Life_in_Australia_at_the_Turn_of_the_Twentieth_Century

Life in Australia at the turn of the twentieth century was very different to the way it is today. The way people lived, worked and spent their leisure time was greatly determined by their status in society. Life in the city was very different for each class. The working class, or unskilled workers, lived in detached or semi-detached houses in the city centre, so they were close to their work. They paid extremely high rent, there was no sewerage and they could not afford to employ any domestic servants. For the middle class, or skilled workers, life was a bit easier. They lived in the growing suburbs around the city centre, and could afford to buy their own homes with a mortgage and the cost of travel to and from work each day. Most could afford to employ one or two servants, and save some money each year. The wealthy class lived in areas of prime real estate value, away from the factories. Their homes were large with backyards and space for the numerous domestic servants they employed. Country life was similar to that in the city – your class determined your standard of living. However, even for the wealthy class, access to resources was limited. People relied on mail order catalogues for their clothes and other needs, and there wasn’t an extensive range of education opportunities. Community life revolved around Sunday church and people relied on wood and kerosene for light, heat and cooking. For the poor, life was even harder as they had little money and no stable home. The jobs people held at this time reflected their class. The working class held positions in factories, which involved strenuous physical work and a 12-16 hour working day. Often, children of working class families were also sent out to find a job to help support the family. Children as young as eight worked in factories, doing jobs adults couldn’t do, such as cleaning out small spaces in the machinery. Middleclass men were known as the ‘white collar workers’, and had jobs such as teachers, lawyers and administrative employees. There was no physical work and no element of danger in their jobs. The wealthy owned large companies and often employed others to run the business, so they had a lot of leisure time. Sometimes the wives of wealthy men would go out and work for charity. Leisure time could be spent doing an array of different activities, though it depended on which class you belonged to as to how much time you had to do these things and what you could afford to participate it. On Saturday nights after everyone had finished work, going to the local hotel to drink was popular, especially among the lower class. Everyone got Sunday’s off to go to church and have some leisure time, though the working class often had to spend the rest of the day doing domestic chores, as they had no time to do so during the week due to their long working hours. Going to the beach was popular leisure activity among all classes; however no one actually swam until a law was passed in 1904 allowing people to do so. Men and women had to swim at different times or on opposite sides of the beach, as it was considered unacceptable to swim together. Other activities popular among all the classes included concerts and football games, as you could get it for very low prices, as well as reading magazines, books and newspapers. Sports such as tennis, rowing, hunting and car racing were restricted to middle and upper class people. Listening to and playing music was also another leisure activity reserved for the wealthy, as they could afford gramophones and instruments such as pianos. The upper class also held balls, which were by invitation only. As you can see, life at the turn of the twentieth century was very difficult, especially for the lower classes. Housing and workplace dynamics were evolving and changing for the better. However, it would still be some time before people benefitted from these changes.