The Great Depression

The Great Depression was between 1929 - 1932. The ultimate cause of the Great Depression is still a subject of debate between economists. Although the collapse of the New York Exchange determined it's timing, there were several factors involved. There was a fall in the export prices and sales, as well as in residential construction. There was also a fall in overseas loans lending’s to a reduction in government capital spending. Even before the devastating stock market crash on Wall Street, unemployment in Australia was already a 10%. The Wall Street Crash in October, 1929 signalled the beginning of a severe depression for the whole industrial world. The Great Depression's impact on Australian was devastating. Without work and a steady income many people lost their homes and were forced to live in makeshift dwellings with poor heating and sanitation. For families there many social consequences of the Great Depression including working class children were consistently leaving school at 13 and 14 years old. Married women carried the greatest domestic burden: Home-making was still considered a woman's role, so even if a woman had worked all day scrubbing floors to bring in some money, her unemployed husband would still expect her to cook dinner and keep the house in order. Jobs were much easier to find for young people, but the work had very little future career prospects and many young workers were sacked by the time they were 16, 18 or 21 years of age. Migrants, particularly from Italy and Southern Europe, were resented because they worked for less wages despite having relatively little in the way of family and friends to call for help.