A STUDY GUIDE by Robert Lewis

The Years That Made Us

http://www.metromagazine.com.au

ISBN: 978-1-74295-224-4 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au 1 2 3

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1: Merle Thommery, Chris Masters and Judy Barwise^ 2: Balgownie Public School+ 3: Roy Masters (L) and Chris Masters (R)+ 4: Drama Reconstruction – Pompey Elliot* 5: Roy Masters (L), Judy Barwise (middle) and Chris Masters (R)+ 6: Roy Masters (L) and Chris Masters (R) near Judy Masters Memorial + 7: Chris Masters – Presenter* 8: Drama Reconstruction – Pompey Elliot* All images © Beyond Screen Production. Photographers: *Andy Baker. +Jason Dirckze. •Edward Donovan. ^Gabriela S Vasilescu

OVERVIEW

The Years That Made Us (Andrew Saw and Stuart Goodman, 2012), is a documentary series of three 57-minute episodes written and presented by journalist and author Chris Masters, exploring the way the tumultuous 1920s and 1930s laid the foundation for Australia in the twenty-first century. In Australian mythology, nationhood was forged in the slaughter of Gallipoli in 1915. But in The Years That Made Us Chris Masters introduces a very different proposition. Far from bringing the nation together, the First World War tore the country apart and threatened to destroy the Federation Dream. The Great Depression wrecked a struggling recovery, and just when light appeared on the horizon, the gates of hell reopened with the Second World War. This is the story of how our parents, grandparents and great grandparents survived crisis after crisis and laid the groundwork for the nation we know today.

Between 1919 and 1941 Australia turned from a rural backwater of the British Empire to a SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 South-East Asian nation. Australians not only resisted chaos and revolution, they combined the best of the old world and the new to make a new society. In a personal journey that takes in big picture history and his own family’s story, Chris explores the idea that Australia’s response to the period between the end of the First World War and the start of the Pacific War was unlike any other country’s. Through the prism of his own working- class family, he gives life, light and shade to the politics and economics of rapid change. 2 1 2 3

Above: Chris Masters – Presenter*

CURRICULUM … alongside a further menace of BEFORE WATCHING APPLICABILITY fighting the war all over again. THE FILM But against turmoil, there is also The Years That Made Us is a resource renewal. The ’20s and ‘30s were a The film you are about to watch that can be used in the Australian really exciting era. is about Australian in the period Curriculum: History at Year 10 (The Throughout the 1920s and ’30s, 1919–1941. Modern World and Australia), and Australians continue to fight, often at Years 11–12 (Unit 3, The Rise with ideas, often with each other, Everybody will have some idea or of Modern Nations – Australia for a better life to be redeemed by image about that period, whether about 1916–1949). generations to come. what happened in Australia or in other This is that story of a 21-years nations of the world. The film is in three episodes: coming of age, about the quieter bravery of our own families who, in 1 As a class, brainstorm your main • Episode 1: Roaring Twenties the most punishing times, rescued ideas and knowledge about the periods • Episode 2: Survival (Depression) and remade Australia. covered in the three episodes. For ex- • Episode 3 Gathering Storm • (B) It can be used as a source ample, you might have ideas or images (Towards World War Two) of information and ideas about of the 1920s as the ‘Roaring Twenties’; various aspects of the Australian or the Depression period as the Great The film can be used in three ways in experience of the period – and in Depression; or the late 1930s as the the senior classroom: particular testing and challenging period when Hitler was exercising some of the standard narrations power in Germany. • (A) It can be used to test Masters’ and representations of the period idea that far from providing a na- in standard Australian history text List your main ideas and images in a tional binding, the war left Australia books. This can be done by having table like Table 1 (page 4). more divided than before, and that individuals or small groups in the it was the ‘quiet bravery’ of families class compare text book accounts You will be able to use The Years That that, in the most punishing time, with the film’s views. This approach Made Us to test and refine these rescued and remade Australia. As is built into the table of questions initial ideas. Masters puts it: provided for each episode. This series is about the struggle • (C) It can be used in Film Studies to with loss and grief, with poverty … explore aspects of the documen- and a threat of revolution… tary film genre.

Exploring ideas and issues in the film

The information and tables on the following pages for the three episodes will enable you to gain key SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 knowledge and understandings about Australia between the two wars. Read the episode summary, and refer to the timeline as a help to understand the chronology of the period. Then discuss and record the information and ideas in the film about each aspect of the period covered in the episode. Finally, you could divide up the aspects among the class, read the history texts and general reference history books available to you and summarise what they say about each aspect. In this way you will be able to compare and critically analyse both the film and the various text book accounts.

3 Table 1

Period Your ideas and images

1920s and post– World War one

Depression of the 1930s

Towards World War two in the late 1930s SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012

4 Timeline – Episode 1

1918 Australian troops return to Australia leaving 60,000 dead in European soil. The men return to 13 per cent unemployment and industrial turmoil.

1919 Strikes and political protests create the greatest period of industrial turmoil in Australian history.

1920 QANTAS founded in North East Queensland. Flight begins to shrink the vast desert nation. above: Drama Reconstruction – Pompey Elliot* 1920 The Prince of Wales tours Australia.

1921 Edith Cowan becomes the first woman elected to an Australian Judy Masters is Chris Masters’ great parliament. Suffering is politicised as Episode 1 uncle, and through his life story Chris soldiers’ widows and mothers fight for begins the journey of understanding pensions and political recognition. extraordinary change. Roaring 20s 1923 Stanley Melbourne Bruce elected Prime Minister as the first coalition Summary The big-picture history of political con- between conservative country and city flict, radical social and technological political parties takes power in Canberra. It’s 1919 and Australia is reeling. change and economic re-invention is The Country Party and Nationalists will Sixty thousand dead left in European set against the story of a shy coal miner eventually become the Nationals and Liberals. soil and a nation tearing itself apart. who starts a young family and, in a Stanley Bruce introduces ‘Men, Money and Industrial violence, political extrem- very personal way, seeks to recapture Markets’ policy and begins massive British ism, 12 per cent unemployment and the promise of the Federation Dream – immigration schemes and borrowing from a struggling rural economy are the a fair go nation with equality for all. British banks. backdrop for a new Federation fighting Responding to the film 1923 Work begins on construction of to survive. Parliament House in Canberra.

Into this maelstrom come three war The theme of this episode is set by 1923 Australia’s first and only police heroes desperate for the peace they the narrator: strike leads to three days of looting and deserve. The first is a businessman, riots in Melbourne. Three people are Stanley Melbourne Bruce, the second For close to a hundred years, killed. Returned soldiers acting as special constables restore order. a famous general, Pompey Elliot, and Australians have travelled to Gallipoli to honour the birth of the nation. the third a coalminer from the south 1926 Stanley Bruce wins Australia’s first coast of New South Wales, James ‘Judy’ ‘red scare’ election. Masters. These three men, through It became the Australian Foundation events in their lives, help tell the story because there was a belief around 1926 44-hour week introduced in NSW

story of the 1920s – a story of tumult, at that time blood and in sacrifice. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 conflict and change. Stanley Bruce will 1927 Canberra is opened by the future English King, the Duke of York. become Prime Minister, Pompey Elliot But Gallipoli was not only a begin- ning, it was an end to a vision of an a senator, and Judy Masters will return 1928 Iron and steel blast furnace opens in to the mines while leading Australia as advanced Australia already begun, fair Port Kembla, NSW. the captain of the national soccer team. and free of the mess of old Europe. 1929 The ‘talkies’ open in twenty Hoyts theatres in Melbourne.

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1–2: Drama Reconstruction – Called up for War* 3: Chris Masters – Presenter* 4: Roy Masters (left) and Chris Masters (Host on right) outside Judy Masters Memorial+ 5: Chris Masters – Judy Masters Oval^ 6–8: Drama Reconstruction – Wives, Mothers and Daughters at Memorial*

And in the crucial years between that history texts. Summarise these find- Episode 2 war and the next, this dream was ings in Column C. almost lost. Survival 1.12 Masters uses his own family Australia clearly comes out of the war history as a way of illuminating the Summary a much more divided country than it period. How does his family’s lived went into the war. experience in the decade confirm It is 1929 and the Australian Labor or challenge the national story Party is back in power after over a Watch the film and discuss what it he tells? decade in the wilderness. tells you about the aspects in Column A, and record your answers in Column 1.13 Look back at your original One week after new Prime Minister

B of Table 2 (page 7) brainstorm about the 1920s. What James Scullin is sworn into power, the SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 will you change? world is rocked by the Wall Street crash You can then test the ideas and infor- and the start of the Great Depression. mation in the film by researching the Elected on a promise to protect the same aspects as presented in your worker living wage, Scullin finds

6 Table 2

A: Aspects of the decade B: What the film tells you C: What other textbooks tell you

1.1 What continuing impacts did the war have on the returning soldiers and their families?

1.2 What divisions developed in society between ex-soldiers and those who had not shared the experience of war?

1.3 What were Australia’s attitudes to Britain and Britishness in the period?

1.4 What were Australia’s reactions to the revolutionary turmoil of international Sinn Feinism, Bolshevism, and Fascism?

1.5 What was the policy of ‘Men, Money and Markets’? What was it designed to achieve?

1.6 How did the 1920s contribute to suburban development?

1.7 What image does the film present about the ‘Roaring Twenties’?

1.8 How did the role and status of women change in the period?

1.9 What was the nature and significance of war memorials and remembrance ceremonies?

1.10 What were the outcomes of the Soldier-Settlement

scheme? SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012

1.11 What was the result of the 1929 election? Why?

7 Timeline – Episode 2

1929 Labor is returned to power under Prime Minister James Scullin. Stanley Bruce becomes the first sitting Prime Minister to lose his own seat. One week later the Wall Street crash begins the Great Depression. The Federal and all State Governments are heavily in debt to Britain.

1929 One miner killed and 8,000 injured in riots at Rothbury in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

1930 British banker Sir Otto Niemeyer tours Australia and governments agree to harsh austerity measures and repayments to British banks that deepen and lengthen the Australian depression.

1930 Australia’s first Australian born Governor General, Sir Isaac Isaacs, is appointed by James Scullin against above: Drama Reconstruction – Sir Otto Niemeyer* strong opposition from King George IV. Scullin establishes a new precedent where the Governor General represents Australia and not Britain. himself leading a nation heavily in debt In the 1920s, Australians are told their nation was born on the slopes of 1930 Jack Lang elected Premier of NSW. to British Banks. Gallipoli, while at home they confront 1931 The New Guard fascist movement Worse, the Federal Government’s bank, another crucial battle for survival. claims 60,000 members nation wide. The Commonwealth, refuses to lend money to ease the pain of unemploy- This story is what comes next, of the 1930 Businessman Sidney Myer ment. Soon unemployment reaches 33 early 1930s when the people again provides free Christmas dinner for face a trial as brutal as any war and, 12,000 at the Melbourne Exhibition per cent. The country is broke, the poli- Building. ticians are at each other’s throats and worse than war, this trial touches every- the country divides along class lines. one – mother and child, rich and poor. 1931 The United Australia Party led by The middle class and wealthy continue former Labor acting treasurer, Joe Lyons, to live comfortably as prices fall. The Watch the film and discuss what it wins landslide victory in Federal election. working class suffer as jobs disappear. tells you about the aspects in Column Families are forced to survive in humpy A, and record your answers in Column 1931 Japan invades the Chinese B of Table 3 (page 9). province of Manchuria. camps without the unemployment benefits we know today. Violent strikes, 1931 Work begins on British naval base radical politics and secret armies You can then test the ideas and infor- in Singapore. threaten to tear the nation apart. The mation in the film by researching the years 1929 to 1933 become the greatest same aspects as presented in your 1932 ABC opens. political crisis in Australian history. history texts. Summarise these find- The Communists and Fascists believe ings in Column C of Table 3. 1932 Tens of thousands celebrate opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge. New democracy has failed. Battlelines are Guard fascist, Francis De Groot, slashes drawn. The scene is set for civil war. 2.14 Historian Michael Cathcart says ribbon before it is cut by Premier Lang. In Germany, Italy and China the class that the democracy was threatened divide erupts in violence and dictator- during the Depression. How was it 1932 Lang Labor government dismissed ship. Australia is on the brink and threatened by the left, and by the right? by NSW Governor Sir Philip Game. millions of lives are on the line. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 2.15 Masters refers to ‘a memorial 1932–1933 The Bodyline test cricket tour causes outrage in Australia. Responding to the film to the civil war that wasn’t’. Why was Journalists claim it damages political there no civil war in Australia during relations with Britain. The theme of this episode is set by the Depression? the narrator: 1933 Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

8 Table 3

A: Aspects of the decade B: What the film tells you C: What other textbooks tell you

2.1 What were the causes of the Depression?

2.2 What was the role of Commonwealth Bank?

2.3 The three competing plans to solve the Depression were the Lang Plan, the Premiers’ Plan, and the Niemeyer Plan. Briefly explain the essential elements of each.

2.4 Summarise the main characterisation of each of these people: Lang, Scullin, Gibson, Lyons, Theodore, Niemeyer, Campbell, Isaacs

2.5 What were the main personal impacts of the Depression?

2.6 Were these experiences common to all people?

2.7 Were there class divisions during the Depression?

2.8 Was there community support for people during the Depression?

2.9 Describe the social unrest during the period, and the involvement of the Communist Party and the New Guard.

2.10 Explain the government social policies – sustenance relief (‘susso’) and government work (the ‘dole’).

2.11 What aspects of citizenship and community were revealed by the Depression? SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 2.12 Who won the 1932 election? Why?

2.13 How and why did Australia start to recover?

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1-3: Drama Reconstruction – Scullin and King George* 4: Chris Masters – Presenter* 5-7: Drama Reconstruction – Sir Otto Niemeyer*

2.16 Masters uses his own family been fed: grey photos of forlorn and It turns out that large numbers of history as a way of illuminating the destitute people from the 1930s. those who experienced the 1930s period. How does his family’s lived Depression spoke about the time experience in the decade confirm or Histories of that era inevitably con- with great affection, claiming that challenge the national story he tells? centrate on the worst aspects of the the struggle gave their life meaning. disaster. But just how miserable was Many even suggested people were 2.17 Look back at your original it really? happier then. Potts doesn’t deny that brainstorm about the 1920s. What will some suffering occurred, but it wasn’t you change? Challenging the orthodoxy is universal by any means. In any case, Australian historian and former aca- the research showed no long-term In 2008 historian David Potts published demic David Potts. negative impacts on those who lived the most extensive study ever of the through the Depression. Depression in Australia, based on oral In researching the Great Depression history. Look at this review of The Myth he gathered no less than 1200 first- Compared with the previous decade, of the Great Depression, and answer hand interviews, as well as hundreds the 1930s Depression saw unemploy- the questions that follow. of transcripts of interviews held at ment leap threefold and bankruptcy the National Library of Australia, plus double. Yet the overall health of the na-

The very idea of an economic scores of autobiographies. tion actually improved and malnutrition SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 depression has most people recoiling declined. What’s more, infant mortality, in horror. He presented his findings in a book, general death rates and suicide fell as The Myth of the Great Depression the Depression deepened. The symbolic power of the word is (Scribe). entrenched in the images we have

10 Timeline – Episode 3

1931 The United Australia Party led by former Labor acting treasurer Joe Lyons, wins landslide victory in Federal election.

1931 Japan invades the Chinese province of Manchuria.

1931 Work begins on British naval base in Singapore.

1932 ABC opens.

1932 Tens of thousands celebrate opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge. New Guard fascist, Francis De Groot, slashes ribbon before it is cut by Premier Lang.

1932 Lang Labor government dismissed by NSW Governor Sir Philip Game.

1932–1933 The Bodyline test cricket tour causes outrage in Australia. Journalists claim it damages political above: Drama Reconstruction – Flappers* relations with Britain.

1933 Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

1934 Future Prime Ministers Robert Financial and material scarcity appears Episode 3 Menzies and John Curtin elected to not to have led to widespread suffer- Federal Parliament. Both with long ing but rather to greater community Gathering Storm histories of pacifist anti-war sympathies. interaction, increased egalitarianism, a heightened sense of purpose through Summary 1934 Lyons sends exploratory trade mission to Japan. Fears of Japanese resourcefulness and, most surprisingly, expansion mount. enhanced overall wellbeing. It’s 1933 and the idea of fun and enter- tainment is replacing the effects of the 1934 Joe Lyons travels to London for As Potts notes, the folklore that grim intruder, the Great Depression. Imperial Conference. Meets Italian has developed around the Great People are going to the movies, dancing Fascist leader Mussolini and promotes Depression reflects dominant values of appeasement policy for European to swing at the Trocadero and cheering dictators. our time. the Aussies against England in the test cricket series known as bodyline. 1934–1935 Australian military Better a good life than a life full planners advise serious investment in of goods. But in distant Europe, storm clouds rearmament. are gathering. As the bodyline test Tony Wellington, Courier Mail, plays out in Adelaide, Adolf Hitler 1938 Australia celebrates 150th anniversary. 8 October 2008. becomes Chancellor of Germany. In North Africa the Italians, under 1939 Joe Lyons dies in office. Robert 2.18 Compare this characterisation Mussolini, are invading Abyssinia, and Menzies becomes Prime Minister. of the Depression with that presented Japan is invading the Chinese province in the film. Does Masters’ argument of Manchuria. 1939 Germany invades Poland. support or challenge Potts’ ideas? Australia declares war. Second World Explain your reasons. War begins. All the portents are gathering for another World War, but in Australia, 1939 Singapore naval base completed. 2.19 Does the way Masters presents still reeling from the First World War, SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 the social experience of the Depression the idea of another conflict is beyond 1941 Robert Menzies loses confidence visually support or challenge Potts’ a nightmare. Everyone, from families of Parliament. John Curtin becomes ideas? Explain your reasons. to politicians and even sections of the Prime Minister. military, believe that no price should 1942 Singapore falls. The Japanese be too high to avoid another war. But bomb Darwin.

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1-6: Drama Reconstruction – Flappers*

as the decade unfolds, the aggression of Watch the film and discuss what The grind of the inter-war years deliv- the European dictators and the impe- it tells you about the aspects in ered an important reward. Australians rial ambitions of the Japanese push Column A, and record your answers learned that recovering the dream the world to the inevitable crisis. In in Column B. meant giving up the fantasy of bounti- Australia we come to believe that our ful earth, endless empire and endur- future survival depends upon our place You can then test the ideas and infor- ing peace. as a Pacific nation independent of the mation in the film by researching the British Empire, and the groundwork of same aspects as presented in your The period we’ve looked at sees modern Australia is laid in the conflict history texts. Summarise these find- Australia framed by war. The proud of the Second World War. ings in Column C. See Table 4 (page 13) military reputation born of the first and second wars can overshadow the Responding to the film 3.12 Masters uses his own family story in between, of people tough and history as a way of illuminating the fair, of measured, moderate, sensible The theme of this episode is set by period. How does his family’s lived citizens who did more than survive. the narrator: experience in the decade confirm or challenge the national story he tells? I think they did recover the dream, not Australians in the 1920s and ’30s of a new Britannia, a second United

endure anguish born of the Great 3.13 Look back at your original States or a gumtree utopia. In that SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 War and poverty born of the Great brainstorm about the 1920s. What will middling way, they built something Depression, all the while fearing the you change? much better. ‘War to End All Wars’ will at some time resume. The three episodes of The Years That 3.14 What does this mean? Made Us end with this conclusion:

12 Table 4

A: Aspects of the decade B: What the film tells you C: What other textbooks tell you

3.1 Summarise the main characterisation of each of these Prime Ministers: Lyons, Menzies, Curtin

3.2 What were the main economic changes that occurred during the 1930s?

3.3 What were the main social changes that occurred during the 1930s?

3.4 How did the role and status of women change in the 1930s?

3.5 How did urbanization develop in the period?

3.6 How did Australia respond to the rise of Germany, Italy and Japan? Why?

3.7 How well prepared was Australia for war?

3.8 Why was Australia so reliant on Britain for its defence?

3.9 How did Australia react to the outbreak of war? Why?

3.11 How did the fall of Singapore affect Australian official attitudes to Britain and the USA?

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1: Drama Reconstruction• 2: Drama Reconstruction – Wives, Mothers and Daughters at Memorial* 3: Drama Reconstruction – Pompey Elliot* 4: Merle Thommery, Chris Masters and Judy Barwise^

3.15 Do you think the film has Do you agree with this assessment 2 The fimmakers say: achieved its intention? Justify of the importance of the period in your views. Australia’s national identity? Explain The series looks at this difficult and and justify your views. important period, fusing the epic with 3.16 The filmmakers say: the personal. The big question of how Is The Years That the nation survived precarious times is The series takes us beyond the legend Made Us a good answered by exploring not only the cor- of Anzac to another narrative that documentary? ridors of power in parliament and treas- should as proudly march in step. The ury, but ordinary streets and neighbour- proud military traditions born of the 1 A documentary film uses a variety hoods, kitchens and living rooms. first and second wars can obscure the of elements and strategies to have an story in between, of Australians with impact. Consider the way the fol- Do you think they have achieved this?

a deep revulsion for war. In pursuit of lowing elements are used in the film. Justify your views. SCREEN EDUCATION © ATOM 2012 peace and good citizenship through- Comment on their success or failure in out this testing period, Australians creating an effective documentary in demonstrate measured resistance to Table 5 (page 15). extreme politics and public violence.

14 Table 5

Aspect Comments

Structure of the film

Narration and script

Music

Historic still and moving images

Dramatic reconstructions

Editing

Sound

Cinematography

Special effects

15 above: Chris Masters – Balgownie Public School+

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