Australia Between the Wars

Essay Question:
Between the Wars, various factors impacted the Australian way of life. Discuss at least four of these. Write an exposition essay, maximum word count 1400.
Between the wars, various factors had impacted the Australian way of life. Women had taken men’s jobs due to the soldiers being absent during war. The situation of the Stolen Children came about because Australians believed in “white” supremacy, resulting in terrible grief and loss of identity for Aboriginal people. The Day of Mourning marks the date when white settlers set foot on Australian shores and devastated the lives all of the Indigenous inhabitants already there. Unionism began in Australia in the 1830s; workers formed a group, the union, which represented the interests of all the workers in a particular trade.
The end of World War I was the new beginning of a new era for Australia. Following the end of the War, over 250,000 soldiers had returned to Australia. Diggers found work with varying success. Although initially only 13,000 returned soldiers found themselves unemployed, this number steadily increased throughout the 1920s. For the majority of the decade, unemployment was over 5 percent. Soldiers found that in their absence, women had moved into the workforce taking jobs usually occupied by men. Employers were not eager to fire their female employees in favour of returned soldiers, particularly when few soldiers had the skills needed for basic work. A lack of skills proved a disadvantage for soldiers keen to return to the workforce. During the War, technology had progressed, many factories had been built and the work usually performed by unskilled labourers had been replaced by machines. Therefore, Australia seemed to be unprepared for the sudden arrival of new workers. There was no job security, public assistance, or any guarantee that the diggers would be able to find employment once they returned home. Soldiers who could not find employment began to insist financial assistance...