Social Impact On Australia's Economy

World War 1 was a war fought from 1914 to 1918, it was also known as the ‘Great War’. It was fought principally in Europe and the Middle East. It was fought between the Triple Alliance, which consisted of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy and the Triple Entente, which consisted of Russia, France and the British Empire. World War 1 had major impacts on Australia, but the most obvious would be the economic impact, the social impact and the political impact. The war had great consequences on the Australian economy and the results of these consequences were varied. One of the first impacts on the Australian economy was the government’s cancellation of existing trade agreements with Germany and Austria-Hungary. World War 1 also had a great social

effect on Australia, including an effect on Australian women in how women ‘temporarily’ replaced men in their workplace while they were off fighting in the war, another social impact the war had was Australia became very paranoid about ‘the enemy within’ this was the phrase used to describe ‘enemy aliens’ residents of Australia who had been born in foreign countries or who had some affiliation with foreign countries were considered the enemy.

The war also had a substantial impact on Australian politics, the war saw governments take on unaccustomed and different powers over features of the citizens lives. This discussion will take in to consideration the major impacts that World War 1 had economically, socially and politically.

World War 1 had a major impact on economy in Australia. In the onset of war the government revoked trade agreements with Germany and Austria-Hungary. Because of this various industries in Australia had taken up contracts that were beforehand filled by German competitors, firms started to make fortunes from the rising business. This gave industries in Australia

a sort of safety, as their rivals were being removed. Australia wanted various trade items such as wheat, wool and meat to make it to Britain as to help with the war effort and supplies. A variety of new laws had been passed in Australia that under the constitution would usually be not possible but were done under the new War Precautions Act. Some things the War Precautions Act made possible was that IT passed a law giving it the rights to the whole wheat and wool harvests. This made it impossible for wheat to reach Britain from Russia in 1915. All provisions of refrigerated mutton and beef had been bought by Britain for the remainder of the war. Whole wool clip was bought at 55% above pre-war values. Many average living people in the workforce were subjected to a decline in their profit and supplies due to scarcity of provisions and people higher in social status profiting from the war. This led to a series of major strikes in the major cities. The Commonwealth took out multiple war loans to finance the recourses needed for the war effort and then went on to take out peace loans. Whoever had money in the wartime could easily profit from the war whereas those without money to spare suffered economic loss and decline. By the end of the war Australia’s manufacturing of products had taken a major rise, as it was producing 400 new products that before the war had not been produced. These effects also increased the social impacts that the war was already having on Australia.

The war introduced a multitude of social impacts on Australia.

One major social impact that the war had on Australia was the impact on women. At the outbreak of war far fewer women than men participated in work outside the house, at the time women’s role was considered to be at home. But with the departure of about half a million men, most of who were apart of the workforce, women started to ‘temporarily’ replace men. Women’s contribution in the workforce took a major uprise as it raised from 24 per cent in 1914 to 37 per cent in 1918. But the increase was mostly in what was already considered women’s area of work such as clothing and footwear, food and printing increase. Although there was also an increase in clerical, shop assistant and teaching. Workplaces were not willing to let women join them in typical male areas of work as they thought it would lower the wages. Many women wanted to become involved in more war related activities and work places such as cooks, stretcher bearers, motor car drivers, interpreters and munitions workers, but the government did not allow this participation. Another major social effect on Australia was the introduction of ‘the enemy within’. The enemy within was used to describe residents in Australia who were born in foreign countries. These people were now considered the enemy in Australia. A census in 1911 showed that at the time there were 33,381 German born citizens, mainly in South Australia and Queensland. These people were made to

register at local police station. The outbreak of the war caused Australians to turn on their German neighbours and Australian German residents were often shunned and given lots of offence even though many had family fighting in the AIF. This was mostly encouraged by the vast variety of anti-German propaganda. By the end of the war 6150 Germans and other ‘enemy aliens’ had been deported. The persecution on Australian Germans was a cause of World War 1s political impact on Australia.

World Wars 1s political impact on Australia saw governments take on new and wide powers over aspects of people’s lives. In 1916 the Labor party, which was currently the Government, split. This was because the then Prime Minister William Hughes thought that the losses on the Western Front were in too high demand to be met by voluntary recruiting and that men should be conscripted into the fight. This led to Hughes and a number of others leaving the Labor party and joining the Liberals to form a new nationalist party. This party ended up becoming the Government for the remainder of the war. Hughes enthusiasm for war and conscription led to a lot of controversy and led to confrontations between Hughes and people anti-conscription, most known about was T.J. Ryan who did as much as possible to try to defeat conscription. The outbreak of war had become a nationally known event and it became clear to the community that the Commonwealth needed to control its authority, spending and revenue raising power if they were to execute the war successfully. One of the Commonwealths major decisions was to put the War Precautions Act into action. The War Precautions Act had many great impacts on Australian political society and carried out some major acts in Australian history. Existing commercial contracts with enemy countries for trading were cancelled. Loans were created to help raise money for the war. People who had an association with an enemy country of some sort were often locked up without a trial. This shows that during the time of the war there was a political impact on Australia, most likely due to the intensity and stress of the ongoing war.

World War 1, also known as the ‘Great War’, although mostly fought in Europe and the Middle East had huge impacts on the Australian home front. The principle areas of impact that it had were mostly economic, social and political. The main economic impact that the war had on Australia was the drastic change in trade that it brought, trade partnerships with enemy countries were severed and Australia was replacing contracts that were previously taken by German Rivals. Another economic impact was that the amount of items that Australia had been producing shot up, as by the end of the war there were 400 new Australian products. The crucial Social impacts included the impact on women, as women were replacing men in the workforce whilst they were off fighting in the war this caused a lot of controversy at the time. Another social impact was the introduction of the ‘enemy within’, people who had an affiliation with enemy countries were now considered the enemy and given abuse despite some having sons fighting in the war effort. The political impact that the war had was the controversy between William Hughes and his enthusiasm for conscription, which led to the Labor party splitting up and creating a new nationalist party, which then became the government over the duration of the war. It was also that the War Precautions Act was put into action, changing many rules and Australian society. This argument was to discuss how World War 1 impacted the Australian home front and how it changed Australian society economically, socially and politically.