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Clip description
A sequence of very powerful and rarely-seen historical images of the Great Depression in Australia in the 1930s – scenes of poverty, starvation, unemployment and protest marches.
Curator’s notes
This sequence combines historical images – still and moving, interview and music – to give a sense of the impact of the 1930s depression on Australian workers and their families. This was the context in which the three women grew up and worked and which led them to become political activists. ‘One in every three workers was unemployed in Australia’, says Audrey.
This clip is also a good example of how using the personal story informs us about the feeling of the time. Audrey talks of becoming aware of the attitude of her boss toward the unemployed, an attitude that she and the other women in the film did not share.
