chapter 6 (U3 AOS2)

Question 1

what was Australia’s economic state after WW2?

Answer 1

AUS entered a period of prosperity after the war as the peacetime economy produced consumer not war goods

Question 2

what was Australia’s political state after WW2?

Answer 2

in 1945, Arthur Calwell became the 1st minister of the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and he consequently began to promote large-scale immigration highlighting a shift fringe the European centric society that characterised this period. Furthermore, during the Cold War an anxiety developed surrounding the power of communism prompting AUS to more strongly align themselves with the US however there remained the powerful connection to the UK which can be observed through AUS offering Marling and other sites as testing grounds for British atomic weapons. The new Liberal Party under the leadership of Robert Menzies dominated politics however there was still resistance to the traditional power structures

Question 3

did Indigenous resistance continue post WW2?

Answer 3

Resistance occurred due to community outrage at the conditions of Aboriginal people in the Warburton Ranges, a consequence of nuclear testing, created new movements for civil rights including the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League and the Federal Council for the Aboriginal Advancement, both pushed for a constitutional referendum to allow greater Commonwealth involvement in Indigenous affairs. This fight for civil rights by First Nations peoples soon transformed into a fight for Indigenous rights including land rights

Question 4

was there resistance from women to the traditional power structures post WW2?

Answer 4

For women the return to the domestic sphere after WW2 could not stifle a desire to take advantage of the new possibilities that their expanded roles in the war had opened. By 1957, it was clear that new movements challenged existing power structures both personal and political

Question 5

what was the effect of these resistance movements on greater Australian society?

Answer 5

Through the early 1960s these experiences of power and resistance in AUS took place within a shifting global landscape of struggles for civil rights, decolonisation + women’s liberation, energising change within Australian society

Question 6

what was the American Freedom Ride of 1961 which inspired the later event in AUS?

Answer 6

a key campaign conducted by both white + black students from the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE) which aimed to desegregate the entire bus system, including whites-only waiting rooms + restrooms + restaurant ants in bus terminals which had been banned by the Supreme Court decision, Boyton v Virginia 1960. the Freedom Ride began in Washington DC on the 4th of May 1961, during their ride they were attacked and fire bombed in places like Alabama. Finally the Freedom Riders were arrested + jailed in Mississippi (more that 300). the success of the Freedom Rides echoed across the world due to the widespread coverage in which it received as it exposed tensions within the civil rights movement.

Question 7

how did civil rights movements in the US influence Australian activists?

Answer 7

the American civil rights movement influenced the growing campaign for civil rights for Indigenous people in AUS, the clearest direct example of this in the 1965 Freedom Ride in northern NSW which was organised by Charles Perkins. However these campaigns were also rooted in the resistance of prior First Nations peoples to colonialism. The participation of Indigenous Australians in the war (both in the military + on the home front) justified their claims to be heard. the movement of some First Nations people off reserves + missions and into inner-city suburbs created new opportunities for the creation of networks + organisations

Question 8

what was the connection between AUS and UK like and how did it affect the state of Indigenous Australians and prompt the exploration of different forms of protest like media?

Answer 8

the Cold War tensions that emerged after WW2 influenced the Australian government to allow British rocket + atomic weapons testing at various sites. the condition of Aboriginal people displaced to the Warburton Ranges in eastern WA was revealed in a short film made in 1957 by William Grayden, called ‘Manslaughter’ which was disrupted on Melbourne’s Channel 9 therefore a wide audience was confronted with the reality of the Indigenous plight which caused immense outrage, this outrage coupled with funding led directly to the formation of the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League (VAAL) in March of 1957

Question 9

what is VAAL?

Answer 9

it rapidly became a prominent organisation in 1957 which agitated for Indigenous civil rights and later became focused on the demands for the Commonwealth to become more involved in providing for the welfare + rights of Indigenous people. In the early years of these leagues there were often white Australians dominating in early years. Doug Nicholls was often associated with this organisation and in early FEB 1958 in Adelaide state league representatives like Doug Nicholls met and formed the formed the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines (FCAA) which later led the push for a referendum to change the Constitution

Question 10

what was the response to ‘Manslaughter’

Answer 10

the Commonwealth responded to the controversy by deflecting responsibility for Aboriginal affairs to the states. As it was stated that the “Commonwealth Government has no authority to concern itself with Aboriginal affairs” (Pratt et al.) as involvement from the government would require a change to the Australia Constitution.

Question 11

what was the FCAA?

Answer 11

the FCAA launched 2 petition campaigns to pressure the government, the 1st one in 1958 received 25,000 signatures whist the 2nd one in 1962 aimed at 250,000 signatures and it failed to do this but still grater over 100,000 signatures. the FCAA later changed its name in 1964 to incorporate Indigenous peoples, becoming the Federal Council for the Advancement of Indigenous people (FCAATSI) which agitated for a referendum which was later agreed to by Menzies’ successor in 1966 PM Harold Holt

Question 12

what was the Yirrkala Bark Petitions?

Answer 12

in 1963, the 1st formal Aboriginal claim for land rights to Federal Parliament was made by the Yolngu people of Yirrkala NT when they discovered that the Commonwealth government, without consultation, planned to lease a substantial portion of their reserve on the Gove Peninsula to a mining company. The president of VAAL and Labor MP Gordon Bryant along with Kim Beazley Sr. presented a Yolngu petition to Parliament. this was the 1st petition written in an Indigenous language and had a clear statement of Yolngu culture + a claim to their traditional lands. One of their points on the Yolngu petition was that “the people of this area fear that their needs and interests will be completely ignored, as they have been ignored in the past.”

Question 13

was the Yirrkala bark petitions successful?

Answer 13

the petitions did not succeed in achieving their original intention of stopping the mining however it acted as the 1st stage of a battle for land rights

Question 14

what was the poor financial discrimination towards Indigenous people that prompted the Gurindji walk-off at Wave Hill?

Answer 14

the event was prompted by the immensely low or nonexistent wages Indigenous people received. this financial disparity was even legislated in 1951 in the NT when the Commonwealth government allowed Aboriginal workers to be exempt from the Cattle Station Industry Award which subsequently denied them equal wages.agitation by the Equal Wages Committee of FCAATSI and an application by the North Australian Workers’ Union to the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission in 1965 led to an end of the exemption to pay Aboriginal workers equal wages. the pastoral industry appealed this decision, achieving a delayed implementation of equal wage in 1968.

Question 15

what was the Gurindji walk-off at Wave Hill?

Answer 15

due to the anger of delayed equal wages + poor working conditions, Vincent Lingiari led the Gurindji to walk off at Wave Hill which was a large pastoral station leased by the British Vestey corporation. this event spanned from the 23th of August 1966 until 1973 and acted as a significant moment in transforming the attitudes towards Indigenous peoples’ rights to equality + their land as the act of resistance initially aimed to improve working conditions however it later expressed the Gurindji’s profound attachment to Country. many publicised their cause and raised funds to support them which further ensured immense media coverage. the Gurindji also petitioned the Governor-General, but the Liberal-Country Party Coalition government proved unresponsive

Question 16

Vincent Lingiari on the Wave Hill walk off?

Answer 16

“I bin thinkin’ this bin Gurindji country, we bin here longa time before them Vestey mob.”

Question 17

how did global issues impact Australians?

Answer 17

These independence movements in ASIA and others in Africa occasionally became intertwined with the politics of the Cold War and were often viewed by the Australian government through its fears of communism. The movements of decolonisation provided a forum for the development of postcolonial ideas that questioned the supremacy of Western powers + rights of subject peoples to self-determination. Many of these ideas resonated with First Nations peoples in settler societies like Canada, the US + AUS as they asserted claims not only for civil rights but for distinct Indigenous rights that recognised their claims as the original occupiers of their lands

Question 18

what were the limitations on equality in AUS? (primarily for white women?

Answer 18

Australia’s self-image since Federation had often emphasised ideals of egalitarianism however thee ideals were restricted to white middle-class heterosexual men. The restrictions of gender roles were apparent as women were viewed solely as wives and mothers which is evident in regulations like the marriage bar in the Commonwealth public service that forced women to give up their employment upon marriage and was not lifted until 1966. Although entitled both to vote + stand for election to Federal office since 1902, very few women were represented in the AUS Parliament + from 1951-1966 there were no women elected to the House of Representatives and only a small number to the Senate.

Question 19

what was a feminist protest in the 1965 that protested the restrictions of women in pubs?

Answer 19

There were areas of the public sphere which excluded women such as the public bar of pubs + hotels which sparked a popular protest for women’s equality known as the ‘barroom suffragettes’ which involved Merle Thornton + Rosalie Bogner chaining themselves to the public bar of Brisbane’s Regatta Hotel in 1965

Question 20

what were the limitations on equality in AUS? (primarily for Indigenous people)

Answer 20

For Indigenous Australians, both men and women, the denial of civil rights + equal status was explicit and enforced by the paternalistic state protection and welfare boards that dictated many aspects of their lives. Section 51 (xxvi) of the Constitution delegated powers for making laws for Indigenous Australians to the states and early Commonwealth legislation like the Franchise Act 1902 clearly excluded them from exercising any rights as citizens (refusing them citizenship). until the 1967 referendum, the battle for the recognition of civil rights by activists and their non-Indigenous allies was a dominant concern for this movement. VAAL not only pushed for citizen’s rights but challenged assimilation, seeking integration instead as its 1957 constitution outlined

Question 21

what is a historians perspective on the Indigenous struggle for obtaining equality in the 50s-60s?

Answer 21

Historian John Chesterman explains that the struggle for civil rights for Indigenous Australians has been downplayed, partly due to the Menzies government’s gradual reforms in areas like social security through the voting rights and pay that were seen as a part of the assimilationist program that was increasingly powerful in the 1950s.
Chesterman argues civil rights activists achieved a great deal in “forcing a reluctant state into a new relationship with Indigenous people”

Question 22

what was the second wave feminist movement in AUS?

Answer 22

the movement started around the late 1950s and was sparked by AUS’ postwar economic + baby boom + inequality of women + the barriers to a fulfilling career outside the home caused middle-class women to question the constraints of society’s gender roles which can be observed through AMERICAN journalist Betty Friedan. Feminism challenged both institutional restrictions on the lives of AUS women like the employment bans after marriage + social norms surrounding sexuality + gender roles. Feminism brought into public debate issues that previously were seen to be part of the private realm of the home such as the formation of the Nursing Mothers’ Association in 1964 which acted as a support group for breastfeeding mothers, was observed as both apolitical but a challenge upon entrenched interests

Question 23

what is a historian’s perspective on the second wave of feminism in AUS?

Answer 23

Historian Marilyn Lake noted an emergence of new understanding of femininity in the 1940s based around sexuality, sexual attractiveness + youthfulness, understandings that a 1950s culture would interweave with a “permissive consumerism”, as the movement evolved it further questioned the sexualisation of women within this consumerist society

Question 24

what were the attitudes towards sexuality in 1950s-1960s AUS?

Answer 24

changes occurring in AUS about sex/gender roles were not limited to feminism and began to influence thoughts about sexual identity on a broader scale however these notions were not widespread in this period. Australian laws similar to those in the UK criminalised the act of non-heterosexual relations but in the 1957 Wolfenden Report in the UK, homosexuality was recommended to be decriminalised. this report failed to create change until a year later but it eventually prompted the conversation about homosexual rights in the late 1960s AUS partly due to the Cold War in the 1950s encouraged the view that homosexuality was both a perversion of ‘godless’ communist influence + a potential threat to national security.

Question 25

what was the 1965 Freedom Ride?

Answer 25

The 1965 Freedom Ride in AUS became 1 of the most enduring + prominent campaigns in the fight for Indigenous rights prior to the 1967 referendum and was inspired by the direct-action tactics of the American civil rights movement and the 1961 Freedom Rides in particular. The bus trip through northern NSW was organised by Charles Perkins and the Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA) group at the University of Sydney. SAFA planned a fact-finding mission in northern NSW to gather information on the living conditions + treatment of the local Aboriginal peoples. The group departed from Sydney on the 12th of FEB on a bus that arrived in Walgett where the students protested outside the local RSL for its refusal to include Aboriginal ex-servicemen and at Moree they challenged the colour bar at the local swimming pool. The students encountered resistance from locals, who tried to run their bus off the road outside Walgett however the Freedom Rides effectively generated extensive media coverage. This media coverage released images of Aboriginal poverty + racial segregation in the towns shocked urban Australian, far removed from these experiences that seemed reminiscent of the American South

Question 26

what were the changing roles of women?

Answer 26

the postwar ere had seen an expansion in higher education in AUS which included a surge in women attending university. the introduction of the oral contraceptive pill in 1961 was initially restricted to married women + carrying a 27.5% luxury tax, played a role in liberating sexual activity from the act of procreation. the changes in women’s lives + aspirations during the 1960s contributed to changes in perspectives that informed the women’s liberation movement later in the decade, a movement that would challenge employment discrimination, unequal pay + conventional ideas on gender/sexuality

Question 27

historian perspective on the changing roles of women in the 60s in AUS?

Answer 27

Katie Holmes + Sarah Pinto observed that “the increasing education of women was to be a driver of social change in later decades’ and cited statistics noting the increasing portion of women in higher education from less than 7000 in 1955 to over 22 000 by 1965. They also noted that, while overall participation rates of women in the workforce increased marginally, the increase in the portion of married women jumped from 8.6% in 1947 to 18.4% by 1961”

Question 28

who held the power in AUS during the 50s-60s in AUS?

Answer 28

more conservative views dominated politics as the Liberal-Country Party Coalition dominated Federal polices aided by the 1955 split of the Australian Labor Party, caused by Cold War politics. fears of communism were prevalent as many viewed it as a threat to the ‘Australian way of life.’ Furthermore, society continued to defend the Whit Australian Policy in the pursuit of assimilation of both new migrants and Indigenous Australians. There was an economic boom after the war and there was a shift towards a change in currency from pounds to AUS dollars, this boom can be observed though in the 60s (1966) as unemployment was low - 2% and there was a 2.4% growth in the GDP

Question 29

what was the status of Indigenous Australians by 1966?

Answer 29

in 1966 the census calculated the population of AUS at 11.55 million however this failed to include the 80,207 Aboriginal people that weren’t included in this population figure due to Section 127 of the Constitution. By 1966, many civil rights like the right to vote in Federal elections had been achieved by Indigenous peoples still faced inconsistent and diverse controls at state level. Indigenous people faced issues surrounding unequal wages for pastoral workers, rights to travel freely + removal of children from Aboriginal parents. In 1966, only in NSW did they receive award wages

Question 30

what was the status of white women by 1966?

Answer 30

in 1950 the basic wage for women was raised to 75% of the male wage, a rate that still left many women underpaid for work of equal value. there were demands for equal pay + further access to work opportunities for many working women by the late 50s however the reality for many women included marriage, children and a life centred on the domestic sphere

Question 31

historian perspective on the status of white women by 1966?

Answer 31

Grimshaw et al. observed that “the most popular women’s groups of these years were those that appealed to women’s familial identity.”

Question 32

data/statistics on the roles of women spanning from 1954 to 1966?

Answer 32

• the labor force participation rate of women was 23% in 1954 and this grew to 34.3% in 1966
• the average age of marriage was 21.5 in 1966
  the percentage of university student was 21.3% in 1954 and this grew to 27.4% in 1966
  (Pratt et al.)

Question 33

what were the ideas on gender + sexuality towards the end of the 60s?

Answer 33

heretoreesexual relationships were the social norm and there were aspirations towards marriage and a family. pregnancy outside of marriage was stigmatised. there were little support for single parents as it was a social expectation to have a nuclear family contrived of a mother and a father. divorce was difficult to achieve and there was immense stigma surrounding it. there was the introduction of the pill however it was limited to wealthy married women (likely white as well) and more public conversations about contraception would begin to change perceptions around sex both this change was slow

Question 34

evidence on the stigma surrounding having children out of wedlock in the 50s/60s?

Answer 34

women’s rights activist Elizabeth Edwards highlighted the stigma around having a child out of wedlock as she recounted that “during the period of [her] maternity in 1963 [she] was indoctrinated with the advice that if [she] loved [her] baby [she] would give it to a married couple.” statistics further emphasise this attitude as between 1951 and 1975 approximately 40,000 to 150,000 babies were put up for adoption, most born out of wedlock

Question 35

what were the continuities from 1957 to 1966?

Answer 35

Australia maintained its prosperity, AUS continued to be influenced by global events and movements, Crown land remained in the ownership of the Crown, policies towards Indigenous people continued to be assimilationist, no women were elected to the House of Representatives and homosexuality was still a criminal offence in all states of AUS

Question 36

what were the changes from 1957 to 1966?

Answer 36

concerns regarding the living conditions of Indigenous Australians in remote locations were better understood by suburban Australians. the Victorian Aborigines Advancement League was formed in MELB, the 1st formal claim for land rights were made, traditional gender roles were being questioned by some, the oral contraceptive pill was introduced, the Nursing Mothers’ Association was formed and the Australian Public Service officially removed the ‘marriage bar’ policy that had prevented the recruitment or continued employment of married women

Question 37

Historian MARILYN LAKE on the transformation of Australian society?

Answer 37

“by the 1950s it was becoming clear that the tensions generated by the changing structure of family and by the concomitant wartime stimulation of desire had created havoc with traditional roles.”

Question 38

HISTORIAN Richard Broome on the impact of ‘Manslaughter’

Answer 38

“The Warburton film had shocked audiences in this pre-television era.”

Question 39

HISTORIAN Richard Broome on the effect of ‘Manslaughter’

Answer 39

“In the light of government propaganda about assimilation – Aboriginal people sharing civil rights, education, and the ‘Australian way of life’ – the film suggested Warburton was a world away, to Australia’s shame”

Question 40

Gurindji people, Extract from the petition to Governor-General Casey, 1966

Answer 40

“We know how to work cattle better than any white man and we know and love this land of ours.”

Question 41

P.J. Nixon, the Minister for the Interior, responded to the petitioners

Answer 41

“The Government is in favour of Aboriginals gaining title to land but believes that this should be under the land tenure system which applies to the rest of the community and under conditions which will give them real prospects of improving their position in life.”
- “Separatism and segregation of Aboriginals would create here problems now being faced in other countries”

Question 42

Historian Patricia Grimshaw on the patriarchal society:

Answer 42

“As Australia was a man’s country according to popular wisdom, so the 1950s seemed to be a man’s decade.”

Question 43

Feminist activist Merle Thornton

Answer 43

“It was audacious, of course, but our protest triggered a tsunami of responses that no one could have predicted, and that growing awareness would help bring about real change.
- “The Regatta Bar demonstration was recognised as a leading activist moment in second- wave feminism.”

Question 44

Betty Friedan in her 1963 book ‘The Feminine Mystique’

Answer 44

“We can no longer ignore that voice within women that says: ‘I want something more than my husband and my children and my home”

Question 45

Historian Graham Willett on sexuality in AUS?

Answer 45

“behind the wall of silence constructed to keep the public in ignorance of homosexuality, state institutions were busily at work suppressing its manifestations.”

Question 46

Historians Katie Holmes and Sarah Pinto on gender + sexuality in the 1950s AUS

Answer 46

“For gay and lesbian people, the 1950s were a ‘dark decade’ of increased persecution and sharpened surveillance as the medicalisation of ideas about homosexuality solidified.”

Question 47

Historian Heather Goodall on the 1965 NSW Freedom Ride?

Answer 47

“Local Aborigines increasingly took part in the attempts to break the colour bar in hotels, shops and swimming pools, and protected the bus riders from an attempt on their lives as Walgett whites tried to drive their bus off the road.”
- reported to the Welfare Board that ‘communist influence’ was suspected, with both Aboriginal people and the white students being assumed to be ‘innocent accessories’ to ‘others with sinister motives’.”

Question 48

Historian Jennifer Clark offers a differing historian view as she comments on the limitations of the Freedom Ride:

Answer 48

“Except for the submission of the Bark Petition, none represented the peculiar indigenous experience within the context of the intellectual parameters of the 60s.”

Question 49

Historian Frank Bongiorno on the introduction of the oral contraceptive pill in 1961:

Answer 49

“a massive impact on the lives of millions of Australians”