Land of opportunity: Australia's post-war reconstruction

Cover of research guide titled 'Land of opportunity: Australia's post-war reconstruction'.
Post-war reconstruction in Australia became a much broader phenomenon than simply the re-establishment of servicemen and women. After more than a decade of economic depression and war, there was a widespread belief that radical political, economic, social and cultural changes in Australia and in the wider world were necessary. Cultural nationalism, evident in much of the art and literature of the 1940s, influenced attitudes to reconstruction.
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This research guide covers various aspects of post-war reconstruction including:

  • the Reconstruction Division, 1940–42, and the Department of Post War Reconstruction, 1942–50
  • constitutional and administrative change
  • Commonwealth Reconstruction Training Scheme and Soldier settlement
  • economic policy and international trade
  • housing, the building industry, town and regional planning, public works, water conservation and irrigation
  • transport, primary industries, secondary industries, industrial relations and the coal industry
  • education
  • cultural reconstruction
  • health and social services
  • population policy and immigration
  • Papua and New Guinea and international reconstruction.