1920s: Trends In Australia
28 04 2008Australia experienced many of the same trends as America.
Politics: Changes for Women
Women in the workforce under pressure to go back to the home once the war was over.
1920: Mrs Mary Rodgers becomes Australia’s first female councillor.
1921: Edith Cowan elected to West Australian House of Representatives.
Pushed through legislation to allow women to work in the legal profession.
1922: Melbourne: The Industrial Court of Appeal rejects concept of equal pay for women
Popular sports in Australia
Football
Cricket
Boxing
Horse racing
Running
Cycling
Wrestling
Attending sport was not expensive.
Flight in Australia
Record-setting pilots were heroes.
Ross and Keith Smith
Bert Hinkler
Charles Kingsford Smith
QANTAS begins passenger service in 1922.
The Flying Doctor started in 1928.
Money in Australia
Weekly wages in 1929
Bricklayer $12.50
Shop assistant $9.00, women $5.80
Nurse $4.80
Prices in 1929
Butter 24c for 500 grams
Petrol 4.1 cents per litre.
Rent for a four bedroom house $2.00
Cars in Australia
Cars became more popular
75 thousand cars in 1920
230 thousand cars in 1925
540 thousand cars in 1929
Local production
Ford started making cars in Geelong in 1925.
General Motors started in Australia in 1926.
Cars were still expensive.
The smallest car, the Austin 7, cost more than the average wage for a whole year.
Politics in Australia
1927: Federal Parliament sits for the first time in Canberra, the nation’s capital.
Parliament opened by the Duke of York (later King George VI)
There were 15,000 invited guests.
Canberra has just 6,000 residents in 1927.
Nationalist PM Stanley Bruce 1923 to 1929.
Cars: Although, yes cars were still expensive. during 1930s ( Depression) cars became immensly cheaper for those who still had jobs. as goods and product prices dropped as money became scarce.