History: The Great Depression
The following clips have teachers’ notes related to this topic:
Backyard betting from the newsreel Australia Today – Customs Officers Fight Against Drugs (G)
This newsreel segment begins with a title card which sums it up nicely: ‘slums, illegal gambling and SP bookmaking is a real and vital problem confronting the governments of Australia today’. Following newspaper headlines, the story unfolds to place illegal SP betting in a social context by showing its damaging effects on the lower classes and those living in poverty.
‘They start life’s race with a handicap’ from the newsreel Australia Today – Men of Tomorrow (G)
This clip shows the conditions of those living in low income areas of inner city Sydney. The children living in this environment, according to the narration, ‘start life’s race with a handicap’ placing a responsibility on the community whose duty it is to lift it. It focuses on the living conditions of a boy and his family, and the life …
Police Boys’ Club from the newsreel Australia Today – Men of Tomorrow (G)
A young boy is taken to the Police Boys Club. Its aim, according to the narration, is to ‘keep boys off the streets’. It shows the boys working in the gym, boxing, and socialising in a safe environment. Later, a suburban residential area with comfortable housing and manicured lawns is shown in contrast to the high density terraced housing of …
The hungry mile from the television program A Big Country – On the Hook (PG)
Waterside workers are seen on the wharf while the voice-over describes their comfortable work conditions and job security, A montage of historical footage shows a queue of workers in the 1930s, and waterside workers using horses and drays on the wharves. We hear the wharfie’s poem, 'The Hungry Mile’, which describes the era before unionisation, when men tramped 'the hungry …
‘They look after you down here’ from the television program A Big Country – On the Hook (PG)
We see waterside workers using machinery. The voice-over describes how mechanisation has greatly reduced the hard labour required for the job and the number of employees needed. Current 'wharfies’ confess to little knowledge of 'the old days’.
Raising children during the Great Depression from the documentary Bread and Dripping (PG)
Four women recall the hardship of raising children during a period of mass unemployment. The government provided a 'baby bundle’ consisting of poor quality clothing.
Shanty town from the documentary Bread and Dripping (PG)
Unemployed people were forced to build their houses out of scrap and discarded materials. They established a trading post where clothing was donated. Indigenous Australians were not able to receive the dole and were issued meagre rations. One of the women interviewed sings an American song current at the time, 'Hallelujah, I’m a Bum’.
Picketing during the Great Depression from the documentary Bread and Dripping (PG)
Timber bosses employed cheap 'scab’ labour to save money. The former employees picketed the mill. Women, led by the Militant Women’s Group (MWG), collected food and money and explained to neighbours the reason for the picket.
Shelter, food and clothing from the sponsored film A Brief Survey of the Activities of the Brisbane City Mission (G)
Over a montage of slum housing in the city of Brisbane, a voice-over talks of the plight of the poor and ‘indecently housed’. A group of hungry men wait outside the Mission’s premises where they gratefully receive their food parcels. Women bring their unwanted clothing to the Mission, which is then given to those in need. A woman is shown …
The Great Depression from the feature film Caddie (PG)
With the country in the grip of the Depression, Caddie (Helen Morse) has to be smarter and quicker than everyone else if she wants to secure a job. She rises before dawn to read the 'situations vacant’ ads, posted outside the newspaper office, then hurries to be first in line for an interview.
Democracy in action from the documentary Canberra Files, The (PG)
Standing in the House of Representatives Chamber in Old Parliament House, actor Michael Caton provides the context for early newsreels in Australia. This is followed by a Paramount Gazette newsreel from 1929 that shows ex-Prime Minister Stanley Bruce leaving Parliament House, while the new James Scullin Labor administration sweeps into the building.
Equal pay paradox from the documentary For Love or Money (G)
This clip examines the situation for women in the 1930s Depression when many were forced to work as the men in their families were unemployed. Denied equal pay and still being paid piece-rate wages, women were then vilified and unfairly blamed for causing unemployment. The clip finishes with a segment from the feature film Caddie.
There’s no place like home from the sponsored film Home (G)
The workmen, who live in shanty-style houses, also have dreams for a better home. As a child sits and draws a picture of a house, her picture is transformed (by a dissolve) into an architect’s sketch and then a realised house. A range of home styles and types are then shown. A voice-over narration tells us that this development contributes …
‘Dad got the sack, did he?’ from the television program Winners – The Paper Boy (G)
John Riordan (Tony Llewellyn Jones) has lost his job. Joe (Christopher Schlusser) hears about a job as a paperboy selling newspapers on the street. He is warned that is a rough job – the last boy ended up in hospital for two months. He is told by his new boss Mr O’Brien (Maurie Fields) that he will be paid by …
