Australia in the 1940s - Life on the Home Front
by Gary Mentiplay
ISBN 978-0-85905-818-6, (2020 New), Soft Cover, French flaps, 248pp, illustrated, 1kg, $45.00
(Post/Pack within Australia, add $15.00)
Available from the author: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: 0420 448 036
This book is not a military history of Australia's involvement in World War II. The focus of this work is on the "Home-front" with people living day to day with shortages and rationing.
As the war ebbed and flowed, life went on for most people. The joys and hazards of life did not stop, of course, and there were births and weddings, bushfire disasters, floods, droughts, road deaths and injuries, hot summers and cold winters, and for many families, bad news on the fate of loved ones serving in the theatres of war.
A wide range of subjects has been included and cover all states in Australia. There are "War Briefs" and "War News" inserts in the chronological sequence throughout the book – these are included to give a perspective of whatever was occurring on the home-front and in the war at that particular time.
Many of the issues affecting motoring, road and rail transport have not been covered in great detail in the past – issues such as how did the petrol rationing system work, how often did the ration scales change, why didn't petrol rationing cease when the war ended? Why was there an acute rubber shortage from 1942 to 1946 when private motorists could not buy any tyres?
"Australia in the 1940s" will give the post-war generations an insight into what their grand-parents and parents lived through.