Very Valuable Source On Jack Lang example essay topic

My assignment is based on the personality type of person A, the left wing trade unionist who believes that the war had benefited the rich by building up the worth of their assets while the poor went off to fight the war and came back to a poor, jobless country. The political event I have chosen to speak about is the election of the good willed Jack Lang. Mr. John Thomas Lang, the Big Fella, throughout his career as premier of New South Wales, helped out the working class. He reduced interest, creating public work programmes and stopping the Australian payment of our debts, it gave us a chance in those hard times. Niemeyer called it Communism. Well then let Communism be if it does a better job of feeding the missus and our kids.

Niemeyer wanted to cut down on the existing social services, just when they were needed most. He also wanted to "depress" wages in order to make our exports more competitive and that it would raise profits. The addition of the New Guard, a group whose main aim was to crush "communism", brought New South Wales to the brink of civil war. Their efforts to stop the labour government came as far as direct threats of force and press hysteria. Those men couldn't see life from the point of view of the poor masses. Jack Lang helped out the country in more ways than one.

He enforced such innovations as the widow's pension, increased workers' compensation rates, a change back to the 44-hour week, abolition of secondary school fees and votes for all in local government elections. The difference to our lives that the Big Fella made was very helpful. Australian Nationalism was a policy that gave us a better standard of living throughout the depression. Sadly on May 13 1932, he was dismissed of his premiership for defiance of the Federal Government.

One change to our social life during the depression was the economics of the time. Having not participated in the war, our family benefited from the cheaper goods available. Then it struck. The depression did nothing good for the working class masses. We all had to cut down on all of our purchases, then with all the tariffs, we could only afford to buy Australian goods. I tried my hardest to keep our people up with good jobs but businesses told us that cuts had to be made.

With unemployment rising to 25%, I saw more men join the life of the itinerant worker, seeking a job wherever they could find one then moving on. The 'susso' as it was called by all the workers was a sustenance payment which came as tickets that could be used to buy goods. The government didn't provide money for the unemployed on the excuse that they would use it for alcohol and tobacco. Due to this lack of monetary funding, we had to rely on pawning most of our furniture for rent money. These were hard times. As a trade unionist I was infuriated at the government obliging men to work for the dole if they even wanted to get the susso.

Many of us had to scrape by on what little we could buy with the money earned for working on the dole. For me feeding the wife and kids and looking after my fellow man while trying to work myself was a taxing experience. The rich fat cats benefited most from the cheap labour. They could give an honest working man what ever petty money they wanted to and he would take it, there was no other option. The employer also made a fortune out of youth labour. This was because the junior rate of pay was far cheaper than that of adults.

School leavers often found work but were dismissed just before they became eligible for a higher pay rate and were replace by a younger and cheaper employee. Another change to our cultural life as Australians in the 1930's was the opening of the Harbour bridge. During the times of unrest in New South Wales due to the unreasonable actions of the new guard, the harbour bridge was seen by us friends of the left wing as a symbol of a better society. There were rumours that members of the New Guard were going to kidnap Jack Lang so that someone 'respectable' could open the bridge. This act seems incredulous as it was the workers who built the bridge. In the eyes of Labour, the bridge represented the essence of Australian democracy.

It knew no class distinctions and no social barriers. The opening celebration was going to become a people's event. As Jack Lang stepped up the crowd started to clap and cheer. Just as the Big Fella was about to cut the ribbon to declare the bridge open, a commotion started. A man dressed as an officer of the King rode in on a horse to slash the ribbon before Jack Lang could.

Triumphantly, as the police closed in the man stood in his stirrups and said 'On behalf of the decent and loyal citizens of New South Wales, I now declare this bridge open'. The police dragged him from his horse and took him away. As they dragged him the man from the horse cried 'you can't take me. I'm a Commonwealth officer'. A Police man replied 'so am I'. A fresh ribbon was stretched across the bridge and Lang cut it.

The peoples man had opened the bridge. Jack Lang's speech brought out the glory of Australia, the bridge spanned the world's most beautiful harbour in the southern hemisphere's most beautiful city. The building of the harbour bridge was a strong cultural event that represented a great future for Australia. SOURCES: The three sources I have chosen consist of two books and a website. My first source is the "Manning Clark's History of Australia". I found it at the local library.

It is a secondary source book which recounts major events of the ages recorded (1788-1939). The book is fairly informative and to the point. It chooses most often landmarks in Australian history which also relate to the Australian culture i.e. the Opening of the Harbour Bridge, Phar lap, and Don Bradman's fast dismissals by Harold Lar wood. The book addresses most events in chronological order, often it runs by this rule so strictly it becomes disjointed. In one chapter the book switches between three events two or three times. The book is written with a slight bias for the left wing and for the well being of the masses.

It is an opinionated source to be used for an Australian history which favours the left wing. The second book I chose is called "How they lived, Between the Wars". I also found this in my local library. As it has a completely neutral look at the Australia of the time as it is mainly a junior non-fiction book and gives only the hard facts as opposed to an opinion. The book focused mainly on the poverty of the depression. This book is useful for a basic knowledge on a certain topic concerning the depression or times in the 1930's.

The website I have chosen to report on is one about Jack Lang. It is called "Sydney the city history page" This is a very good source as it addresses the main ideas on the conservative and labour sides of how to bring Australia out of the depression. It then talks about the feelings towards the Jack Lang government by different social groups. As a conclusion it involves itself in the history of Jack Lang, his achievements, his life and how he was taken from power. This is a very valuable source on Jack Lang.

It gives an insightful view into life during the 1930's depression and Jack Lang's method of fighting it. It is completely unbiased and would be extremely helpful in any other history assignments concerning the depression.