CHANGING TECHNOLOGY

in the post war period

Focus Question

• How has Technology impacted on way of life in Australia in the Post War period

• Housing• Communications• Entertainment• Transport

Geoffrey BlaineyThe Tyranny of Distance

• “The idea of distance….illuminates the reasons why Australia was such a masculine society, why it became more egalitarian..and why it was a relatively peaceful society. It seems to offer insights into the rise of cities, and changes in social life.”

• As you view the power point compose a mind map which represents • the impact of technology on Blainey’s concept

• The most important contribution of technology to society is making the lives of common people much easier, and helping them achieve what was previously not possible.

• How have lives become easier??????

• Give at least 3 ways• Are there any negatives?

HOUSING

Our little piece of Earth

• “The material home represents the concrete expression of the habits of frugality and saving "for a home of our own." Your advanced socialist may rave against private property even while he acquires it; but one of the best instincts in us is that which induces us to have one little piece of earth with a house and a garden which is ours; to which we can withdraw, in which we can be among our friends, into which no stranger may come against our will.” Sir Robert Menzies 1942

• Australia has one of the highest home ownership rates among OECD countries, with approximately 70% of households being owners or purchasers ( ABS 1996)

The Great Suburban Sprawl

• For the average suburban dweller a quarter acre block of land, a Victa Mower, a brick veneer bungalow a Hills Hoist and the family car have traditionally defined our post war lifestyle

Red Brick and Tile Suburbia in 1960’s to Eco

houses

James Hardie-Asbestos????

In the post war boom, new materials and credit availability made buying and building your home possible.

1950’s to 2009 KitchenNew materials; Vinyl and Plastic to timber

and stone

Inner City renewal

High Rise

• Australia’s first skyscraper to reach 25 storeys, the AMP Building, was built in 1962. The same decade saw Blues Point Towers built to accommodate the growing demand for city living

• One of the greatest challenges of the past 200 years has been to give the nation’s dispersed population a sense of unity. On this front Australia’s broadcast media have played a key role in shaping our national identity.

• From Wireless to Web

TECHNOLOGY- A DOUBLE EDGED SWORD

• “The rise of the suburb has partly been due to the triumph of technologies of communication; with the household phone, television and motor vehicles being supplemented by the rise of internet- capable computers and the mobile phone.

• These technologies have helped the modern Australian lifestyles, although it can be argued that they have also diminished the sense of remoteness and serenity.”

• Chris Baker Monash University

THE ICONS OF SUBURBIA

• Today many visitors regard the Australian suburb as the ideal living environment, one which is embedded in the Australian program Neighbours and which now serves as an expression of the Australian way of life

ENTERTAINMENT

1950’S DRIVE INS

TV Soap Opera

When television was introduced to Australia much of the programming was imported from overseas, especially from the United States. Popular programs included quiz shows, variety shows and ‘soapies’ – long-running series that typically screened on daytime television.

• Bellbird depicted life in a small Australian country town, a fictional place that lent its name to the show’s title. Most of the series was shot at the ABC‘s Melbourne studios in Elsternwick, with only limited location work in towns around Melbourne and Victoria. Bellbird screened for 15 minutes leading in to the 7 o’clock news, from Monday to Thursday. The series was a huge hit in rural and regional Australia because it dealt with the concerns of people living on the land and the dynamics of small country town life. The ABC produced 1693 episodes of Bellbird and the series ran for 10

years, until 1977.

Australian Soapies

• One of the claims made about the role of TV in a community is that it helps to create a sense of shared knowledge and experiences, that it crosses class, political and economic lines to bring very different people together.

• Some of the move to local Australian production in the 1960s was supported by the use of quotas — the requirement that a certain percentage of programs broadcast had to be Australian-made

Rise of Popular Culture

• the new technology changes cultural values by spreading ideas, values, behavior patterns within a society

From this to this in 50 years

Television changed the way Australians spent their leisure time - people began staying at home, rather than

going out to the cinema or other venues.

TRANSPORT

RAIL

• Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, , the government established a program of standardizing railway gauges throughout the country. In 1962, railway lines between NSW and Victoria were standardized, making it possible to travel directly from Sydney to Melbourne. In 1969, Australia's east and west coasts were directly linked by the Indian Pacific rail line.

• Today, there are several long distance and interstate train routes across different parts of Australia. They are still economically important for transport of goods and for tourism.

Rise of Supermarkets and the demise of the corner

store• Refrigerated

Transport allowed greater variety of foodstuffs. Cold Storage allowed non seasonal foods to be eaten year round

• Internet now allows online orders and delivery

From this to

• The first mass produced car in Australia was the Holden. First one ran off the assembly line on 29 November 1948 at the factory at Fisherman's Bend, Melbourne. It was the FJ Holden

• Cars can be emblems of nationality and symbols of success for an individual owner and a country. The Holden was launched in 1948 as a people’s car for Australia but there was also a range of alternative visions for Australian cars.

• Freeways were built in the 1960s to improve the flow of traffic in and around cities.

CAR OWNERSHIPIn 1963 32% of families owned a car

Milestones in transport infrastructure

• 1960: last tram ran in Hobart. • 1961: last tram ran in Sydney. • 1962: first non-stop train trip from Sydney to

Melbourne, the Southern Aurora, ran on the new uniform-gauge line.

• 1964: Gladesville Bridge opened in Sydney providing a better east/west link.

• 1965: first hydrofoil ferry service across Sydney Harbour.

• 1965: first non-stop Pacific flight for Qantas. • 1965: Sydney to Newcastle expressway

opened.

Aviation

In 1958, Qantas became the first airline in the world to introduce a regular round-the-world service. In 1959, Qantas also offered regular flights to America, London via New York and London via India.

Even in 1955 the flow of news, people and cargo was slow. Aeroplanes flew at less than 300 miles an hour and could carry 82 passengers

The Airbus can carry 526 passengers and has a cruising speed of 526 miles per hour

IMPACT

• In the 1960s, more and more Australians began to travel internationally, particularly to America, Europe and Britain. This greater movement of people between Australia and the rest of the world had a significant impact on Australian cultural life. For the first time, people from all walks of Australian life began to gain first-hand experience of the cultures of other countries. As a result, ideas, fashions, trends and technology from overseas flowed more easily into Australian society.

COMMUNICATIONS

From telegrams to Telephones to Email.

Impact?

From This to ?IBM in the 1970’s

FROM THIS TO

• Magnetic VideotapeBoth vision and sound can be recorded on magnetic tape. A crude video recording system was first demonstrated in the United States in 1951, and commercial videotapes became available in 1957. From 1962 the ABC started to install videotape recording equipment at production facilities in each capital city. The conversion from film to video made television productions faster and cheaper.

• In 1967 Sony launched its first Porta Pak – a portable video system. Initially, the Porta Pak was operated by a crew of two – one person to use the camera and one to operate the video cassette recorder. Innovations quickly improved the quality of material shot by video camera and made the units smaller.

Coaxial Cables

In 1962 Australia’s first coaxial cable was finished, allowing multi-channel telecommunications between Sydney and Melbourne. This opened the door to national television networks, and allowed the subsequent ‘rapid exchange of information’ (National Film & Sound Archive of Australia) and computer data across networks.

Satellites

In 1966 Australia’s Overseas Telecommunications Commission (OTC) used a satellite to transmit the first live television broadcast between Western Australia and England. Soon after, Australia started to receive daily overseas news reports by satellite. The following year Australia participated in Our World – a two-hour global satellite telecast produced in eighteen countries. In 1969, live coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing – made possible by satellite transmission – became the longest

continuous live broadcast on television.

IMPACT OF 1956/2000 OLYMPICS ON OUR NATIONAL IDENTITY?

It created a forum for uniquely Australian stories to be played out and allowed Australians to share different cultural experiences.

Images utilized in the Opening ceremony included the Hills Hoist, the Victa Lawnmower

Impact of Changing Technology• “ While distance and remoteness

were defining features of Australia in years gone by, today technology has annihilated distance” Malcolm Turnbull

• "the next century will be one in which the tyranny of distance has been abolished ... Australia will profit from its strategic location, as a highly educated, English-speaking society that because of technological change is now as integrated in the world economy as any place on earth". Rupert Murdoch

MINDMAP RESPONSES

Tyranny to Proximity