Australia’s Housing History in Post World-War

Housing:

• Major housing boom, due to population increase
• Housing was a commodity due to that fact that the needed materials to create a home which could accommodate a family in those days, were expensive and very hard to obtain.
• Very modest. As materials once used before the war to create a home, would be changed to cheaper less durable materials.
• Small compared to that of today, you could expect roughly two or three bedrooms, one living area and a kitchen and laundry room, which at times were located outside of the initial living area.
• Materials needed to build a house were hard to obtain due to Australian Defence forces using a large amount of materials to create and reproduce weapons, vehicles, aircraft and Navy Vessels to supply the conflicts going on in North Africa, Europe and the Pacific.

Solutions

• The Australian government, mass produced and built flats in largely populated area such as Canberra.
• Sleeping huts from surrounding army, navy and air force bases were transported to populated Areas for those that were homeless.
• Military barracks open to homeless.
• Concrete, fibro and corrugated iron roofing and prefabricated homes were imported from overseas.
• Immigration policy’s changed to allow more immigrants with traits that could be used to build and reconstruct homes.

An example of house that would be commonly found in the Post World War 2 period: