Was Australia a working man's paradise

LIVING AND WORKING CONDITIONS IN AUSTRALIA: 1901-1914

Was Australia an 'egalitarian' (equal) society at this time?

Were we a country where people were more or less equal, no matter what differences there might be in their education, occupation or family background?

Were we a young country that was different to anywhere else in the world?

It is widely believed that it was but there is much evidence that suggests that this was a myth.

Australian economic prosperity was based on our exports of wool and wheat. Wool prices rose 30% between 1902 and 1914. The mining industry also provided exports.

Manufacturing was limited though the number employed rose from 132,000 to 239,000 between 1901 and 1913. Australian manufacturing relied on tariff (import taxes) protection to compete against cheaper foreign goods.

ARGUMENTS FOR

ARGUMENTS AGAINST

Pay and Working Conditions

Skilled workers were well paid and had good conditions compared to workers in Britain or America.

Australia led the way in industrial relations and social welfare during this period.

Workers formed trade unions to campaign for better wages and conditions. They formed the Australian Labor Party to have a strong influence in state and federal parliaments to gain workers' rights and social reforms.

1904 Federal Parliament established the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration to solve disputes between workers and their employers.

1907 Justice Higgins established the principle of a 'fair and reasonable wage', the minimum wage to which a worker was entitled. This lasted for 60 years.

1908 the Federal Government introduced the old age and invalid pensions and in 1912 the payment of compensation for federal government employees who were injured at work.

Pay and Working Conditions

Between 1901 and 1914, workers and bosses often disagreed over pay and working conditions in many industries.

In Victoria, the government introduced a Coercion Act where strikers could be sacked and they would also lose all their pension rights

In the coal strikes in NSW workers were put in leg-irons and sent to gaol. Police used batons on the strikers' picket lines.

The working classes lived in rows of small houses built next to factories.

Living Conditions in the City and the Bush

In the city most rented houses in which toilets, baths and sinks were in poor working order. Reports at the time said these houses were often unfit for humans to live in and terribly overcrowded.

Upper and middle classes lived in big houses with large grounds. Their children went to private schools and they had better health than the workers

Greater Distribution of Wealth

Most people in Australia had money and owned comfortable homes than people in England. The English aristocracy and upper class controlled all of England's wealth and the working class were mostly poor

Living Conditions

Because people in Australia had jobs and were better paid than in most other countries, they were able to have more food which was of better quality and lived more comfortable lives

In the bush, there was a big difference in living standards. Small farmers (selectors) and bush workers such as shearers and drovers earned small incomes and lived in poor housing. Graziers (large property owners) often lived in huge homes and were rich.

The Status of Women

Women had to put up with being treated unfairly, even though Australia was one of the first countries to give women the right to vote.

Women were expected to spend all their time looking after their families

A woman usually had to give up her job when she got married

Men could choose if they wanted to marry but women got married because couldn't afford not to

Women depended on their husbands and had little say in society

They received much lower wages than men who did the same work

In the clothing industry many women worked up to ninety hours a week

Housemaids usually received board, left-over food and very small weekly wages for working for hour days and sometimes got a weekend off

A skilled tradesman could earn five times the wages of a housemaid, however if he had a family, his wage was hardly enough for rent, food, clothing and other necessary things