'All in' - The Australian Home front 1939-1945

By the middle of 1941 the war had started to hit home. The battle casualties and the
indications that Japan might enter the war increased Australian feelings of vulnerability.
Many factories had turned to war productions, from widgets to warships, and many
civilians were engaged in voluntary work.
In February 1942, many Australians thought that the Japanese would invade Australia.
Anticipating enemy air attack, blackout restrictions were introduced and air raid warning
instructions issued. Barbed wire was also strung across many east coast beaches.





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Civilians, as well as the troops both at home and overseas, needed to be fed. New rationing
regulations were imposed on Australian men, women and children in order to cope with
the huge demands placed on both agricultural producers and manufacturers. Petrol
rationing was introduced in 1940 and, in 1942, Prime Minister John Curtin introduced
personal identity cards and ration books for clothing and food.

Other men and women joined voluntary organisations such as the
Red Cross or they helped to erect and patrol coastal defences or
spot aircraft and shipping. School children collected bottles,
newspapers, old tyres or anything else that could be recycled for
the war effort. There was an unprecedented demand for food and
other products like cotton, not only for the troops overseas and
the people at home, but also for the American troops who were
starting to arrive in Australia in large numbers. When it was
realised that there would be thousands of black servicemen
amongst the US personnel, the Advisory War council decided on
12 January 1942 that:
no black American troops would be accepted in Australia since it
could affect 'the maintenance of the White Australia policy in the
post-war settlement.
However the Australians could not afford to offend the Americans
and the Advisory War Council decision was overruled.

To face this threat all Australians, men, women and children, were
urged to put their backs into the war effort. Indeed, the adult
population was mobilised for war. Women took new roles in
essential industries working in what had previously been male-
dominated areas.

The Australian Government also introduced a National Savings Campaign to raise the
enormous sums of money necessary to fund the war. Intensive publicity campaigns
encouraged Australians to donate to the new war loans funds and to participate in
whatever work they could do to assist the war effort. Advertisements and articles in
newspapers and magazines and government-sponsored radio programs all reinforced and
encouraged the new wartime lifestyle but it was the rationing of so many consumer goods
that really forced Australians to practise thriftiness in their everyday lives.
There was a risk of enemy air raids and the authorities appointed air raid wardens as part of
civil defence precautions. Wardens were appointed to a particular area and they were
responsible for warning residents about impending enemy attacks. Anticipating Japanese
air and submarine attacks, blackout restrictions were introduced and air raid warning
instructions issued. Families dug air raid shelters in their backyards and barbed wire was
strung across beaches.
Many of the volunteers provided their own vessels, from dinghies to luxury yachts, to patrol
Sydney Harbour and coastal areas.
The new levels of national security caused numbers of overseas-born Australians to be
interned for the duration of the war: mainly Germans, Italians and Japanese. The Italians,
the largest group of non-British background were interned when Italy entered the war in
1940.



The new rationing regulations included food
items such as meat, tea, butter and sugar as
well as clothing and footwear. Prices were
pegged and daylight saving and shorter
holiday periods were introduced to boost
production hours. Power blackouts and
brownouts, standard wartime air raid
precautions in cities and coastal areas, also
saved precious resources.