THE HOME FRONT —

WORLD WAR II
Solution Set

APRIL 19, 2019

MAX FAN
Year 10 Forbes
 S. Max Fan 4748 10 Forbes
18 Apr 19
Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

The Home Front — World War II

1 THE INITIAL REACTIONS
1. The Australian government was much more prepared for war in 1939 than
it was in 1914, largely due to experience. The first world war was the first
time that Australia, as an independent nation, had participated in a major
form of warfare external of the British Empire. This meant that there was a
certain level of disorganization to the enlistment of personnel, causing
societal issues. For instance, many people left roles of society which were
essential to its functioning which caused the breakdown of a lot of social
frameworks.
2. The Jehovah’s Witnesses chose not to support the war effort due to their
pacifistic nature. In general, regardless of geographical location and
proximity, the Jehovah’s Witnesses are anti-war and anti-violence. These
same sentiments existed in Europe. The hard-core socialists were also
reluctant to engage in the war effort. At this time, the centre of global
socialism was very much the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union remained
largely neutral to the European Theatre of Operations until later on and so
the socialist movements in Australia took a similar stance. It was also
broadly true that war efforts tended to concentrate wealth in the hands of
large weapons suppliers in today’s society, it is arguable whether this was
the case back then.
3. Essential occupations would look like priests, farmers, bankers and
politicians. They were the people who formed the support frameworks
which were still necessary when the war was on.

2 FROM ‘PHONEY WAR’ TO ‘ALL IN’!

4. The first months of the second world war saw it labelled as a “phoney war”
because people saw very little combat and there was very little utility in
the Australian troops at the time. Those who remembered the first world
war saw it as a time of calm and society went on as usual until Europe
started falling rapidly to the German war machine.
5. After 1942, Australians were evacuated southwards in Australia from the
northern parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

Australia because there began to be a real threat of an invasion by the

Japanese from the north. The safety of its citizens is generally a
government’s first priority and thus people were taken out of northern
Australia and relocated to the south.

3 GOVERNMENT CONTROLS
6. The National Security Act of 1939 meant that there was a large amount of
power which was originally vested in the constitution and parliament
which were shifted into the executive branch of power. This breakdown of
the separation of powers is rather standard in democratic countries during
wartime. In effect, now the executive (the government of the day) no
longer had to consult with parliament (the legislature) or the judiciary in
order to pass laws, just the crown (represented by the governor general).
Politically, this nullifies the legislative power of all other parties and
concentrates power. There is always a challenge between having
democracy and having efficiency. (But that is for another discussion).
7.
Law/Regulation Reason
Reduction of  To increase productivity
Christmas – New Year  The less time spent on consumption, the
holiday period to 3 more utility in every man hour.
days
Restriction of  The less leisure time there is, the more
weekday sporting productive people.
events  Sporting events attract crowds aka.
People not working.

Blackouts and  This was to avoid bombing raids. If there

brownouts in cities are no lights, it is not obvious where to
and coastal areas drop bombs.

Daylight saving  An extra hour's daylight on summer

introduced afternoons meant less need for fuel
Increased call up of  The need for more personnel was great
the Militia ('Army and there was a lack of general interest
Reserves') after the first wave given the experiences
of many in the first world war.

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 S. Max Fan 4748 10 Forbes
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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

Issue of personal  This helped in things like rationing and

identity cards ascertaining the identity of individuals.
 It was a way of the government
exercising more control over the lives of
the individual.

Increased enlistment  This was a way of allowing for women to

of women into the help the country and also rallied the
auxiliary forces support of some social movements.
 Australia was always a country which
was rich in resources and yet lacked the
amount of people necessary to use them.
 Women were now able to exercise their
capacity to sew and make food for
soldiers on the front lines.

Regulations allowing  Striking people were unproductive

strikers to be drafted people and with a country so small, there
into the Army or into was really no capacity to let people not
the Army Labour work.
Corps  Drafting people into the Army Labour
Corps not only took away their capacity
to strike but also allowed for more labour
to be exploited though the army.
 This also acted as a deterrent for striking
in the first place and consolidated the
power of the government which
important in war time. If people do not
fear/feel that the government has power,
the war machine cannot properly
function.

The fixing of profit  It is very hard to stop monopolies from

margins in industry forming even with anti-trust regulations
in place and so price fixing is the best
way to control prices and ensure that
there is excessive extortion of the public.

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 S. Max Fan 4748 10 Forbes
18 Apr 19
Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

Restrictions on the  Building and renovations use money

costs allowed for which could be spent on the war effort.
building or  People indulging in luxury industries is
renovations just money wasted and so this was
restricted for a more efficient war
machine.

Setting of some  This was used to encourage more women

women's pay rates at to work and join the auxiliary forces.
near-male levels  Due to the labour deficit in Australia, it
was more important than ever for more
women to be encouraged to join the
workforce with higher pay.

Internment of  The protectionist and isolationist policy

members of the convictions of the Australia First Group
Australia First were very bad for the war cause because
organisation there was a sentiment that Australia was
not fighting a war which it had to be
involved in.
 Due to the numbers of people, the
general practice of individual prosecution
was no longer viable and so there was
simply mass internment instead.
The prosecution of  Conscientious objectors were treated
about one thousand with more respect because in many
conscientious instances, they were of higher classes and
objectors and the generally more socially powerful. This
imprisoning of some was the reason why they were given fair
of them prosecution in the first place.
 The silencing of these people stopped the
turning of the population against the war
effort.

The pegging of prices  This was a way to ensure that without

the same amount of competition in place,
prices did not get elevated too much on
common goods which were essential for
survival.

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 S. Max Fan 4748 10 Forbes
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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

 This was also a necessary consequence of

rationing.

The formation of the  Men had left for war and so their
Women's Land Army positions in farming had to be filled.
 The women’s land army filled that
position.

The banning of the  This was a way of opposition as a way of

Communist Party, and maintaining momentum great war effort.
the Australia First  Broadly speaking, public sentiment was
movement for really important to the success of a
opposition to the war country in a war. If public sentiment
swings against the government, then
enlistments plummet and there is no
longer a mechanism by which the war
continues.

Rationing of clothing,  Again, this was a way of ensuring that not

footwear, tea, butter all of the food congregated in the hands
and sugar of the wealthy and powerful upholding
the principle of egalitarianism.

Controls on the cost of  Dresses and other luxury goods meant

dresses that a lot of money was not going to the
war effort and were going to extravagant
lifestyles, this was a way of curtailing
this.
 This is distinct from rationing because
the luxuries industry does not suffer
wine there are monopolies.
8.
 Christmas and New Year’s holidays are still shortened from what
they used to be.
 Daylight savings remains a thing in parts of Australia.
 Army Reserves are still a thing.
 There is no personal identity card program as such but things like
drivers licenses have replaced these.

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

 Women can still join auxiliary and all arms of military forces.
 Fixing of profit margins still exist in some industries (i.e. parts of
pharmaceuticals)
 Women in the industry also now have similar pay levels to men.
9. These are in the same order as above.
 Consumerism and productivity.
 Productivity
 To have access to a large service personnel base.
 To identify people.
 There is no reason not to allow women to join and different
perspectives are broadly good.
 To avoid the excessive exploitation of consumers by multinational
conglomerates. (i.e. inflation of prices by Glaxo Smith Kline in 2014)
 Because why not, markets are a reasonable arbiter for productivity
and value, and they have slowly made pay rates more equal.

4 SOURCE ANALYSIS I
10. The two menaces which were ringing Australia were the Japanese
submarines and air force.
11. The Beaufort was a torpedo bomber which was manufactured by the
Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was designed to sink submarines and ships.
12. This poster exaggerates both the proximity and the numbers of Japanese
warships on the east coast. At the top of the poster, there is a barrage of
planes depicted, which is broadly inaccurate and falls under standard fare
for propaganda poster. The notion of “barring the gates” leading to “living
in peace” is also a drastic over simplification of the Beauforts’ capacity to
stop the Japanese. Again, this is rather standard for wartime propaganda.

5 SOURCE ANALYSIS II
13. This poster was aimed at the upper middle class which could be seen from
the portrayal of the counterfactual (the man in white) as a person with a
hat, in a suit and tie and smoking a cigar with a newspaper in his hands.
This was the typical image of an upper-middle class, perhaps mildly
industrialist individuals.

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 S. Max Fan 4748 10 Forbes
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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

14. One way was to enlist and the other was to continue life as it had been for
a long time before the war.
15. The illustrator uses a few mechanisms to sway the reader towards
enlisting:
 The difference in size of the two images. The idea of significance in
sacrifice is central to the narrative of war which permeates
Australian society.
 The difference in colour also makes a huge difference with the man
who stayed being painted in white. This was perhaps an allusion to
the white feather or just cowardice in general.
 There is also a significant difference in posturing, the man who
stayed is hunched over reading a newspaper — the traditional
conception of cowardice, while this posturing is not present in the
soldier.

6 SOURCE ANALYSIS III

16. There are a few way in which this poster appeals to mateship.
 At the front of the frame there is a solder heading off to war.
 Behind him there are people from all walks of life also following
him, noticing that they carry rifles and hats ready to head off to war
for the country.
 All are running which brings a sense of urgency to the scene
 There is also some light which comes down on top of and behind the
people which gives a sense that they are righteous and correct.
 There is one man standing at the front on the right who is not
running and not heading off. Presumably this means that most
people are heading to war and that he is somehow letting down his
country by not going.

7 EQUALITY IN SACRIFICE
17. There are two broad reasons for why the Australian people were more
united during the second world war:
 The proximity of the threat

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

 There is little doubt that the first world war never really
touched the shores of Australia and so there was a general
sentiment amongst some in society that Australia was
fighting and unnecessary war.
 This was not the case in the second world war. The threat of
Japan, especially after the fall of Singapore, was more real
than ever.
 The lack of that type of criticism was huge in having less
doubt for government.
 This was the first time that the Australian mainland was
vulnerable for invasion.
 Events like the bombing of the port of Darwin really changed
the nature of discourse.
 This was also aided by the speed at which Europe fell to the
German Blitzkrieg.
 The inclusive nature of the war effort
 During the first world war, there was a narrative that the
only way of having meaningful service and being productive
for your country was to enlist and serve in the front lines.
 In the second world war, there was more of an emphasis on
auxiliary forces and even the people who stayed behind and
looked after children, or supplied food, or continued nuclear
family structures.
 There came to be this notion of a “kitchen front” as being just
as important as the war front.
18. In order left to right, top to bottom.
 This encouraged women to join the Women’s Land Army and fill the
positions originally occupied by men. This changed the position of
women in society indefinitely.
 This poster encourages people to buy war savings stamps and
certificates, in order to support the war effort. It appeals to the idea
that supporting Australia would also help all of the individuals in it.
 This encouraged people to invest in national war bonds in order to
fund the war effort further. It appeals to the possibility of an earlier
victory and therefore less suffering.

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 S. Max Fan 4748 10 Forbes
18 Apr 19
Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

 This poster encourages people to grow their own food and keep
their own hens in order to reduce dependency on rations of the
state. The bright colours and the basket full of vegetables lends itself
to the spirit of self-sufficiency.

8 WOMEN
19. The role of women in society changed in two broad ways: First, that they
took on the jobs of men while they were away fighting in so far as roles in
society still had to be filled and if there was a shortage of men, women
were taken into those roles. Second, there was now more of an emphasis
on what women were doing in society during the war and why it was
important. The notion of “The Kitchen Front” for instance recognised the
important role women played in supporting families while men were away
fighting.
20. The idea here is that when women entered into the jobs which men had
originally existed in, they were deemed as more valuable, or specifically
their labour was deemed as more valuable than women working in other
industries. Here is a very interesting intersection between liberal and
radical feminism, where the liberal feminist argues that this is a huge
success for women in that some are now better off and on net utility was
gained, while the radical feminist argues that here, women have benefited
from established gender norms and are thus deeply individually
problematic.
21. Some women continued to fight for their rights and used their new-found
power for the fight for equality, while others were pleased to return to the
original social structures which predated the war.

9 SOURCE ANALYSIS IV
22. The roles shown on this page include:
 Generally becoming employed in all instances (this is the case with
the first poster depicting all of the different employment
opportunities).

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 S. Max Fan 4748 10 Forbes
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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

 The second encourages women to take care of other people’s

children if they were unwilling to work in factories as a way of
freeing up others and in turn helping with the war effort.
 The third shows women working on the engine of the propeller of
an aircraft either in maintenance or repair. This shows the role of
the auxiliary in the war.
 The fourth is a depiction of women with arms full of what must be
the harvest of food. This shows the Women’s Land Army harvesting
large amounts of crops, therefore supplying food both domestically
and to troops overseas.
 The last one encourages women to join factories and make clothing
for the men who are fighting. This was a way of maximising the
utility of the able population back home.
23. One depicts the propaganda which was used to get people to enlist in the
RAAF, and one represent what reality was like in a photograph. The
idealization of the RAAF was that there were men who were mechanics for
the aircraft and maintaining the machinery. In reality, was we observe
from the photograph, women were taking up that role. Given this, the
inference would be that this was a ploy to make men more comfortable
with aircraft but also highlighted society’s doubts towards women and was
broadly reflective of sentiment of the day.
24. The photograph probably came first for the propaganda seems
hyperaware of its inadequacy or perhaps even (in Churchill’s words)
“terminological inexactitude”.
25. Pilots of the day would have been less comfortable with women
maintaining their planes than men maintaining their planes, largely
because there was a perception that maintenance of machinery was a job
for men and not women. The air force convinced pilots that women were
just as capable as men through just letting them do the job. The trust
which then ensued was probably unaffected by stereotypes.

10 AMERICANS
26. The notion of US troops in transit through Australia to various war fronts
means that Australia was used as a stepping stone for the US to enter
warfare into various fronts in the Pacific.

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

27. There were three major impacts that US troops had on Australian lives.
First, the changed the view of the weekends as times of rest and instead
encouraged consumerism in places like hotels, and theatres and clubs and
restaurants. This was a drastic change in the way that Australian life
operated and brought Australian capital cities closer to the non-stop
consumeristic culture of global capitals. Second, was a rivalry which built
up between Australian troops and their better payed American
counterparts. This was a minor rivalry, but battles did break out between
the two allied sides in the Battle of Brisbane. The third impact was that
there was a greater emphasis and vigour with which indigenous people
fought for their rights, after they saw and heard about the success of civil
rights movements in the US. While people of colour in the United States
were oppressed, this was, by the 1940s, nowhere near the ostracisation of
indigenous Australians in Australia.
28. The consumerist culture of the US probably had the longest lasting and
most influential impact. It fully changed the Australian social order for the
benefit of some and to the detriment of others. The relentless 24 hour-ness
of US culture at the time bled into Australian society. The benefits of this is
contested to this day.

11 ECONOMY
30. Once controls got lifted after the war, people with massive amounts of
savings were now able to spend that money. This led to huge amounts of
spending and thus huge amounts of taxation which boosted the Australian
economy.
31. Ration books and cards could be used to either redeem a specific good
(and was a way of ensuring that everybody had something to eat and that
nobody was starving) or they could be used effectively as currency where
a good would cost X amount of ration cards.

12 CONSCRIPTION
32. The geography of the second world war was vastly different compared to
the first world war and the importance of the Pacific Theatre of Operations
allowed for Australians who were conscripted to the “home front” to be

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

sent into physical warfare nonetheless in Papua New Guinea where they
were desperately needed. This was not the case in the first world war.
33. Curtin did this by allowing for the Labour Party to fight it out internally,
which highlighted how little legislative power these opponents of sending
troops further overseas had and therefore, there was not the public
outrage that would have ensued had this just been a decision which was
made under the Defence Provisions Act or through the general passing of
legislations (as Curtin had control over both houses by a substantial
majority).
34. The countries included in the South West Pacific Area included:
 Parts of the Solomon Islands
 Papua New Guinea
 Indonesia
 Australia

13 INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS
36. The war, due to a lack of workforce, allowed indigenous Australians to gain
the same type of employment on a daily basis as white settlers and this
was a huge step in getting equal rights for indigenous people. They were
also able to interact with the black populations of the US from whom they
were able to gain insight into the importance and significance of gaining
civil rights in a colonial/post-colonial nation.
37. Once the war ended while there was no significant legislative change from
the top down, there was significantly more grass-roots support for
indigenous people as many white people had been able to work alongside
them during the war. In history, there is a phenomenon where “other”
people are imagined as “less than human” and the way that this has been
combated has always been to humanize people through interaction.
(comprehension and experience bias if you want to go for psychology
terms).

14 NATIONAL IDENTITY
38. The author is correct here in saying that there is not the same amount of
cultural and social clout in attachment to the Japanese POWs or the

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

Kokoda Campaign as is attached to Gallipoli. This is something that is true

and ought to be mildly lamented, though I stress mildly for there is
certainly value to the investment of cultural value into Gallipoli. This can
be seen from the setting of the day of ANZAC day and the way that history
being taught in schools focuses on the Gallipoli landing.

15 NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE
40.
Events that asserted the Australian
identity and independence
 Declaration of war against
Japan independent of the UK
and the detachment of
Australia from the British
declaration of war.
 Curtin winning over the will
of Churchill in returning
Australian troops and
fighting in New Guinea.
 The Statute of Westminster
Adoption Act which cut off
the British Empire’s
autonomy over its dominion
states.
Events that contributed to
Australia’s remaining subservient
to another nation.
 The granting of control over
the Australian Navy and
RAAF to the British
 The submission to the USA
and looking to Douglas
Macarthur for military
advice and direction
 The use of Australian
soldiers for “mopping up”
campaigns

16 THE ENEMY WITHIN

43. Around 22,360 “aliens” were considered to be “enemy”.
44. The Australian government interned many “aliens” was mechanism of
settling public sentiment. The actual utilitarian impact of interning aliens
was very limited. This was seen when many were released back into their
won jobs when society became dysfunctional when they were needed due
to lack of people.
46. The pros of this would largely be in terms of public sentiment and morale.
The cons are practical. There is an enormous hit to productivity. Children

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

are robbed and unfairly denied access to education. The continued

ostracisation of these communities breeds radical sentiment and also
builds animosity.
47. Internment camps in Australia include:
 Cowra, New South Wales
 Enoggera (Gaythorne), Queensland
 Harvey, Western Australia
 Hay, New South Wales
 Holsworthy (Liverpool), New South Wales
 Loveday, South Australia
 Rottnest Island, Western Australia
 Tatura (Rushworth), Victoria
 Bathurst, New South Wales (1939)
 Long Bay, New South Wales (1939, 1940–41)
 Orange, New South Wales (1940–41)
 Dhurringile near Murchison, Victoria (1939–40)
 Parkeston, Western Australia (1942)
52. The books which were sent to the fund were presumably sent to soldiers
on the front line for entertainment.
53. The first Bluey and Curley strip appeared soon after the start of World War
II. It featured two Australian soldiers, Bluey (who had served in the First
AIF), and Curley, a new recruit.
By the end of the war, they had served in every Australian campaign — in
North Africa, in the Middle East, in New Guinea, in Northern Australia, and
in the Pacific Islands — and, once the war was over, they even went to
London and took part in the 1946 Victory Parade.
Bluey and Curley epitomised what was seen as the typical Australian
soldier. They liked a drink, a gamble and a chat (in colourful Aussie slang
of course), and they always had some scheme afoot. They had a healthy
disregard for officers and regulations and were quick to bring down any
mates who were getting too big for their boots. Despite their larrikin
streak, they were fearless, resilient and skilled in battle.
Alex Gurney, the creator of Bluey & Curley, produced the strip from 1940
until his death in 1955. It was syndicated across Australia and appeared in
New Zealand, New Guinea, and Canada (but was considered too Australian
for American newspapers).

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Year 10 History (Dr R Blandford)

The strip was widely appreciated for the good-humoured way it depicted
the Australian "diggers" and their "mateship", as well as for its realistic use
of Australian idiom of the day.

54.

17 EVERYDAY LIFE
55. This was of huge benefit to the interconnectedness of Australia and was
also really important for the development of a collective national identity.
57. Australia originally (immediately after the war) became very
protectionists, speaking of things like “the yellow peril” and starting
campaigns like “populate or perish” in order to keep birth rates high to
preserve the purity of Australia. This quickly changed however, when
immigration was necessary for the economy to continue to prosper and
yet migrants from traditional sources were no longer available. This was
the start of the signature multiculturalism of Australia.

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