Life at the home front wasn't easy. At the start, it wasn't too bad; there were only a few minor setbacks, such as unemployment. Although, as the war progressed, high demands for supplies, troops and money arose.
Every Australian was expected to help with the war effort; this expectation meant that the citizens had to make social and economic sacrifices. People were expected not to live a luxurious life and to not waste things. Even the children got involved to assist with the war effort by collecting old tyres, rubbish and other resourceful things that could be recycled to help with the war.
With the encouragement for every citizen to support the war effort, war loans, called Victory loans, were introduced for the people to buy so money could be raised for the war. Having a war loan was just another expectation of the Australian people.
Some factories in Australia were even commandeered to produce supplies and other necessities for the war.
With a high demand for food, clothes and other supplies for the war, and to ensure each citizen had an equal amount of supplies, rationing of food, and clothing shortly afterwards, was introduced in Australia by the government on the 14th of May 1942. Luckily, rationing was accepted fairly well by the people, but surprisingly, once clothing was rationed, there was a mad rush to buy as much clothing as possible before it was enforced.
Rationing was a system of booklets containing a certain amount of coupons to allow each person to purchase a specific amount of food and other supplies. Each ration book usually lasted over a weekly basis. If someone was to breach the rationing system, they could be given a fine up to $150 or be imprisoned for up to 6 months.
The Australian people not only had to supply for themselves and their families, but when the American troops came over to help protect Australia, they had to supply the Americans with necessities.
With so much money and supplies required for the war, the people were encouraged to be self-sufficient. They were encouraged to have their own gardens so they could grow their own vegetables to have hens so they could have eggs.
Unfortunately with so many shortages, people started hoarding. When someone came across rare supplies such as fuel, they would save up as much as possible and use it later. This made shortages worse and led to the black market where rare supplies were sold for high prices.
Australians not only got involved in the war effort because of the expectation, but they were also fearful that the Japanese might invade when they entered into the war.
With major fear of Japanese advancement and invasion, black out restrictions and air raid warnings were introduced. Barbed wire was also placed around coastal areas and citizens built bomb shelters in their backyards. The people also joined volunteer groups such as the Red Cross. The people were so fearful of the Japanese, the Australian Government had to plea for help from the Americans.
There weren't just shortages in food and supplies in Australia, there was also a shortage of labour due to conscription.
Just before World War II, many Jewish and German citizens fled to Australia for refuge from the war. When they arrived, Australia allowed them in, but deemed them as enemy aliens. After some investigations, the Australian government allowed some Jewish interns from England as well as some German and Italian P.O.Ws. When they were sent to Australia, they were treated very badly on the ships. Some of the interns, mainly the P.O.Ws (Prisoners of War), remained faithful to the Nazis. Luckily, the Jewish people were re-classified and seen as friendly aliens and set free from the camps. Some even ended up fighting for the Australian Army.
At the start of the war and during, men were encouraged to fight. Although conscription was enforced, not all men went to war. If they were studying or were needed at home because of their profession (Some doctors and nurses were kept behind because they needed some to stay in Australia), they were allowed to stay at home. Although it was more common during WW1, some women still handed out white feathers to men who they thought were quite capable of fighting, but didn’t go to war. The feather was meant to shame them and it was a symbol of cowardice.
Life was difficult at the homefront, the war caused hard times for the people with limited supplies for the citizens as well as the soldiers.