back in australia
During World War One there were many pressures that came, aside from the warfare and army recruitment. The war affected everybody back in Australia and many ways- some good, some bad. Around 500 000 men went to war, and having only around 5 million people living in Australia at the time, this was a large number of men. Australia as a nation became divided by the war. There was a growing dissatisfaction with the war and a sense of ‘inequality of sacrifice’. Many Australians had contributed to the war in terms of enlisting; however there was also a lot of exploiting back at home. With so many men gone, the need for women to join the workforce and take the place of men grew rapidly. While over 2000 women served as nurses in the war, many women at home saw the need to help their country by getting hired into traditionally male jobs. These women became store clerks and bank tellers for example. Although they were not allowed to do many of the male jobs, the percentage of women working outside of home had risen by thirteen per cent by the end of the war. They were getting paid less, but the women of Australia saw the need to get involved in helping their country.
impact on soldiers
Australian soldiers that had survived the war and come home were still being greatly impacted by the war. With propaganda in every town, recruitment rallies and the groups of young men signing up to join would have made it extremely difficult to forget the traumas of the war. Psychological and emotional damage to the soldiers who survived the war would not only have been destroying them themselves mentally by also impacting on their families and people around them. Many soldiers would have lost friends and loved ones, making it difficult to adjust to life back in Australia. The fact that horrifying memories from the treacherous war would always be with them, whether they were reminded by the environment around them or not.
Families of the soldiers would have had to deal with the anxieties that the soldiers bought home with them. Hundreds of soldiers would have bought back physical injuries alongside mental and emotional scarring. Many families would have loved ones who were killed in the war, more often than not their bodies were never recovered. Job availability and commitment would have been changed greatly with the volunteers leaving and the soldiers returning. Although it would have taken months for the soldiers to be transported back to Australia from Gallipoli or the Western Front and surrounding areas, when they did return many changes would have taken place to suit the returning soldiers. With the new technologies and advances from the war, a lot of businesses would have profited, perhaps allowing more jobs to be made or more money to be paid out to recovering soldiers and their families.
Families of the soldiers would have had to deal with the anxieties that the soldiers bought home with them. Hundreds of soldiers would have bought back physical injuries alongside mental and emotional scarring. Many families would have loved ones who were killed in the war, more often than not their bodies were never recovered. Job availability and commitment would have been changed greatly with the volunteers leaving and the soldiers returning. Although it would have taken months for the soldiers to be transported back to Australia from Gallipoli or the Western Front and surrounding areas, when they did return many changes would have taken place to suit the returning soldiers. With the new technologies and advances from the war, a lot of businesses would have profited, perhaps allowing more jobs to be made or more money to be paid out to recovering soldiers and their families.