1940's

PRIME MINISTERS
Robert Menzies (1939-1941), Athur Fadden (1941-1941), John Curtin (1941-1945), Francis Forde (1945-1945) and Ben Chifley(1945-1949) were the Prime Ministers in the 40's. (school project)

LIFESTYLE
Since most of the male work force was enlisted, large increases of women entered the workforce. The women became the “breadwinner” as the male is off to war. When women entered the workforce they had greater freedom but increased responsibility. Since many women worked, childcare first began operating. Even though women did the exact job as the men, they received much lower wages. In the 1940s, the largest proportional rose in female labor during the entire twentieth century. Women worked in the clothing and textile industry making uniforms, tents, tarpaulins and kitbags for the defence forces. KITCHENS The Kitchen only had a table, sink, fuel stove and 1 cupboard. BATHROOM The barthrooms were normaly shared with the laundry and only had a bath and a sink the toilet was out side in a out house.

After the war, many citizens from war-stricken countries immigrated to Australia; they had an image of “sunny Paradise”. All of the immigrants felt much safer in Australia. The government pushed for immigration because of the theory 'populate or perish'. Thousands of displaced people started immigration to Australia in 1947. Australian Citizenship was created in 1948 so immigrants were no longer foreign objects. Many immigrants found Australia was a harsh place and their own, native home was better!

COMMUNICATION Telephones were probably the most common type of communication but letters were used to communicate with people overseas or long distances.

MUSIC Music in the 40's mainly envolved around jazz, cowboy songs and western music. These are the number 1 hits in 1940.

JOBS Most men were called up into service as it was around the time of the war ex.RAF,NAVY and the ARMY. If any men was unable to go into service he could usally have any job he desired.e.g farmer,builder,mechanic and doctor. Women on the otherhand were a different story altogether. They were either in a force like the WRENS,ATS and WAAF or they worked in coal mines,typists,bombs factories etc. TRANSPORT We usally travel by train, ship,bus, and cars mainly cars but over long distances we used ships,trains and buses. All Australian Holden made in 1949. Horse & Cart were sometimes used but Horse & Cart was getting less popular and cars more popular. CLOTHING Men wore suits polished shoes and felt hats we took pride in what we wore. Us wemon would wear nylons with a steam down the back when we couldn't get nylons we would get a eyebrow pencil and draw a line down our backs. Our dresses were getting shorter. Our hairsyles were worn in a braid or culered and left long. Our children wore overalls,t-shirts & running shoes. Their very best clothes were worn on sunday church or special occasions. Blue jeans became quite fashionable after Americans brang them from the United States.

ECONOMY

ENTERTAINMENT Radio and the dancing ball were the most popular forms of entertainment in the 1940's.

WAR War began in 1939 through to 1945. On 09 December 1941, Australia declared war on Japan and on axis powers Finland, Hungary and Romania. In 1950 the Korean war started.At the time of the start of the Korean war, Australia had had a massive and devastating flood that killed quite a few people so news of war was of little significance the Australians. America had immediately given air and sea support to the south koreans and also asked for support from the united nations security council. PM Robert Menzies placed two shipsfrom the Royal Navy to help the South Koreans- the Bataananl and Shoalhaven. The reinforcement was later increased to a small army. FOOD Food would have usually been pork and lamb which was unusual for the many Europeans that migrated to Australia.

INVENTIONS 1940- Zinc cream 1943- The Splayd, a combination of fork, knife and spoon. 1946- The Rotary Hills Hoist. 1948- The First Holden was built. 1949- Howard Florey invented the disposable syringe.

MOST POPULAR NAMES 1.James 2. Mary 3. Betty 4.Dorothy 5.Robert 6. Helen 7.John 8. Barbara 9. William 10. Margaret 11.Richard 12.Maria 13.David 14.Patricia 15.Charles 16.Doris 17.Thomas 18.Ruth 19.Michael 20.Ronald 21.Daisy 22.Trudy 23.Lila Between 1940-1949 John was the most popular male name with 16372 people with that name. Margret was the most popular female name with 9431 using this name.(link, popular names)  BABY BOOMERS Baby boomers are people who were born in 1946 to 1964(Mum and Dad) PUNISH MENTS In the 1940's when children were naughty they were normally punished with (Mum and Dad) 1.Canes 2.Wooden Spoon 3.Strap 4.Mouth washed out with soap 5.Feather duster 6.Ruler

GAMES THEY PLAYED(Mum and Dad) 1.Twister 2.Cops and Robers 3.Hop Scotch 4.Skipping 6.Fly

EVENTS IN 1940's In darwin Feb 19 1942 japanese planes launched from there aircraft boats and attacked the habour and city and killed 243 people. POULAR HAIR STYLES the most popular hair style for women was called chignon