SUBURBAN DOMESTICITY: LIVING THE DREAM?
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
DAVE EARL | PHD CANDIDATE
HEWLETT FAMILY
2
Hewlett Family, c.1953. Author’s possession.
DOMESTIC APPLIANCES: ONLY A DREAM?
3
Models Demonstrating Hoover Vacuums, 1952. State Library of Western Australia, 8292B/26974-1.
A SCANDAL DEMANDING ATTENTION
4
“Our Asylums Still in the Dark Ages,” SMH 15th May, 1949, 6.
BEX AND A GOOD LIE DOWN
5
Bex Powder. Powerhouse Museum, 2003/194/1.
TERRIFYING NEW WEAPON
6
“Atomic Bomb May End War,” SMH 8th August, 1945, 1.
MICHAEL GILDING
7
Gilding, Michael. The Making and Breaking of the Australian Family. St. Leonards: Allen & Unwin, 1991.
KEREEN REIGER
8
Reiger, Kerreen M. The Disenchantment of the Home: Modernizing the Australian Family, 1880-1940. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1985.
JOHNSTON STREET, ANNANDALE
9
State Library of NSW, a089607
HARGRAVE FAMILY, 1894
10
Powerhouse Museum, P2903-9/68
OXFORD STREET, PADDINGTON, 1900
11
State Records NSW, 12487/7546 12487_a021_a021000014
DOMESTIC BLISS IN AUSTRALIA
12
State Library of Victoria MP00/00/56/98
PIECEWORK
13
Justice & Police Museum Photographic Collection, Historic Houses Trust, 31297
COLLIERY CREW, 1894
14
State Records NSW, 10036_a027000045
PAPERBOY, 1930
15
View of the entrance to Newtown Station, Sydney, taken in the aftermath of the stabbing murder of Domenico Belle at 11 a.m.
Justice & Police Museum Photographic Collection, Historic Houses Trust, 31191
PLAYFAIR STREET, THE ROCKS, 1901
16
State Records NSW, 4481_a026_000037
CARING FOR BABY, c.1910
17
John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland, D1-11-86
COOKS HILL PUBLIC SCHOOL, NSW
18
Newcastle City Council Cultural Collections, Hunter Picture Bank 006 000098
SCHOOL GROUP, VICTORIA
19
State Library of Victoria, H42834/80
DOMESTIC SCIENCE CLASS, TASMANIA
20
Teaching Aids Centre - Photographic Prints, Archives Office of Tasmania, AB713-1-8204
YALLOURN TECHNICAL SCHOOL, VIC
21
State Library of Victoria, Image H2009.18/862
SALVATION ARMY CAMP, COLLAROY, 1947
22
Hood Collection, SLNSW hood_22395.
BODGIE STYLES FOR SPRING
23
Pix, 14th July 1951.
DECLINE IN THE BIRTH-RATE
24
Crude Birth-Rate in Australia.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2006
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
18
85
18
88
18
91
18
94
18
97
19
00
19
03
19
06
19
09
19
12
19
15
19
18
19
21
19
24
19
27
19
30
19
33
19
36
19
39
19
42
19
45
19
48
19
51
19
54
19
57
19
60
19
63
19
66
19
69
19
72
19
75
19
78
19
81
19
84
19
87
19
90
19
93
19
96
19
99
20
02
INFANT MORTALITY RATES IN AUSTRALIA
25
0.0
20.0
40.0
60.0
80.0
100.0
120.0
19
01
19
03
19
05
19
07
19
09
19
11
19
13
19
15
19
17
19
19
19
21
19
23
19
25
19
27
19
29
19
31
19
33
19
35
19
37
19
39
19
41
19
43
19
45
19
47
19
49
19
51
19
53
19
55
19
57
19
59
19
61
19
63
19
65
19
67
19
69
19
71
19
73
19
75
19
77
19
79
Number of infant deaths per 1,000 births
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2006
NEWTOWN BABY CLINIC, 1914
26
Photographs of the Newtown, Alexandria and Bourke Street Baby Clinics, State Records NSW, 4873_a004_a004000006r
VICTORIA’S IDEAL CHILD
27
AVERAGE HOUSEHOLD SIZE
28
Average number of persons per household
Australian Institute of Family Studies, 2012, http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/info/charts/households/havsize.html
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
1911 1921 1933 1947 1954 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006
WHEN THE SEVENTH MAID WALKED OUT…
29
The Home, Sept. 1920, p.85, in Gilding, The Making and Breaking of the Australian Family.
OLD ORDER HOMES?
30
Camina. Old or Homes or New Order Houses? Some Reflections of a Middle-Class Woman. Melbourne: Whitcome & Tombs Pty. Ltd., c.1943.
DACEY GARDEN SUBURB PLAN, c.1913
31
State Records NSW, 5225_a018_a018000001
NARRABEEN: VALUES MUST INCREASE!
32
National Library of Australia, nla.map-lfsp1695
JOHN MURPHY
33
Murphy, John. "Shaping the Cold War Family: Politics, Domesticity and Policy Interventions in the 1950s." Australian Historical Studies 26,
no. 105 (1995): 544 - 67.
Murphy, John. Imagining the Fifties: Private Sentiment and Political Culture in Menzies' Australia. Annandale: University of New South Wales
Press & Pluto Press, 2000.
Murphy, John, and Belinda Probert. "'Anything for the House': Recollections of Post-War Suburban Dreaming." Australian Historical Studies
36, no. 124 (2004): 275-93.
ELAINE TYLER MAY
34
May, Elaine Tyler. Homeward Bound: American Families in the Cold War Era. 20th Anniversary Edition ed. New York: Basic Books, 2008
[1988].
MIGRANT TRAINING
35
Dr Eva Haarmann (standing, right), of Vienna, gives an English Lesson to other Australian migrants, NAA A12111, 1/1955/32/21.
INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION
36
Snowy Hydro-Electric Scheme, 1947. NAA B4498, 59D8.
VETERAN REHABILITATION
37
Heidelberg Military Hospital, Victoria, 1944, SLV H99.201/1174.
WHEN THE BOYS COME HOME
38
Australian Women’s Weekly, 9th March 1946: 11
CRUDE MARRIAGE RATE IN AUSTRALIA
39
Number of marriages per year per 1,000 population
Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Historical Population Statistics, 2006
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
14.00 1
88
5
18
88
18
91
18
94
18
97
19
00
19
03
19
06
19
09
19
12
19
15
19
18
19
21
19
24
19
27
19
30
19
33
19
36
19
39
19
42
19
45
19
48
19
51
19
54
19
57
19
60
19
63
19
66
19
69
19
72
19
75
19
78
19
81
19
84
MARRIAGE BOOM
40
Mrs H.H. Kinninmont wedding, Hunters Hill, Hood Collection a436005, SLNSW.
BABY BOOM
41
Crèche at large maternity hospital, 1954. NAA A1200/1 L15678.
42
Baby Trying to Mow Lawn from Pram, Springvale, 1950, Museum Victoria, MM 110922
BIRMINGHAM GARDENS, NSW
43
Hood Collection, SLNSW hood_28109.
QUEENSLAND HOLDEN LAUNCH
44
1948 The Queensland launch of the Holden 48/215 at Eagers Motors, SLQ neg. #111267.
MY HUSBAND’S A DIFFERENT MAN!
45
Australian Women’s Weekly, 12th March, 1949: 20.
MAN ON SUBURBAN MARRIAGE
46
Man magazine, March 1952.
ATTRACTING A MAN IS A CINCH
47
Courier-Mail, 28th March 1947, 7.
MARRIAGES START IN THE KITCHEN!
48
Australian Women’s Weekly, 11th March 1947, 44.
DON’T CRY DEAR LADY
49
Australian Screen and Sound Archive: http://aso.gov.au/titles/ads/tandaco-prepared-stuffing/clip1/
MY WIFE WORKS AND I HATE IT!
50
Australian Women’s Weekly, 18th March, 1959: 4.
WORKING WIVES ON WARPATH
51
Australian Women’s Weekly, 15th April, 1959: 6.
DAVE EARL daveearl.net | [email protected]
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY | SCHOOL OF PHILISOPICAL AND HISTORICAL ENQUIRY