World War 2 made a significant impact on Australia and its people

Essay by lemon_ruskiJunior High, 9th gradeA, April 2004

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World War 2 made a significant impact on Australia and its people. It opened the eyes of society and made Australian people realise where they fit into the global view of the world. Although much of the history of WW2 revolved around politics, diplomats, military and naval battles, it touched all Australian lives. Some of the important issues in World war Two were the woman's contribution in the war, government changes to the economy and the foreign policy in the war. These are the topics this essay will be discussing.

When war was declared in 1939, Australia realised she was at war too since Great Britain had declared war on Germany. Four months later the first convoy set off with 20 000 army volunteers. As the war progressed it was evident that more and more men were needed for combat overseas and the male jobs back home needed to be taken over.

There was a serious need to bring women into the labour force, the government encouraged women to take over the male jobs. Some people could not come to terms with this. Women from all over Australia took over agriculture/farming jobs, became mechanics and entered factories by the thousands. In July 1942 the women's land army was created. Over 3000 women joined the land army and worked on farms grazing cattle, harvesting crops and doing the normal farming jobs. Before WW2 society thought that a woman could never be capable of doing a man's job, but world war2 started to change the views of society. Although women were engaged in exactly the same jobs as men, they were still paid almost half of what men got and it was not until the 1970's that women's contribution in WW2 was even recognised. When WW2 ended women were expected...