for the ‘workingman’s paradise’
From the early 1850s through to the late 1880s, Australia went through a long boom, and it was during this period that the phrase ‘workingman’s paradise’ first began to be regularly applied. Obviously, a fair bit of grandiose hyperbole is associated with the phrase (hello — paradise?!) but it also contained an important element of truth.
During the long boom, schooling began to be supplied by the state. It was compulsory (which had the effect of eliminating child labour) and secular (non-religious) to avoid playing favourites with the different religious denominations of different immigrants from Britain. Most remarkably of all, the schooling was free. Parents from all different classes started sending their children to the same schools, which had been precisely the legislators’ intent. (See Chapter 10 for more on the politics and social reforms made during the 19th century long boom.)
For as long as the boom period sustained itself, the occasionally mentioned desire for federation — uniting the various self-governing colonies into one nation — struggled to gain much traction. Different citizens in different colonies would at times talk about intercolonial union, and politicians held tentative conferences. However, for as long as the passionate central beliefs of colonial Australia — progress, ever-increasing material wealth and chasing after the various luxury consumer goods that go with it — were able to be maintained, it was hard to stir up sufficient enthusiasm.
WAIT A SECOND! WHERE ARE THE EXPLORERS AND THE BUSHRANGERS?
Most people come to Australian history with a few embedded expectations. They expect convict life to be one of unremitting hell. (Refer to the section ‘Getting ahead in the convict world’, earlier in this chapter, for how that one works out.) They also tend to think of colonial Australians as, if not explorers, gold diggers or bushrangers, at least living out on the backblocks of a ruggedly frontier life, struggling as selectors (farmers of small parcels of land) to eke out a barren existence on bad soil, or wrestling rams and clipping ewes as shearers. And, certainly, some people did things exactly like that, but most colonial Australians didn’t. The most remarkable thing about colonial Australia, really, was not the exotic figures — the bushrangers, the explorers and so on — but how extraordinarily similar most people’s lives were to what we’re familiar with today.
Now, if you really like the explorers and bushrangers, don’t worry! They’re here in Australian History For Dummies also. Anyone who wants the lowdown on Burke and Wills, Ben Hall or Ned Kelly will be kept happy (see Chapter 9). But there’s also the other question — what were most colonial Australians doing? The big unexpected answer is that by the 1860s, most Australians were living in the colonies’ urban centres.
Luckily (for the future prospects of Australian federation), a devastating economic crash hit the colonies hard in the 1890s. The idea of inevitable progress, increased prosperity and constant social harmony was set firmly back on its heels, and a federated nation became much more attractive (see Chapter 11).
Solving the Problems of the World (By Keeping Out the World)
When depression hit in 1891, the sustaining ideas of the long boom — of ever-increasing abundance, technological advancement and continued riches — came undone. The assumption that old-world problems such as class antagonism had been solved turned out to be untrue, as seen in a series of savage strikes that broke out in the early 1890s — on the docks, in the shearing sheds and in the mines of Broken Hill. The various progressive colonial governments came down on the side of the bosses, sending in troops to maintain order and protect the rights and property of bosses and owners. ‘So much for the workingman’s paradise’, said the workers. ‘So much for social harmony and real progress’, said the middle class.
From the widespread disillusionment felt by many during the 1890s depression, a series of new factors emerged:
The union movement, which had seen its power largely broken in the strikes, decided it was time to form a political party, get voted into government and change the laws themselves to make them friendlier to workers. From this ideal, the Australian Labor Party was born (see Chapter 11) and, by the end of the first decade of the 1900s, had established itself as the dominant force in Australian politics.
Federation, the idea of forming a new country out of the old self-governing colonies, took on a new momentum after being kickstarted at the ‘people’s convention’ at Corowa on the Murray River in 1893. Federation succeeded largely as a powerful symbol of new unity — ‘a nation for a continent and a continent for a nation’ — which would help colonial Australians move beyond the divisions and struggles that had so divided sections of the community in the 1890s (see Chapter 11).
The idea of a newly federated nation became not simply an end in itself but a means to establish a ‘social laboratory’. Federation would allow Australia to insulate itself from the rest of the world and implement solutions to problems, such as worker–employer conflict and poverty. These problems were apparent in other modern nations (for example, in Britain, the US and France) and had recently become apparent in the colonies. Heavily restricting immigration (with the now-notorious White Australia Policy) and bringing in heavy tariffs (taxes, or customs duties) on overseas imports to protect local jobs and industries were both brought in during the first decade after Federation to achieve this insulation, as were many social reforms (see Chapter 12).
Now for War, Division, Depression and More War
At the start of the 20th century things looked good, really good, for the social laboratory of Federation, social harmony and Australian Labor. Then World War I hit. While the war provided a new national hero — the ‘digger’ soldier — and stories of national bravery, it proved to be a big disaster for Labor and the harmony of Australian society. This was followed, in seemingly quick succession, by the Great Depression and more war, with a brief period of big dreams during the 1920s.
Joining the Empire in the war
When World War I started, few Australians doubted that Australia would be in the war and on the side of Britain. But the war dragged on and on, with horrific casualty lists
