Living in Australia:1900-1914

Inquiry questions

• What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• How and why did Federation occur?• What were the voting rights of

various groups in Australia at Federation?

• How and why was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 introduced?

Key Terms

• Complete a Glossary of the following words in your workbooks

LegislationFederationLabourDemocracyPensionSuffragettes

Turn of the Century – Ordinary Australian lives

• Wood paved or dirt, crowded with horses.

• High dependence on horses.

• Dusty, noisy, dirty, smelly streets.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Wexford St. Sydney, 1900

Wexford St. Sydney, 1900

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Pedestrians on George St. 1900

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• Housework very labour intensive, no electrical appliances e.g. clothes washed by hand.

• Women spent most of the day preparing and cooking dinner.• No refrigeration, instead a Coolgardie safe or ice chest used.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• Children attend Primary school where they learn the 3 Rs.

• Most leave school at 12 and go to work – cost prohibitive.

• Only the rich went to Secondary school.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• Unemployment a constant threat as there was no social security – laissez-faire system.

• Overcrowded slums.

• Large families, poor.

• Prided themselves on cleanliness and good manners.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• 1000s died from diseases that are curable today.• Life expectancy in 1900 = 54 (Today: M=79, F=84)• Doctors expensive so people tried curing themselves.• Hospitals dangerous (infection), 1 in 4 died.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Cleaning and demolishing houses in slum areas to address the plague

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Newton Garbage Tip c. 1900, the time of the plague

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• Open cesspits common even in rich areas.

• Also had pans which were collected once per week by ‘nightmen’.

• Prospect Reservoir led to better hygiene (for the rich).

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• No TV, aeroplanes, computers.

• Gas lighting and heating.• Wood or gas stoves/ovens.• Electricity only for the rich.• Telephones not common.

Calls connected manually by the ‘operator’.

• Wireless, or radio, becoming a main form of communication and entertainment

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Stables in Paddington 1900

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Circular Quay, 1892

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Circular Quay, 1900

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

The Rocks, 1900

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

1.2—The lighter side of lifefor the rich and the poor

• 3 basic social classes: Upper, Middle, Working.

• Sunday special—Sabbath day—time for relaxation/entertainment:picnics or Church

• But Working-class women still had to work…

• Home entertainment: reading, music (singalongs/piano), cards.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• ‘Outside’ entertainment : theatre, vaudeville, circus, dancing, men’s clubs.

• Socialising over alcohol popular.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• Gambling popular (horse racing). • Drunk young men (Larrikins) roamed poor suburbs in ‘pushes’ or gangs

harassing any and all.

• Going to the beach: – Fully dressed

on the sand– No swimming

during daylight

– Neck to knee bathers

– Men separate from women

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Using sources : Bias *Write these notes up please*

• Bias means having an unfair or unbalanced opinion.

• History is a subject where people express their opinions so it means that we have to be very careful to watch out for bias.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• Bias is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact it can be very useful as it lets us find out about what people believed or thought about a particular subject.

• What historians need to do is to try and find evidence from lots of different sources so that they can form a balanced opinion themselves.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-business/xstrata-stops-production-at-tahmoor-mine-20100208-nn31.html

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/mine-managers-threatened-over-wage-deal-20100719-10gtg.html

Conditions for workers

• For most Australian workers, conditions were poor at the turn of the century.

• Most people had to work long hours for little pay. If they complained, they were sacked.

• There was little government protection of working people and workers signed individual contracts that usually favoured the employer.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• The usual working hours were from 8 am to 6 pm, with an hour for dinner. Work sometimes continued until 10 pm without extra pay.

• Child Labour: Even though school was compulsory, it was common for children as young as eight to work, often in dangerous conditions for little pay (2 cents / hour).

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• In 1896, New South Wales passed its first Factories and Shops Act in an attempt to reduce hours and improve conditions, but the new laws were often ignored. Inspectors found that workers would not give evidence against their bosses for fear of being sacked.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• The Eight hour day movement: This was an attempt, which began in the 1850s, to force employers to limit workers' hours to 48 hours a week, based on the principle of 8 hours' work, 8 hours' sleep and 8 hours' rest. Large rallies, demonstrations and strikes forced some employers to give in to the workers' demands. However, most people continued to work more than 60 hours a week.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

• Australian Labor Party: Its members believed in ‘strength through unity’. Their main objectives were the vote for all adult white people in Australia and improved wages and working conditions. Many members also believed in socialism.

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

Why does the writer of source 1.3.8 believe bush workers are attracted to the trade union movement?

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

According to the drawing in source 1.3.9, what doesLabor believe in?

Why is Labor shown as a woman ona raft floating towards the sun?

1.4—Ups and downs, towards Federation

How and why did Federation occur?

How and why did Federation occur?

Defence: A unified defence force to

protect Australia’s large coastline from European countries

(e.g. Germany, France)

1885•The Federal Council proposed by Sir Henry Parkes is set up•Objective: raise public awareness of federal ideas & discuss common issues•Ineffective

1889•Parkes makes stirring speech is Tenterfield NSW•Calls for a Parliamentary Convention of Australia to write a Federal Constitution (rules on how the country would work)

1891•Parliamentary Convention of Australia held•Draft Federal Constitution written•Economic depression stopped further progress

1893•Various groups supportive of Federation meet in Corowa NSW•They propose a 2nd Parliamentary Convention

1898•2nd Parliamentary Convention held•In a referendum of the people, Vic, SA & TAS accept the Constitution, but the NSW Parliament blocks it

1899•They agree to make changes to the Constitution •In a 2nd referendum all colonies accept the revised Constitution

9 July 1900

•British Parliament agrees to the Australian Constitution •Queen Victoria signs the Australian Constitution Act

1 January 1901

•The six British colonies of Australia officially declared a federation at a ceremony at Sydney’s Centennial Park. First Prime Minister Edmund Barton.

How and why did Federation occur?

• Colony: Settlement in one country that is controlled by another country from which the settlers originally came.

• Federation: Union of Australian colonies to form one nation under a federal government.

• State: Organised community under one government, and together with other states forming a federal union

How and why did Federation occur?

How and why did Federation occur?

Migrated to Australia from England when 13

Migrated to Australia from Europe when 27

Compare the paintings in sources 1.4.3 and 1.4.4.(a) Which one most closely resembles the Australian landscape as you see it? Give reasons.(b) Why do you think the painters saw the Australian landscape in different ways?

1.5—Features of the Constitution and Government

What was life like in Australia at the turn of the century?

1.6—Voting rights: Australian Aborigines and Women

• The following are key terms which we need to understand. They help us understand the history around voting rights for Australian Aborigines and Women: – Suffrage: the right to vote in political

elections– Suffragette: a woman who, in the early

20th century, agitated for women to have the suffrage

– Franchise: the rights of a citizen, especially the right to vote

What were the voting rights of various groups in Australia at Federation?

• The right to vote is the foundation of any democracy.

• Where ‘universal suffrage’ exists, the right to vote is not restricted by race, gender, belief, wealth or social status.

• Where groups within a society are not allowed to vote, it is unequal and discriminatory.

1800’s• Aboriginal people dispossessed of their land and increasingly marginalised by government policies. Despite this, most Aborigines had the right to vote (suffrage) as British subjects.• Women not permitted to vote.

1885 • Qld colony removes Aboriginal suffrage.

1893 • WA colony removes Aboriginal suffrage.

1894 • SA women granted suffrage (one of the first instances in the world).

1899 • WA grants women suffrage.

1901

• The Constitution :a)Section 51 empowered the Federal Government to make laws for the people of any race, other than the Aboriginal race. Implication: The Federal Government could not franchise Aboriginal voting rights, this was a State issue.b)Aboriginal people not included in the census. Implication: ‘Persona non grata’, an unwelcome person. Unequal.c)All those who had voting rights in state elections also had voting rights in the Federal election. Implication: women in SA and WA and Aborigines in states like NSW and Vic had the right to vote.

1902• Commonwealth Franchise Act:a)Many of the Aboriginal voting rights taken awayb)Women given suffrage in Federal elections.

1908• Vic the last state to give women suffrage in state elections. Implication: all women now have the right to vote in Federal and state elections

1922• Further restrictions placed on Aborigines' right to vote when Commonwealth and state electoral rolls were standardised.

What were the voting rights of various groups in Australia at Federation?

What were the voting rights of various groups in Australia at Federation?

1.7—Australia’s population and racial issues around 1900

• In 1900 Australia was considered Anglo-Celtic.• DEFINE ‘ANGLO-CELTIC’• 17% British born and 75% had British parents,

so 92% had a close British association.• There were various non-British nationalities

within Australia.• German 1%• Chinese 0.8%: Cheap labour, Used to replace

striking ‘white’ workers, flooded in when gold discovered, not tolerated by ‘whites’ – in fact they were attacked.

• ‘Kanakas’: Pacific Islanders that had been kidnapped (‘blackbirding’) and taken to Queensland to work in sugar cane fields, approx 8 000 in 1890, use of Kanakas rejected by other States.

• Japanese: skilled pearl divers who switched to cheap labour in the 1890s recession.

• Circa 1900, politicians in Federal and State governments expressed an overwhelming desire for ‘racial unity’ – i.e. a ‘White Australia’

How and why was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 introduced?

How and why was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 introduced?

How and why was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 introduced?

USING SOURCES #7

1.8—Immigration and a ‘White Australia’

• Complete worksheet• http://www.citizenship.gov.au/lear

n/cit_test/practice/

How and why was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 introduced?

1.9—Social Legislation: A helping hand

• The Commonwealth Government introduced some of the most progressive industrial and social legislation during 1901-14. It created the notion that Australia was the worker’s paradise.1) The Eight Hour Day

• Albeit 6 days/week with maybe Saturday afternoon off.

How and why was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901 introduced?

2) The Conciliation and Arbitration Court 1904

• What was it’s aim?• How did it do this?

3) Harvester Case 1907• The Conciliation and Arbitration Court

created the idea of a fair and reasonable wage of $4.20 for the unskilled worker.

• This was the minimum that any male worker in Australia could expect.

• It prioritised the need of the worker above that of the ability of the employer to pay.

4) Workers Compensation Act 1912• What was it’s aim?

5) Aged and Invalid Pensions 1909• What amount was paid and to whom?• What did people with disabilities get?• Who was excluded?

6) Baby Bonus 1912• What was it and what was paid?