This link contains search results relating to the economic impact of World War II from the Trove library of digitised newspapers.

In the second half of the 1920s, the Australian economy suffered from falling wheat and wool prices, and competition from other commodity-producing countries. Australia was also borrowing vast sums of money, which dried up as the economy slowed.

The Great Depression severely affected Australia. The Wall Street stock market in New York had crashed in the previous year. The collapse of international commodity prices, including wheat and wool in the late 1920s, meant that the heavy debts run up by federal, state and territory governments were almost impossible to pay off at the previously agreed rate.

The United Nations (UN) is an association of independent countries that have agreed to work together to prevent and end wars. The UN also attempts to improve social conditions by promoting international cooperation, economic development, public health, environmental conservation, and human rights.

This National Archives of Australia website contains a timeline of the significant political decisions made by Australian Prime Ministers.

This link contains search results relating to Australian politics during World War II from the Trove library of digitised newspapers.

James Henry Scullin, (born Sept. 18, 1876, Trawalla, Victoria [Australia]—died Jan. 28, 1953, Melbourne, Victoria), statesman and leader of the Australian Labor Party who as prime minister guided the country through the early years of the Great Depression but was plagued by dissension within his own party.

Joseph Aloysius Lyons, (born September 15, 1879, Stanley, Tasmania [Australia]—died April 7, 1939, Sydney), Australian statesman who helped form the United Australia Party in 1931. As prime minister (1932–39), he saw the country’s economic recovery from the Great Depression and increased defense activity.

The Nationals, also called (1982–2006) National Party of Australia or (1975–82) National Country Party of Australia or (1920–75) Australian Country Party, Australian political party that for most of its history has held office as a result of its customary alliance with the Liberal Party of Australia.

United Australia Party, (UAP; 1931–44), political party formed by a fusion of Nationalist Party and conservative erstwhile Australian Labor Party members, which alone or in coalition with the Country Party controlled the Australian commonwealth government for 10 years. Brought to power in the general election of 1931, the UAP sought to meet the Great Depression with deflationary policies.

This unit of work focuses on the actions and policies of the Menzies Government in the early 1950s in relation to the perceived threat of communism. It deals with the movement to outlaw the Communist Party and the resulting split in the ALP.

In the wake of the Second World War, the alliance established between the Soviet Union, Great Britain, the United States and France to defeat Germany broke down. In Europe, the Soviets took control of much of Eastern Europe whose citizens soon found themselves cut off from contact with the West as if an ‘Iron Curtain’ had fallen.

The Liberal Party was formed during a series of conventions during and immediately after the Second World War. It was in effect a radically reorganised and rebranded version of the United Australia Party that had in recent years struggled to gain and hold government.

Prime Minister Ben Chifley delivered this speech to an ALP Conference in 1949.
The “light on the hill” phrase has resonated down the years as epitomising the Labor philosophy.

This unit of work focuses on the actions and policies of the Menzies Government in the early 1950s in relation to the perceived threat of communism. It deals with the movement to outlaw the Communist Party and the resulting split in the ALP.

On 3 April 1954, Vladimir Mikhailovich Petrov, who had been Third Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Canberra since February 1951, defected in Sydney. Some two weeks later, on 20 April, his wife Evdokia, who worked at the embassy, also defected, after having been freed from Soviet couriers by Australian police at Darwin airport. These defections led to an extensive inquiry into Soviet espionage in Australia and resulted in the withdrawal of the Soviet Embassy from Australia and the expulsion of the Australian Embassy from Moscow.

Robert Menzies was in office twice, from 1939 to 1941 and from 1949 to 1966. Despite seven successive federal election victories, Menzies’ second period as Prime Minister was not secure. In the 1954 and 1961 federal elections, the Labor Party received a greater proportion of first preference votes for House of Representatives seats (50.03 per cent in 1954) than the Liberal and Country parties combined. Menzies was fortunate to come to office in a growing postwar economy. He also benefited from the Labor split in 1955, and skilfully exploited ‘Cold War’ fears and the threat of Communism for electoral gain.

John Curtin, in full John Joseph Curtin, (born January 8, 1885, Creswick, Victoria, Australia—died July 5, 1945, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory), statesman, prime minister of Australia during most of World War II, and leader of the Australian Labor Party (1934–45).

Australia’s 14th Prime Minister is widely regarded as one of the greatest. John Curtin’s achievement rests on his leadership of the nation during much of World War II. Curtin’s rejection of the British strategy for Australian troops enabled the successful defence of New Guinea. And, in a remarkable move, he put US General Douglas MacArthur in charge of Australia’s defence forces. Although he had been a strong opponent of conscription during World War I, as leader during the 1939–45 conflict, Curtin made the decision to send conscripted troops to serve outside Australia.

John Curtin (1885-1945), prime minister and journalist, was born on 8 January 1885 at Creswick, Victoria, eldest of four children of Irish-born parents John Curtin (1854?-1919) and his wife Catherine (Kate) Agnes, née Bourke (1859?-1938). John senior worked as a warder at Pentridge Gaol, served as a soldier, was a policeman at Creswick (1881-90), then was employed in hotels, sometimes as manager, in Melbourne and at Dromana, Charlton, Macedon and elsewhere. The family eventually settled, in poverty, at Brunswick.

Sir Robert Menzies, in full Sir Robert Gordon Menzies, (born Dec. 20, 1894, Jeparit, Victoria, Austl.—died May 15, 1978, Melbourne), statesman who, as prime minister of Australia (1939–41, 1949–66), strengthened military ties with the United States and fostered industrial growth and immigration from Europe.

The Menzies Research Centre is named after Sir Robert Menzies, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister. This Centre is committed to the debate and exploration of the ideas and policies espoused by Menzies. His commitment was to an 'intelligent, free, and liberal Australian democracy' that had as its essential features freedom of speech, religion association and the freedom of citizens to choose their own way of life subject to the rights of others, and which looked to the encouragement of individual initiative and enterprise as the dynamic force of progress.

Sir Robert Gordon (Bob) Menzies (1894-1978), prime minister and barrister, was born on 20 December 1894 at Jeparit, Victoria, fourth of five children of Australian-born parents James Menzies, storekeeper, and his wife Kate, née Sampson. The forebears were Scots on the paternal side and Cornish on the maternal. James, originally a skilled Ballarat coach-painter, had become Jeparit's general storekeeper and community leader, a lay preacher in the local Nonconformist church and prominent in activities ranging from organizing sport to presidency of the Dimboola Shire Council. In 1911-20 he held the seat of Lowan in the Victorian Legislative Assembly.

The article discusses the lives of Labor Prime Ministers John Curtin, Ben Chifley and Gough Whitlam of Australia. It states that John Curtin's deep humanity was the foundation of his basic decency in public life. It mentions that Chifley succeeded to the top post following the early death of Curtin. The death of the three leaders is discussed.

The Defence Preparations Act 1951 was conceived as a solution to an ideological as much as the constitutional dilemma the Menzies government faced as a result of the inflationary crisis of 1950-51. Drawing on Cabinet Notebooks, we argue that the government used the Act to facilitate peacetime access to capital issues controls under the defence powers, but also to reassure its supporters and the public that turning to direct economic controls was not a vindication of the 'socialism' it promised on election to stand against. While the Act enabled the government to convince the High Court that imposing anti-inflationary controls was linked to defence preparations, it was also a way for it to maintain ideological coherence as it sought to breach a principal tenet of its political philosophy.

This article is a study of the Australian government's exchanges with the Chamberlain government over the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a Grand Alliance between the United Kingdom, France and the Soviet Union during 1939. Robert Menzies and Stanley Bruce carefully weighed the arguments for and against before deciding to support the proposal for an Alliance. Yet there was considerable ambivalence about their support as evidenced by Bruce's panicky response to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In its own very small and distant way the Menzies government contributed to the inertia that marked the British Empire's failure to secure a Grand Alliance in 1939.