From Below: Working-Class Perceptions of Post-War Australia

Jacobin Bosman

Picture Footscray. What comes to mind? The answer, at least for Melbournians, is probably some variation on the setting for 1992’s Romper Stomper with gentrification threatening from all sides. In the 1940s, however, Footscray was the eighth largest municipality in Greater Melbourne, a significant industrial hub and a centre for munitions manufacturing.

In 1943, the economist Wilfred Prest chose Footscray as the site of a supplementary inquiry to the University of Melbourne Social Survey, concentrating on the ‘extent and magnitude’ of wartime social and economic change.

By mapping responses to a single question in the supplemental survey – titled ‘Attitude to Post-War’ – we can see the diversity of this storied suburb in terms of the uneven distribution of wartime sentiment. What is revealed is that in this large and economically important municipality, there was no geographical uniformity of feeling about the war and the future: a fact that reflects the anxieties of that particular historical moment.

Working-Class Political Diversity

The 1940s press depicted Footscray as a hotbed of communist activity. And there is some truth to this: there were well-attended communist meetings in the suburb, ‘uproarious’ disruptions of Liberal Party events and calls for blocking industrial expansion in residential areas. Indeed, mass walkouts were staged by workers over conditions on the shop floor throughout World War II.

However, a more complex picture emerged through data mapping. Most households made no direct mention of political affiliations, while others supported leaders rather than parties. Some respondents identified as unionists first and foremost, while only a small number of households declared affiliation to the Communist and Labor Parties, or the New World Reconstruction Movement.

Survey responses did not correlate political alignment with attitudes toward post-war reconstruction. Instead, individuals or households with conspiratorial theories about the political system in general tended towards negative perceptions of the future. Left- and right-leaning households expressed concerns that the vested interests of a political or economic elite would counteract national progress and the improvement of workers’ lives. Footscray thus emerges as a politically engaged, vibrant community in which conflicting political views and perspectives on the future coexisted.

Women’s Political Beliefs

Prest’s data for the supplemental survey offers insights into working-class women’s political beliefs. The majority of responses came from women, not due to a wartime absence of men. Many Footscray households retained male members employed in essential industries. Rather, women not only had the authority to answer questions of household management, but to represent the household’s social and political perspectives.

Prest’s data allows us to reconsider the 1940s homemaker and her level of engagement with social and political issues. Although women were a highly visible presence in the workforce during World War II, selecting the purple ‘female’ icon we can see that most interviewees were homemakers. These women demonstrated a proactive interest in post-war Australia’s future.

Future Possibilities

This mapping project offers a limited insight into the potential for exploring Wilfred Prest’s digitised survey documents. However, it also highlights possibilities for future expansion. Disaggregating the collection of digitised surveys would, for instance, allow individual records to be linked directly to their mapped representations. Similarly, new patterns may emerge from adding different layers, such as household structure or average income.

In its present state, mapping the attitudes of Footscray’s working-class community to the post-War period allows us to imagine Footscray as a living community. By looking beyond Footscray’s flattened representation, we glimpse a socially, politically and intellectually diverse community with sincere beliefs in, and questions about, their future.

Jacobin Bosman is a PhD candidate in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies. His research explores sexual and gender transgression’s role in defining the body politic in pre-Federation Australia.

References

‘1800 Workers on Strike at Footscray’. (1942, 2 June). Herald, p.5. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245193951. Accessed 21 June 2024.

‘Uproarious Footscray Meeting’. (1943, 23 October). Argus, p.3. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/22515421. Accessed 21 June 2024.

Davison, Graeme. (2012). ‘Prest, Wilfred (1907-1985)’. Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/prest-wilfred-14866. Accessed 21 June 2024.

Land Values Research Group. (1945). Report on Social Effects of Municipal Rating: A Study Conducted in Footscray. Melbourne: Land Values Research Group. https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-446314296/view?partId=nla.obj-446332091. Accessed 21 June 2024.

Sharpley, Cecil. (1943, 12 March). ‘To the Editor’. Sunshine Advocate, p.2. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74731853. Accessed 21 June 2024.

‘Munition Men Plan 24 Hours Strike’. (1941, 18 January). Sun News-Pictorial, p.10. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/31382184. Accessed 21 June 2024 .

‘Footscray Election: Another Large Communist Meeting’. (1943, 9 April). Sunshine Advocate, p.4. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/74731853. Accessed 21 June 2024.

‘Miss Victoria Makes Munitions’. (1941, 12 July). Weekly Times. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224831812. Access 21 June 2024.