Australia before World War II
After World War 1 Australia struggled to get back on its feet. The people faced the Great Depression and were still affected by the casualties of World War 1. During the First World War the government tried to enlist everyone possible not realizing how crucial the simple jobs locally were. That’s why when they enlisted people during World War II they didn’t enlist everyone simply because there jobs were so crucial to supporting the country. That’s not to say that people didn’t want to support the war “All major parties, churches and newspapers supported involvement. The only groups not to support the decision were pacifists such as Jehovah's Witnesses, or socialists who opposed involvement because the Soviet Union opposed it.”- Strickland.
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Enlistment for Aboriginals
Being an Australian soldier there were multiple different experiences that you could have depending on your race and class. When people were first enlisted everyone was accepted including aboriginals who were encouraged and volunteered to join the army. However in 1940 the Defence Committee decided that the enlistment of indigenous people was “neither necessary nor desirable” they said this partially because white soldiers were refusing to serve with them. The aboriginal soldiers that did go however believed that when they returned they were ready to fight and were proud of who they were. However when the aboriginal people returned they came back to the same discrimination as before. This caused many of those aboriginals to not be allowed to vote for another 17 years after the war had ended.
Works Cited:
Moremon, John. Australian Government Department of Veterans’Affairs. www.dva.gov.au/i-am/aboriginal-andor-torres-strait-islander/indigenous-australians-war. Accessed May 6 2018.
Australian war memorial.www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/indigenous. Accessed May 6 2018.
Australia Returned Service League. 2014, rslnsw.org.au/commemoration/heritage/the-second-world-war. Accessed May 3 2018.
AWM London. 2018, www.awmlondon.gov.au/australians-in-wwii. Accessed May 3 2018.
Australian war memorial.www.awm.gov.au/articles/encyclopedia/indigenous. Accessed May 6 2018.
Australia Returned Service League. 2014, rslnsw.org.au/commemoration/heritage/the-second-world-war. Accessed May 3 2018.
AWM London. 2018, www.awmlondon.gov.au/australians-in-wwii. Accessed May 3 2018.