The impact of war on New South Wales : some aspects of social and political history 1914-1917

Abstract

This thesis is a study of aspects of social and political history during 1914 to 1917 which shaped political turbulence in New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia. The writer seeks to modify the accepted view that Australians unanimously and enthusiastically accepted their involvement in the Great War. The divisions of August 1914, blurred as they were by the excitement of the time, were to become clearer during the following years. Anxieties generated by the war, in particular beliefs in the prevalence of 'profiteers', 'shirkers' and venereal diseases, affected the labour, pro-conscription and temperance movements respectively. Agitation by these three groups, which politically implicated the English-born Labor Premier W.A. Holman, generated undercurrents which helped to defeat the proposal to reinforce the Australian Imperial Force with conscripted men. Divergent class experiences arising from the pressures of war shaped attitudes to the first conscription referendum in October 1916. Emotions inflamed by that conflict were exacerbated by the formation of Holman's Nationalist party and by the eruption of the great strike in August 1917. Conflicts of 'loyalty' divided people at the time: these were to shape conflicting ideas about the Australian nation. Show more