ABC - The Making of Modern Australia 1 of 4 (2009)

Information
The Making of Modern Australia

Launched in March 2009, The Making of Modern Australia is a cross-platform people's history of postwar Australia. What began as an interactive website is now also a major four-part TV documentary series on ABC TV and a book of the same name, written by series narrator William McInnes.

Under the slogan Your Story; Our History, the Making of Modern Australia website allows Australians to upload text, images and home movies. Users have already laid the foundations of a rich scrapbook of the nation's history within living memory.

The TV series and book draw on stories gathered online. As more and more Australians add their stories, the Making of Modern Australia becomes a richer and more entertaining resource. Stories are catalogued by geography, time and subject.

An education portal presented by ABC and Education Services Australia has also been incorporated into the website. This interactive resource engages students and teachers to learn online and contribute themselves to our living history.


Part 1: The Australian Child
Episode 1 - The Australian Child
Broadcast: Thursday 22 July, 2010

Australia celebrated the end of the Second World War with an enthusiastic urge to procreate. Between 1946 and 1966, the population exploded from 7.5 million to 11.5 million.

This was the era of the "baby boomers", a generation of children whose rock 'n' roll rebellion would sweep aside pre-war conservatism and change things forever.

Evocative film & home movie archive footage recalls a much simpler time when kids roamed free in the great outdoors and swore an oath at school to "cheerfully obey their parents, teachers and the laws".

But there are also cruel memories: a Scottish orphan recalls years of neglect in the care of the Catholic Sisters of Mercy – "with no mercy"; a Brisbane couple remembers classrooms with harsh discipline and antiquated gender roles; an Aboriginal girl is taken from her family and culture and 'assimilated' into white society.

But when the 'baby-boomers' started having children of their own, childhood was transformed. Girls stayed at school longer, mothers went to work and alternative methods of child-rearing were explored.

The physical, outdoor childhoods of 1940’s and 50’s are fading memories. Today’s kids are 'digital natives' plugged into a world awash with instant information and entertainment.

But amongst the rapid change and a more sophisticated urban lifestyle, has something been lost?

This episode of The Making of Modern Australia explores what has happened to our childhood.