Jack Lang in the Great Depression.
In years following the wall street collapse Australia was plunged into what would become the 'Great Depression' and the social and economic effects were felt enormously throughout the nation. Unemployment had reached over 450,000 in a population of 8 million. People were not only struggling to live but starving; soup kitchens, people receiving the dole and vagrants were the norm. The nation was plunged into crisis and in the political realm there were crises of their own. Governments were struggling to meet the demands of the unemployed nation and foreign debt collectors, they were struggling to formulate solutions and appease their fellow politicians.
From this unrest came Jack Lang who's fiery passion, commitment to workers, defiance against banks and debt collectors alike won him both scorn and admiration among the people. Whether one thinks his ideas were insane or credible he still became one of the stand out characters in Australian history.
Lang as premier.
Born in 1876 he was an real estate agent, an alderman followed by mayor on the local council in Auburn. He became a Labor member for Granville (from 1927 for Auburn) in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in the 1913 general elections. Labor with Lang premier of NSW was returned to office on 30th May 1925. Lang's government introduced many social reforms including; widows pension at £1 per week, workers compensation, compulsory insurance by employers, family endowment of 5s per week for each child under fourteen. Lang restored the 44 hour week (repealed by the previous Nationalist Government) and he returned to their former seniority railway workers dismissed after the 1917 strike.
Lang plan
The birth of the Lang plan was born out of the pressures of conflicting ideals of paying Australian debts and paying for the survival of the Australian people. The government...
More Australian History
essays:
Discusses the hardships suffered in the Great Depression that occured during the 1930's and how the government and the people dealt with it.
... The Great Depression spanned five long and hard years from 1929 to 1934 and it struck a chord in every soul throughout Australia. It was the most devastating economic crash in the country's history. The dispiriting and demeaning effect it ... it. Jack Lang was both admired and hated by Australians and ...
The great depression.
... mass political upheaval and division. The actual causes of the Great Depression lie much deeper than the simple Wall Street crash, and have their roots in the decrease in foreign trade ...
Analyze the effects of the Great Depression on Australia in the 1930s.
... in Australians today. The Great Depression had a dramatic effect on Australia both economically and socially. It brought about negative effects such as depression, loss ...
Australia In The 1920's and the 1930's
... the great depression Australian governments' responses to the Great Depression were largely insufficient The Great Depression was the time of tremendous hardship for people living in Australia. Even before the overwhelming stock market crash on Wall Street, being ...
The reason for and importance of domestic politics, great power alliances, and foreign policy makers in the involvement of Australia in the four post World War II Asian conflicts.
... the history of Australian defence and foreign policy ... a political and economical purpose to draw the teeth of Communist imperialism by carefully applied measures of economic assistance ...
Crisis in Australian History - Australian history: Towards a Marxist analysis.
... of foreign debt was one of the reasons that the recent balance of payments crises have had such a profound effect. That should not be taken to mean that the Australian economy ...
Social And Political Issues In The 1970s
... a great source of pride and inspired them to become involved in politics. The Aboriginal Tent Embassy focused national and international attention on the Australian governments ...
Australia in the 1950s
... of depression and war were in the past. By the turn of the decade, unemployment remained at a record low of below 2%, and the standard of living for a majority of Australians improved ... with economic prosperity led to a rapid housing boom across the whole nation. The great Australian dream ...