Australian history 1925-1950

see also:

• Australian history up to 1900
• Australian history 1900-1925
• Australian history 1950-1975
• Australian history 1975-2000
• Australian history 2000-2025
• bushfires in Australia
• history of Melbourne
• The 18th century
• The 19th century
• The 20th century - 1st quarter
• The 20th century - 2nd quarter
• The 20th century - 3rd quarter
• The 20th century - 4th quarter
• The 21st century
• history of sport - an Australian perspective

• 1927: Parliament House, Canberra opened;
• 1927: Aborigines banned from Perth CBD following a declaration from the notorious Chief Protector of Aborigines A. O. Neville under the 1905 Aborigines Act. This ban lasted until 1954. Darwin and Brisbane had similar exclusion zones with curfews up until the 1950s.
• 1928: poor sales of newly introduced Vegemite resulted in name change to Parwill in hope it would piggyback on success of Britain's Marmite. Name changed back in 1937 & new free sample program resulted in Aussies getting hooked on it.
• 1928: Conniston Massare of over 100 Aboriginal people killed in NT led by Constable Murray after a dingo trapper as killed for the rape of an Aboriginal woman
• 1929: ALP wins govt; Bradman hits world record score 452 not out;
• 1931: Aust. explorer Wilkins captains “Nautilus” submarine, navigating it under Arctic Ocean to lat. 82deg.;
• 1932: Govt had bought 90,000 hectares of land in WA in 1920 to give to war veterans to grow wheat but falling wheat prices in the Great Depression and rising emu numbers of over 20,000 in the region ushered in a mass culling of the previously protected emus which required the help of the military but still the emus were to fast and cunning and required 10 bullets per emu killed ¹⁾
• 1934: Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester visits Victoria to celebrate Victoria's centenary.
• 1934: a royal commission was called to examine the current state of Aboriginal people with regard to the role of Chief Protector. This ended up giving the Chief Protector more authority over the lives of Western Australian Aboriginal people. Auber Octavius (A O) Neville who had been the Chief Protector of Aborigines of WA since 1915, became Commissioner for Native Affairs from 1936 to 1940 and in 1937 declared 'Are we going to have one million blacks in the Commonwealth or are we going to merge them into our white community and eventually forget that there were any Aborigines in Australia?'
• 1935: Qld govt make enormous mistake in introducing the cane toad hoping to reduce the grey-backed beetle.
• 1937:
  • Aboriginal assimilation policy:
    • Aboriginal affairs authorities officially agree on policy of assimilation (although some practices were already occurring). By 1951, all Aust. govts claimed a policy of 'assimilating' Aboriginals into the wider society but interpretations & agendas differed. Many were subject to surveillance, esp. those living privately in houses in towns. District welfare officers assessed how well Aboriginal mothers were looking after their children according to standards of house-keeping set by non-Aboriginal male bureaucrats. This surveillance continued until 1960's & 1970's.
    • the penalties for non-conformity with white society's mores were harsh with children being removed from their parents - the “Stolen Generation”.
• 1942: Japanese planes bomb Darwin; The Battle of the Coral Sea cemented Australia's ties with the USA.
• 1948: cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman needing only 4 runs to achieve 7000 runs at average of 100 in his last innings is bowled out for a duck leaving him with an average of 99.94.