Nelson Modern History: Australia 1918 - 1950s

Part of the series Nelson Modern History.

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Australia 1918 - 1950s has been developed for senior secondary students of History and is part of the Nelson Modern History series. Each book in the series is based on the understanding that History is an interpretive study of the past by which students also come to better appreciate the making of the modern world. Students will use historical skills, including research, evaluation, synthesis, analysis and communication. They will rely on their knowledge of the historical concepts such as evidence, continuity and change, cause and effect, significance, empathy, perspectives and contestability, to understand and interpret societies from the past.

Australia 1918 - 1950s explores Australia’s modern history from 1918 and considers, at both the domestic and international level, how Australians responded to the rapid social, technological, economic and political changes that came in the aftermath of World War l. In exploring these themes particular attention is paid to:

- The ambitious agricultural and infrastructure development schemes of the 1920s and their successes and failures
- Everyday experiences of those who lived through global crises such as the economic depression of the 1930s and World War II
- The changing roles of women
- The political position of Indigenous Australians
- Australian foreign policy
- World War Two
- Post-war reconstruction, migration schemes and nation building programs
- The impact of the Cold War on Australian Labour Party politics and society.

Series Editor, Tony Taylor is the past Director of the National Inquiry into the Teaching and Learning of History and the National Centre for History Education. From 2006 to 2010 he was a senior consultant to federal government bodies responsible for the development of Australian Curriculum History, while researching and publishing extensively in various topics in education and History.

Contents:

• About the series
• Series editor acknowledgements
• Author acknowledgements
• Introduction
• CHAPTER 1 ‘Something for the rising generation’: Australia 1900-17
• CHAPTER 2 ‘The land of opportunity’: 1918-29
• CHAPTER 3 ‘Would you give me two days work?’: 1929-38
• CHAPTER 4 ‘A tiny drop in a coloured ocean’
• CHAPTER 5 ‘Australia is also at way’: 1939-45
• CHAPTER 6 A new Australia
• Conclusion