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1930s: Australia During the Great Depression

The Background

The Great Depression was triggered by the American Wall Street stock market crash, on 24 October to 29 October 1929.

The crash happened after an extended period of speculation when millions of people invested or borrowed money to buy stocks, pushing prices to unsustainable levels.

The panic selling of stocks and about $14 billion of stock losses bankrupted thousands of investors, with some stocks having no buyers at any price.
Register News-Pictorial (Adelaide, SA : 1929 - 1931), Thursday 28 March 1929
The Wall Street crash led to a worldwide economic depression. 

With financial instability and the rapid fall in commodity prices, exports fell, and local industries slowed or failed. The Australian economy collapsed.

Australia had experienced inflation from 1919 to 1920 and a recession in 1923. The government then borrowed large amounts of money from overseas. 

Reduced taxation revenues and falling wheat and wool prices made repayments difficult.

James Scullin and Labor won government in October 1929, just before the stock market crash, responding to the crisis with a range of tariff barriers and austerity measures that did not help.
Mail (Adelaide, SA : 1912 - 1954), Saturday 31 August 1929
In 1930, unemployment was 10 per cent, reaching a high of 30 per cent in 1933 --one of the highest rates of unemployment in the world.

Sir Otto Niemeyer, Director of the Bank of England, was invited to Australia in mid-1930, and advised cutting wages, government spending and balancing budgets. 

Premeriers Fenton and Lyons wanted to follow Niemeyer's plan, but New South Wales Premier Jack Lang rebelled, wanting to default on foreign debts.

Edward Theodore's plan with monetary stimulation was a "middle way". But both Theodore and Lang's inflationary plans were rejected, and a schism developed in the Labor Party.

The Premiers' Plan was developed by four of Australia's leading economists to reduce government spending and repay government debt.

The Commonwealth Government encouraged increased gold production, and many people tried their luck on the former goldfields.
Vic. Unemployed Qold Seekers —— Unemployed Orderly MarchSun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Friday 6 March 1931
GOLD-MINING INSTRUCTION FOR UNEMPLOYED. The Lord Mayor, Alderman Wälder, holding the pan, at a demonstration which the Redfernbranch of the U.A.P. arranged yesterday for the benefit of unemployed youths.Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Thursday 10 November 1932
One of the habitations, constructed by unemployed in the Domain, which the Lord Mayor (Alderman Wälder) inspected yesterday.Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 22 June 1932
The Loan (Unemployment Relief Works) Act 1932 allowed the government in 1935–36, to provide full-time employment for about 55,000 from a total of 300,000 jobless.

It took Australia almost a decade to recover from the Great Depression.

Humiliation of Poverty and Unemployment

Ordinary people were vulnerable to economic forces beyond their control. And there was much suffering during the Depression years. 

The Depression would have a lasting impact on a whole generation. Frugality wasn't a choice but a necessity.

In the 1930s, thousands of Australians were evicted from their homes and onto the streets after losing their jobs and being unable to pay rent.

"....military hats which have been
made available by the Federal
Government for the unemployed.
Assembling the dyed military clothing
made available to the unemployed by
the Federal Government at the Military
Ordnance Stores, Leichhardt,...."
Evening News (Sydney, NSW : 1869 - 1931) Fri 13 Jun 1930
Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Tuesday 26 August 1930
By 1932, more than 60,000 men, women and children depended on government payments called "susso" (short for 'sustenance') to buy food.

Over 40,000 men travelled from home around Australia, looking for work.

Shanty towns, ironically named ''happy valleys", made from scavenged corrugated iron, hessian, wood and cardboard, and illegal camps cropped up.

Many children had to leave school at age thirteen or fourteen to find work and support the family.

The government and charities provided some unemployed with soup kitchens, clothing, and relief work.

Many Aboriignal people also lost their jobs and had to move to government reserves. By 1941, almost half of the Aboriginal population of New South Wales lived on reserves.

Other Aboriginal people continued hunting and collecting traditional foods.
Aboriginal men peeling yams, 1930s, Tiwi Islands, SLSA
Australian birth rates were relatively low during the Great Depression, falling to 2.1 babies per woman in 1934. 

People had to use ingenuity, grit and resourcefulness to survive during the depression years. 

Many people started trapping wild rabbits, as in many areas, rabbits could breed the entire year. Rabbits not only provided meat, but also pelts, which could be sold.
RENMARK: A truckload of rabbits being delivered at Sonneman's Freezer, Mr. M. Brewer stands left. 1931, SLSA
Two Aboriginal boys carrying rabbits they have hunted, Koonibba Mission Station, South Australia, 1920s-30s, SLSA
Men collecting dole tickets from the Coffs Harbour Police Station. 1929-1930. Coffs Collections
Australian Christian Commonwealth (SA : 1901 - 1940), Friday 6 June 1930
Many people started growing fruit and vegetables at home and bottling and preserving produce.
Chinese Australian in his market garden, Northern Territory, ca. 1930. NLAUST
There was social unrest. On 29 January 1931, 50 unemployed people in Darwin who had been refused additional relief work stormed Commonwealth offices and fought with the police.

On 6 March 1931, unemployed men rioted outside the Treasury Building in Perth.
KERSBROOK: Tent accommodation used during the Depression for unemployed men who lived at the camp in exchange for two meals a day, working for two days a week clearing land which later became a pine forest. No known copyright restrictions, SLSA
WENDING its way up Wcnlworlh-avcnue to-dny en route from. Belmore Park tothe Domain.— The unemployed procession organised by the Unemployed Workers Movement.Sun (Sydney, NSW : 1910 - 1954), Friday 6 March 1931
The home of the late Sir Wigram Allen at the Glebe, which will shelter 28 homeless families under the Housing Fund scheme.Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Wednesday 26 August 1931
SALVATION ARMY'S SHELTER FOR UNEMPLOYED. Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Tuesday 12 May 1931
Newcastle Sun (NSW : 1918 - 1954), Saturday 25 April 1931
Unemployed workers demonstrate on the veranda of the old police station. They were flying a socialist Red Flag. Doctor Cook took the flag down and took it away. 1931. Library&Archives NT
This dwelling at "The Boot," Bondi, is hewn out of rock. The precipice, in the background, forms the back wall. Unemployed artisans who will use it intend fishing for a livelihood. Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Friday 11 September 1931
PICKETS AND POLICE AT WEST PERTH EVICTION. ANEVICTION AT WEST PERTH this week was attended by a number of unemployed and police. The evicted family have been found other accomodatiun.Mirror (Perth, WA : 1921 - 1956), Saturday 30 May 1931
Red Cliffs, Victoria, Australia, Feb 1932, Billy Cans, Itinerant Workers, Swags. Jock Burns, Museums Victoria
Labor Daily (Sydney, NSW : 1924 - 1938), Thursday 15 June 1933
Throughout the 1930s, communism gained increased support within the trade union movement in Australia.
Worker (Brisbane, Qld. : 1890 - 1955), Wednesday 7 December 1932
A GIRL MACHINIST at work in one of the boot factories which are now turning out boots and shoes for the unemployed. The Atorney-General (Mr. Jeffries) said that the whole supply of clothing and footwear for the unemployed would be available within five weeks.News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), Tuesday 8 August 1933
EVICTION OF UNEMPLOYED MEN AT FITZROY! Bedding and other teiongings of 75 Unemployed Men evicted from dwellings at corner of Fitzroy and James Sts., Fitzroy. Scene in James-st. shortly after eviction.Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Wednesday 9 August 1933
Brisbane has her own shanty town, Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Friday 13 January 1933
Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 4 November 1934
Schoolchildren line up for free issue of soup and a slice of bread, 1934, State Library of New South Wales
Campaigner Frederick Oswald Barnett recorded the poverty facing many in the Melbourne slums of the 1930s. Barnett said that after a tour of the slums, the Victorian Premier, Albert Dunstan, couldn’t sleep for days.
West Melbourne. A "Dudley Mansion."1935, SLVIC
Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), Monday 17 June 1935
Australia began to recover from the economic depression after 1932.  Then, war broke out in 1939, and economic conditions began to worsen again.


Cracow, QLD: Explore The Abandoned Streets

Cracow, a rural town in the Shire of Banana, Queensland, was once a gold mining town, which today has many abandoned streets, houses and shops. 

The town is 475 km north-west of Brisbane.

Wulli Wulli People

There are more than 250 distinct Aboriginal language groups spread throughout Australia.

Wulli Wulli is also written as Wuli-wuli, Wuliwuli, Wilili, etc. and is closely related to Wakka Wakka.

Dr John Mathews collectied language samples from Wulli Wulli Aboriignal informants and published his results in 1926.

The Wulli Wulli, like their neighbours, probably believed that the Rainbow Serpent came from beneath the ground and created mountains, rivers and gorges as it pushed upward and moved about. The rainbow in the sky and the Rainbow Snake, on the ground and in the waters, are connected from the time of the Dreaming.

The Dreaming was a time when ancestral heroic spirits with supernatural abilities inhabited and created the world.

In many places, totems were animals such as species of mammals, reptiles, birds and bees. Most people were forbidden from eating their own totem. And could not marry within the same totem group.

IN 1914 Mr. W. E. Pasry-Okeden collected the following Waka dialect words at Hawkwood station, Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Thursday 15 February 1934. See more
Before Europeans arrived, Aboriginal people had experienced other infectious diseases such as trachoma, yaws and hepatitis B for thousands of years. However, Europeans brought smallpox, which had decimated Britain in the eighteenth century. Aboriginal people had no immunity to smallpox, which is one of the most lethal diseases. The impacts on populations were catastrophic. 

Aboriginal hunter-gatherer lifestyle required access to large areas of land. With European arrival and farming the land, with planting and harvesting crops and raising herd animals, hunting and gathering practices were hugely impacted.

1840s

Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichhardt led the first European exploration of the upper Dawson River district during his expedition north from the Darling Downs to Port Essington in 1844-46.

1850s

The Cracow pastoral station was established in 1851 by John Mackenzie-Ross. He named Cracow after the Polish city of Krakow which he admired for its crucial role in Polish independence movements.

1870s

Gold was first found in the Cracow district in 1875. However, payable gold was not discovered until 1931. 

1900s

The Taroom Aboriginal Settlement was established as a government-operated reserve on a site on the Dawson River, east of the township of Taroom in 1911. Read here

In 1916, Johnny Nipps, an Aboriginal stockman found a nugget six miles from the Cracow homestead.
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947)
Although gold was first found in the district about 1916, no mining occurred until 1931, when the Queensland Government encouraged gold prospecting during the Great Depression.

1920s

Cracow football team, Cracow, Queensland, 1926. The football team members are dressed in dark coloured football jumpers, long trousers or shorts, socks and football boots. One member of the team is dressed in a white shirt instead of a dark coloured football jumper. Several members of the team are wearing hats. Top row: Bluey Phips, Bert Butler, Tipsy Parsons, L. Symonds, Jim Neilson, Jim Anderson. Bottom row: George Ger. kie, G. Rose, C. Hayden, J. Hayden, W. Reynolds. (Description supplied with photograph). Banana Shire Library

1930s

In 1932, the Cracow Goldfield was proclaimed, and gold production from underground and open pit operations occurred intermittently until 1992.

By November 1932, there was about 2000 people at Cracow.
Land sale at Golden Mile store, Cracow, Queenslan
d, 1930, Banana Shire Library
Cracow Station employees, Cracow Station, Queensland, no date. Banana Shire Library

A visit by air to Cracow, QLD, Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Thursday 25 February 1932,
Main Street of Cracow, QLD, Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), Thursday 21 July 1932
One of the camps at the Cracow gold diggings, QLD, Brisbane Courier (Qld. : 1864 - 1933), Saturday 16 July 1932
THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE resident on the Cracow goldfield it bow estimated at iooo, whereat a few weeks ago there were only 300, catered for by one universal store. Now there are seven stores. Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), Thursday 25 August 1932
Shop of Jim Ward, the tailor, in Cracow. All the buildings appear to be constructed from corrugated iron. Cracow was a gold mining town with commercial operations starting around 1932. Vintage QLD
The miners' camp at Cracow, QLD, Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 5 October 1932
ON THE CRACOW GOLDFIELD, DAWSON VALLEY, QUEENSLAND. Sydney Mail (NSW : 1912 - 1938), Wednesday 5 October 1932
An old-line coach, driven four-in-hand, brings the mails to the township. (1.) The Cracow Post Office opened on 1 October 1932.
Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Wednesday 23 November 1932
1. Main Street, Cracow, QLD. 2. Waiting for the mail. 3. Billiad saloon and cordial factory, Cracow, QLD. Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Thursday 10 November 1932
The cafe (on the right) and a store in the main street. Cracow, QLD, Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), Thursday 10 November 1932
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Tuesday 18 October 1932,
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 15 October 1932,
The galvanised iron building appears to have sold everything including petrol. Note the bottle trees growing either side of the track. 1932, SLQLD
Cracow Garage at Cracow, Queensland - 1932, SLQLD
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Thursday 22 December 1932. Read here
At its peak, the town included five cafes, barber shop, billiard saloon, two butchers, a picture theatre and a soft drink factory.

The State primary school, opened in 1933, and closed in 1997.

Work on the Orange Creek weir, part of the Dawson Valley irrigation scheme, was being carried out by intermittent relief workers. This would provide water to Cracow. (2.)
Open cut mine, Cracow, QLD, Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), Thursday 29 September 1932
Goldfield's Store, raider construction by Golden Mile Company. Cracow, QLD, Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), Thursday 29 September 1932
Australian Rugby Union (Wallabies) team in Cracow, QLD, 1935. The Queenslander
Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Tuesday 31 March 1936
Maryborough Chronicle, Wide Bay and Burnett Advertiser (Qld. : 1860 - 1947), Saturday 22 May 1937
Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Monday 25 October 1937
GOLDEN PLATEAU MINE-CRACOW, QLD. Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Friday 2 July 1937
New hospital at Cracow, QLD, Sunday Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1926 - 1954), Sunday 22 May 1938

1940s and WWII

Recruits who left Rockhampton recently for a southern A.I.F. training camp.-Back row : I. M- Hooke (Rockhampton), R. McDonald (Etna Creek, Rockhampton), J. A. Simpson (Biloela), G. G. St J. Barnard (Rockhampton), A. J. T. McKenzie (Dingo). Centre : M. J. Simmons (Thangool), P. J. Wells (Bouldercombe), A. Wallis (Rockhampton), J. H. Sam(Cracow), A. Humphris (Bajool), F. W. Elwell (Rockhampton). Front row: R. L. Dunn (Rockhampton), T. H. Whitmee (Rockhampton), A. R. Fripp (Baralaba), A. E. Shorley (Comet), W. F. Suttie (Muttaburra), R. J. O'Grady (Callide).Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), Thursday 11 July 1940,
Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), Thursday 7 November 1940
Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954), Friday 18 January 1946
The Inland Defence Road between Ipswich and Charters Towers, via Blackbutt, Nanango, Gayndah, Eidsvold, Banana and Clermont, was built by civilian labour during 1942–1943.

Queensland Italian and Albanian internees who had been rounded up as “enemy aliens", worked on a section of the Inland Defence Road between Eidsvold and Banana. This 68km section branches off from the Eidsvold-Theodore Road, about 15km east of Cracow.
Central Queensland Herald (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1930 - 1956), Thursday 8 October 1942
Anzac Parade at Cracow, Queensland, 1949, Banana Shire Council

1950s

Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Tuesday 6 July 1954

1970s

Wulli Wulli tenor, Harold Blair AM was the first Australian Aboriginal person professionally trained as an opera singer. He travelled as a performer in Australia and the world, including the first opera at the Sydney Opera House in July, 1973.
Derelict house in the town of Cracow, Queensland, October 1976, Aggett, Colin, Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND
House with wide verandas in the town of Cracow, Queensland, October 1976, Aggett, Colin, Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND
Golden Plateau Mine buildings in Cracow, Queensland, October 1976, Aggett, Colin, Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND
Abandoned mining equipment at the Golden Plateau Mine at Cracow, Queensland, 1976, Aggett, Colin, Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND
"Kevena and Andrew Eakin.
Mother of seven Kevena Eakin is
fighting to bring a Queensland
ghost town back to life, lt is
Cracow, 570km north-west of Brisbane.." 
Read here .
The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982) Wed 13 Jun 1979

1990s

The hospital was discontinued in the 1990s.

2000s

Fred Brophy and wife Sandi purchased the Cracow Hotel in 2000. Under new ownership from March 2021.

In 2003, the gold mine by Newcrest Mining Ltd reopened.

The post office was destroyed in a fire in 2006.

In the 2011 census, Cracow and the surrounding area had a population of 196.

Native title rights awarded of 108,000 hectares of land in central Queensland to Wulli Wulli People, in 2015.

Movie, Two Heads Creek was filmed on location in Cracow in 2019.

2022: Owner of the Cracow Hotel, Stuart Burke. See here

More than two million ounces of gold have been mined from the Cracow goldfields.

Around Cracow
 
Abandoned shops at Cracow, QLD
Abandoned shops at Cracow, QLD
Abandoned shop at Cracow, QLD
Hotel Cracow, QLD
Abandoned miner's house, Cracow, QLD
War. Memorial, Cracow, QLD
Cemetery at Cracow, QLD
Cracow Mining Museum, QLD
Sacred Heart Catholic Church was built c1936 and was the first church in Cracow, QLD

Things To Do and Places To Go


Cracow Heritage Centre Museum & Caravan Park -21/39 Third Ave, Cracow QLD 4719

Cracow Hotel -3 Third Ave &, Tenth Ave, Cracow QLD 4719

Cracow Beach is a beautiful spot on the Dawson River and Delusion Creek Junction, located 18 kilometres north-west of Cracow along Isla-Delusion Road.

Cracow Beach bush camping - Isla Delusion Rd, Cracow QLD 4719

The Cracow Station