Australia's Great Depression : How a Nation Shattered by the Great War Survived the Worst Economic Crisis It Has Ever Faced.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beaumont, Joan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Depressions.

Economic history.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (600 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Australia's Great Depression

Place of Publication:

Sydney : Allen & Unwin, 2022.

Summary:

How a nation still in grief from the Great War found the courage and resilience to face a new tragedy, the Great Depression. Highly Commended in the 2022 NSW Premier's History Awards Some generations are born unlucky. Australians who survived the horrors of the Great War and the Spanish flu epidemic that followed were soon faced with the shock of the Great Depression. Today we remember long dole queues, shanty towns and destitute men roaming the country in search of work. With over a third of the workforce unemployed in 1932, Australia was one of the hardest hit countries in the world. Yet this is not the complete story. In this wide-ranging account of the Great Depression in Australia, Joan Beaumont shows how high levels of debt and the collapse of wool and wheat prices left Australia particularly exposed in the world's worst depression. Threatened with national insolvency, and with little room for policy innovation, governments resorted to austerity and deflation. Violent protests erupted in the streets and paramilitary movements threatened the political order. It might have ended very differently, but Australia's democratic institutions survived the ordeal. Australia's people, too, survived. While many endured great hardship, anger, anxiety and despair, most 'made do' and helped each other. Some even found something positive in the memory of this personal and communal struggle. Australia's Great Depression details this most impressive narrative of resilience in the nation's history. 'A magisterial account of an immense tragedy, told with authority, poignancy and drama.' - Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, The Australian National University 'A masterpiece by one of Australia's most esteemed historians' - David Day, historian 'Beaumont's brilliant study is the comprehensive history of the Great Depression that we have been waiting for.' - Stephen Garton AM, Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor, The University of Sydney

Contents:

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CONTENTS

LIST OF MAPS, TABLES AND FIGURES

INTRODUCTION: Australia's Great Depression

Part I: LEGACIES OF WAR

1 The soldiers come home

2 Politics reshaped

3 War and the economy

Part II: RECOVERY, VISIONS AND RECESSION,1919-29

4 Recovery and development

5 The voracious borrower

6 Recession

7 Over the cliff

Part III: DEPRESSION, 1929

8 What caused the Great Depression?

9 Scullin's poisoned chalice

10 The unemployed

11 The voluntary sector to the rescue

Part IV: MAELSTROM, 1930

12 The tightening band of policy options

13 Losing control

Part V: SURVIVING

14 Sustenance

15 Community and family

16 Health and resilience

Part VI: WORK OF A KIND

17 Searching for work

18 Relief works

19 Protest and grievance

Part VII: THE NADIR, 1931

20 The battle of the plans

21 Populism and secession

22 Taking up arms

23 In office but not in power

24 The Premiers' Plan

25 Scullin's end

Part VIII: ON THE MARGINS

26 Women at risk

27 Losing your home

28 Without a home

29 On the track

30 Aboriginal Australians

31 The new immigrant

Part IX: CLIMAX, 1932

32 Lyons' first six months

33 Debt, imperial preference and cricket

Part X: RECOVERY, 1933-37

34 Economic recovery

35 An emergency government without an emergency

EPILOGUE: A resilient nation

Picture section

APPENDIX: Federal and state elections, 1927-37

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABBREVIATIONS

GLOSSARY OF TERMS

NOTES

REFERENCES

INDEX.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781761063749

176106374X

OCLC:

1306054776