these tunics became tighter. The men would also wear briefs and an undershirt covered by a sleeveless jacket and an additional tunic. Medieval men's clothing also consisted of cloaks with a round opening that was slipped over the man's head. These cloaks were worn over other clothing as a type of "jacket".
These tunics were often worn over a shirt. They often topp the tunics with an even shorter "kirtle" when they were in public. The more affluent women of medieval society would wear more luxurious clothing. Women, especially those who were married, wore tight-fitting caps and nets over their hair, which was wound in a "bun" on their heads. Other women would wear veils over their hair, which was left either hanging loosely, or braided tightly.
