How did Australia maintain social cohesion and mitigate populist pressures during our greatest ever cost of living crisis?

On this week’s Afternoon Light Georgina Downer speaks with acclaimed historian Joan Beaumont to tell the story of Australia’s Great Depression. A formative national trauma on par with our involvement in two world wars, and one in which the Australian experience was truly unique.

Want to learn more about how Australia survived the Depression? Listen to these episodes of Afternoon Light:

David Bird, ‘A parish pump politician from the potato plots of Tasmania’ Joseph Lyons

Michael Easson on Depression era PM James Scullin: “Trying to hold the place together”

David Clune, ‘Offered the people economic rainbows’ Jack Lang

Joan Beaumont is an internationally recognised historian of Australia in the two world wars, Australian defence and foreign policy, the history of prisoners of war and the memory and heritage of war. Her publications include the critically acclaimed Broken Nation: Australians and the Great War (Allen & Unwin, 2013), joint winner of the 2014 winner of the Prime Minister’s Literary Award (Australian History), and Australia’s Great Depression: How a nation shattered by the Great War survived the worst economic crisis it has ever faced. She is currently completing the trilogy with a book on Australia in the Second World War.