Belinda Murrell: Bringing Australian History To Life | Page 18

AUSTRALIA

DIFFICULT YEARS IN

THE LUCKY COUNTRY

THE NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE COLLAPSE OF 1929 MARKED THE BEGINNING OF A FAR-REACHING
ECONOMIC DISASTER. ALTHOUGH ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE WORLD, AUSTRALIA WAS ONE OF
THE MOST DEVASTATED COUNTRIES, WITH MANY BUSINESSES GOING UNDER, SHOPS CLOSING, AND
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE. TRAVELLING CIRCUSES HELPED TO
KEEP PEOPLES’ SPIRITS UP.

From the collection of the State Library of NSW.

✓ In the 1930s there were about thirty circuses travelling
and performing throughout Australia. These ranged from
small, family, horse-and-wagon circuses to large circus trains.
Modern circuses include many performers who trace their
circus lineage back six or seven generations, or about 160
years.
✓ Another true story is that of Lennie Gwyther, the nineyear-old boy who rode by himself more than 1450 kilometres
on his pony, Ginger Mick, to attend the opening of the
Harbour Bridge. Lennie rode from Leongatha in Gippsland,
Victoria, to Sydney and back – a journey of about three
months – which made him famous.
✓ People learned to do without and had to use their
ingenuity and creativity to survive by making everyday items,
repairing things instead of replacing them and looking after
each other. Life in the cities was tougher than in the country,
where there was more food.

Courtesy of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art,
Sarasota, Florida.

A family outside their makeshift home in Happy Valley, Sydney’s largest and most wellorganised camp built by the unemployed and homeless. Happy Valley was known for being
close-knit, with residents forming a committee to distribute donated food and clothing equally,
and to ensure everyone had help in building comfortable shelters.

FAST FACTS
✓ Many children generally left school at twelve or thirteen
to find work.
✓ About 30,000 men went ‘on the wallaby track’, as
swagmen, walking hundreds of miles or ‘riding the rattler’
(hitching rides on freight trains) in search of odd jobs.
✓ Approximately 40,000 people were homeless, living
in shanty shelters or tents on public land, in caves, under
bridges or in abandoned buildings.
✓ Some of the characters and actions in The Sequin
Star are based on real people, such as Colonel Eric
Campbell, the leader of the New Guard, and Francis De
Groot, who slashed the ribbon to prevent Premier Jack Lang
from officially opening the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

18 randomhouse.com.au/teachers

May Wirth was born in Bundaberg, QLD, in 1894, the daughter of a circus performer. When her
parents separated, she was adopted by the sister of the Wirth Bros, proprietors of one of
Australia’s biggest circuses. By the 1930s she was an internationally renowned circus
performer, touring with America’s most prestigious troops.