Australian society did mobilise itself very well for war during World War II. This however resulted in positive and negative experiences for Australians. Mobilisation for war involved preparing the nation to defend itself against attack, ensuring that it could strike back at the enemy and organizing the nation’s resources and industries (T Taylor 2009). For Australia during World War II, this involved mobilization of the economy, society and military.
World War II began on September 3 1939, when Britain and France declared war on Germany after its invasion of Poland two days prior. Australia entered the war on the same day, to support Britain, their mother country. For Australian’s on the home front every day life remained relatively unchanged for the first few years of the war. Troops were fighting in a “European conflict” (Taylor, 2009: 184) and there was no real threat of the battle reaching Australian soil. When Japan entered the war in December 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbour, the threat to Australia greatly increased. Newly elected Prime Minister, John Curtin immediately began mobilising Australia for war, starting with the National Security Act (1941), which overrode the constitution and gave him the power to make laws and regulations. The Government introduced many controls in order to ensure Australia’s society, military and economy was prepared for war. Australia experienced its first attack on home soil in February 1942, when Japan bombed Darwin.
Mobilisation of Australia’s economy during World War II involved the Directorate of Manpower, the implementation of rationing and the Austerity Campaign. With hundreds of thousands of civilians joining the service, Australia faced the problem of a lack of work...
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...h most people being separated from their families. At first interned aliens were housed in prisons but these soon got too small. When Japan entered the war, many Japanese were interned as well. Another negative experience of the war was the shortage of food and essential everyday items.
Rationing was introduced and it was very hard for people to string together a nutritious meal for their family. As almost 1 million Australians joined the service, many families were left disrupted and fearful (J K Mason).
In Conclusion, Australian society mobilised itself very well for war during World War 2. The government took many steps, which resulted in effective mobilisation. Australia was organised and prepared to attack, defend and keep the economy afloat. Mobilisation did lead to some negative experiences but over all, the majority of the experiences were positive.
On September 3, 1939 Prime Minister, Robert Gordon Menzies, declared the commencement of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national and commercial radio station. From 1942 until early 1944, Australian forces, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders played a key role in the Pacific War forming the majority of Allied strength throughout the South West Pacific. Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders affected Australia’s World War Two efforts in their extended volunteering and willingness to fight and die in the war. Aboriginal people were a crucial part of defending the Australian home front, in which they had limited or no rights. Many experienced equal treatment to white Australians for the first time in their
During World War II American soldiers who were caught by the Japanese were sent to camps where they were kept under harsh conditions. These men were called the prisoners of war, also known as the POWs. The Japanese who were captured by the American lived a simple life. They were the Japanese internees of World War II. The POWs had more of a harsh time during World War II than the internees. While the internees did physically stay in the camps longer, the POWs had it worse mentally.
Following the outbreak of the Pacific War in early December 1941, Darwin's defences were reinforced . In line with plans developed before the war, s...
Family and Adversity It is almost unimaginable the difficulties victims of the holocaust faced in concentration camps. For starters they were abducted from their homes and shipped to concentration camps in tightly packed cattle cars. Once they made it to a camp, a selection process occurred. The males were separated from the females.
In summary, Australian society experienced a phenomenal change during the World War II era upon consideration of women’s roles. The contribution to World War II made by women was significant. They took part in every opportunity that arose, which shows the desperation of change that women wanted. The government’s support for women to work outside their traditional gender expectations, the chance for women to achieve more knowledge with regards to military, the creation of the Women’s Land Army and voluntary work all play a major role in changing the social status and working lives of women. World War II expanded the roles of women in Australian society in ways that were thought to be ridiculous. In short, the role of women in Australian society changed phenomenally during the World War II era.
In 1914, Australia joined the First World War. Although it was seen as a European war, the Australia government decided that Australia should support its 'Mother Country', Britain. The prime-minister at the time, Joseph Cook, stated Australia's position : "Whatever happens, Australia is a part of the Empire, right to the full. When the Empire is at war, Australia is at war." Many Australians objected to the country's involvement in the war, but the majority of the population agreed with the government's decision. Australia joined the war for many reasons, but two main reasons were :
Some would say The Anzac Legend all began when Britain declared they were in need of help and it was Australia’s duty to go to their aid. Australia tossed aside experience and opted for youth. There were big incentives to go. To travel and visit foreign places, economic reasons, to be with their mates but the most incentive of all was that Britain needed help.
Over the five years following the war, about 171,000 immigrants came to Australia. The government introduced the assisted passage scheme which gave immigrants temporary accommodation in Australia in exchange for two years of labour. Most immigrants came from places such as Poland, Yugoslavia and the Baltic States and then later Germany, Grease, Italy and Malta. The immigrant families were placed in old army barracks in severely poor conditions, and exposed to racial discrimination. They were often referred to with names such as ‘wogs’, ‘bolt’ and’ reffo’. Families were separated. Men were sent off to work on things such as t...
The only time Australia has come under direct attack from another country, was when Japan bombed Darwin and sunk a number of ships in Sydney, during World War 2. The question then has to be asked, why Australia has been involved in so many conflicts. A number of recent conflicts in this century come to mind, they include, The Boer War, World War One, World War Two and The Vietnam War. By far the conflict that drew the most outrage from Australian citizens was the Vietnam War. Australia has been drawn into these conflicts through a number of treaties and alliances made with other countries. Often it is not the conflicts that have drawn most outrage from Australian citizens, rather the insistence of other countries, for Australia to accept large numbers of post-war refugees.
The Australian participation in WW2 was similar to that of WW1 in many ways. After the British declared war on Germany on September 3rd 1939, an Australian declaration of war was automatic. Aussie troops were soon sent to different parts of the world to help the British and other allied countries. It was not until late 1941 that they were recalled in order to defend the homefront. Darwin had been suddenly attacked by Japanese planes and small enemy submarines had snuck into Sydney Harbour. Darwin was repeatedly bombed by Japanese planes until July 1941, when along with American troops, the Aussies managed to drive them out of the Solomon Islands and northeastern New Guinea and eliminate a strong Japanese base at Rabaul. Without General MacArthur's troops, the enemy may very well have invaded Australia. This illustrates the importance of alliances.
What were the Japanese internment camps some might ask. The camps were caused by the attack of Pearl Harbor in 1942 by Japan. President Roosevelt signed a form to send all the Japanese into internment camps.(1) All the Japanese living along the coast were moved to other states like California, Idaho, Utah, Arkansas, Colorado, Wyoming and Arizona. The camps were located away from Japan and isolated so if a spy tried to communicate, word wouldn't get out. The camps were unfair to the Japanese but the US were trying to be cautious. Many even more than 66% or 2/3 of the Japanese-Americans sent to the internment camps in April of 1942 were born in the United States and many had never been to Japan. Their only crime was that they had Japanese ancestors and they were suspected of being spies to their homeland of Japan. Japanese-American World War I veterans that served for the United States were also sent to the internment camps.(2)
World War II began on September 1, 1939. It all started when Hitler wanted to expand his territory, and he had planned to invade Poland on this day. Then two years later in 1941 Japan bombed America in which is known as Pearl Harbor and General Eisenhower entered America into World War II. America then joined the Allied powers and helped fight against the Axis powers. The major countries that took part as the Allied Powers in World War II was the United States of America, Great Britain, France, and Russia.Their main goal was to stick together and to defend each other from the attacks of the Axis Powers. The Axis powers consisted of Germany, Italy, and Japan.General EIsenhower had been planning an attack on the beaches of Normandy in France.
Lucas, Rose. “The Gendered Battlefield: Sex and Death in Gallipoli”. Gender and War; Australians at War in the Twentieth Century. Ed. Damousi Joy and Lake, Marilyn. CUP Archive, 1995. 148-178. Web. 2 May 2014.
Japanese internment camps were located around the Western United States with the exception of Arkansas (which is located further east). On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. This sparked a period of war-time paranoia that led to the internment or incarceration of 110,000 Japanese Americans. Almost all of them were loyal citizens. Actually, many of them were not allowed to become citizens due to certain laws. Although these camps were nowhere close to as horrible as the concentration camps in Europe, the conditions were still pretty harsh for a while and caused internees to have various physical and psychological health effects and risks in the future.
A Japanese American Tragedy Farewell to Manzanar, written by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, Japanese American, and James D. Houston, describes the experience of being sent to an internment camp during World War II. The evacuation of Japanese Americans started after President Roosevelt had signed the Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942. Along with ten thousand other Japanese Americans, the Wakatsuki was sent on a bus to Manzanar, California. There, they were placed in an internment camp, many miles from their home, with only what they could carry. The lives of the Japanese Americans in the internment were a struggle.