NZ IN THE 1920’S

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RECAP

We lost how many men during the war?

They were lost in three major fighting efforts. Geographically where were they?

Who was New Zealand's Prime Minister?

What empire was New Zealand joined at the hip with? Why?

1919

New Zealand was at both Versailles and a member of LON

Significant because NZ was able to sign as an individual entity for the first time. Beforehand the Empire would have signed on behalf of them. Why is this important?

NZ given Western Samoa (previously under German occupation)

NZ AND SAMOA

Controlled until 1962. Massey not interested.

1918-1919 – 1/5th pop killed via flu. Blame on nz

Black Saturday - resistance movement against colonial rule. 11 people shot, over 50 injured

2002- Helen Clarke apologises for both incidents.

TURMOIL

Along with the war casualties there were also monumental losses and effects through two diseases. One was the influenza. The other was?

Venereal Diseases (gonorrhea, syphilis).

Ettie Route - In April 1918 Ettie Rout went to Paris where she set up a one-woman social and sexual welfare service for soldiers. As troop trains arrived from the front, she stood on the platform of the Gare du Nord, greeted the New Zealanders - with her trademark kiss on the cheek - and handed out cards recommending the brothel of Madame Yvonne, who had agreed to run her establishment on hygienic lines. Rout regularly inspected it.

THE SHADOW OF WAR

Many returning soldiers carried physical and emotional scars

Few New Zealanders had not lost a relative, friend, workmate or neighbour

Many people yearned to contact lost loved ones, sparking an upsurge of interest in spiritualist beliefs.

More than 500 war memorials erected during the decade. With almost all the war dead buried overseas, these became surrogate graves for grieving families and friends.

POPULATION

NZ’s popn grew steadily during the decade, climbing from about 1.24 mill in 1920 to 1.48 mill in 1930. Despite the deaths of 18,000 soldiers the country still had slightly more men than women.

Following the revival of assisted immigration from Britain, more than 120,000 migrants arrived from the UK between 1919 and 1930.

Nz had a burgeoning sense of identity and were not overly receptive to migrants.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

Economic fortunes fluctuated during the 1920s, with a post-war boom followed by a sharp recession in 1921–22. Much worse was to come in the early 1930s when the Great Depression reached New Zealand. Overall, the 1920s was a period of modest growth, with this country’s economy outperforming Australia’s. Exports of meat, dairy products and wool to Britain continued to provide most New Zealanders with a comparatively high standard of living, but there was a wide gap between rich and poor.

POLITICS

For most of the twenties New Zealand was ruled by the conservative Reform Party. In 1925 Prime Minister William Massey died after 13 years in office. He was succeeded by the much younger Gordon Coates, who won a sweeping victory in that year’s election. But in a startling 1928 result, Reform was defeated by a new party, United, with an old leader, Sir Joseph Ward.

POP CULTURE

Technological innovations in recreation and media – especially radio, gramophone records and cinema – helped fashion a new, and increasingly Americanised, popular culture in the twenties.

Modern dancing was labelled ‘morally dangerous’: in 1926 NZ Truth complained that ‘young girls of 15, who should be at home in bed, can be seen any night of the week stepping to the rhythm of King Jazz.’ Groups like the YMCA sniffed that ‘dancing is not a Christian past-time’.

FLAPPER TREND

SPORT

Between September 1924 and February 1925, the team played 32 games including four test matches, one each against Ireland, England, Wales, and France. They won all 32 games, scoring 838 points and only having 116 points scored against them. All Black team known as the invincibles.

JOLLY GOOD

While the 1920s has often been overshadowed by the Great War and the Depression, this was a crucial era in the making of ‘modern’ New Zealand. The word itself was widely used at the time, as in this Ladies′ Mirror story from 1926:

“The modern girl has, during the past dozen years, either acquired or increased her regard for:- Drinking and smoking; Paint and powder; Slang; Pastimes demanding physical vigour; Work, apart from the household variety; Individual independence and freedom of action; Speed; Late hours”.

Many of the trends evident in the twenties – suburban drift, high home-ownership rates, consumerism, American cultural influences, mobility and leisure – foreshadowed the prosperity and stability of the 1950s and 1960s. To get there, however, New Zealanders would have to endure their greatest economic crisis and another terrible world war.