School of Culture and Communication - Research Publications
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Item'Anything for the house': recollections of post-war suburban dreaming(Department of History, University of Melbourne, 2004)In the post-war years, as the suburbs were expanding, older criticisms of suburban life as shallow and dull were re-invigorated. The suburbs of the 1950s became - and continue to be for some - an object of disdain and critique. But much of this analysis fails to engage with the real experiences of those who lived there, and is unable to explain the attractions of suburban life and its power over the Australian imagination. This paper - based on interviews asking elderly Australians about their experiences and meanings of work, family and community in the 1950s - suggests a more complex history. Despite the limitations built into restricted gender roles in the post-war years, the suburbs were often animated by the shared, powerfully gendered aspirations about domesticity, home-making and family life that were such a fundamental part of the political culture of the period.