The Great Depression (1928-32) was a time of global economic instability. As stocks plummeted, more and more people across the world found themselves unemployed and struggling to provide for their families. It was the worst of Australia's three main economic slumps - the other two having been in the 1840's and 1890's. During the depression, export prices fell by fifty percent, income fell thirty percent and unemployment reached heights of thirty-three percent .

The Depression in Australia was already becoming apparent before the immense Wall Street stock market crash in 1929. In the years before the crash, unemployment in the nation had risen by four percent - the rate was at 10 percent; afterwards it more than doubled to 21 percent. However devastating the crash was, it was not the sole beginning of the depression in Australia.

The start of the depression could be linked to many factors. A major cause of...