The "roaring twenties" showed Australia 's social life taking on more exciting and radical complexion compared to the pre - war days. In general desire to leave behind the unhappy experiences of the 1914 to 1918 war, there was a great pursuit of worldly pleasure and a breaking free from social constraints. However the depression in 1929 was brought about by factors largely beyond Australia's control. In the late 1920 's the world economic situation had been steadily deteriorating. There was a significant decline in the volume of international trade and stock market crash in the USA in October 1929 greatly accelerated a general fall in prices for farm commodities. Overseas investment dried up. Australia was highly vulnerable, as it was heavily dependent on export earnings and external supplies of capital. A drastic fall in the price of wool and wheat in particular, and the standstill of overseas borrowing were the main causes of the economic crisis in Australia.
             I, James Scullin, was Australia's Prime Minister beginning in October 1929. The world depression was deepening and the government was divided on how to deal with it. The Labor Party lost the election of December 1931 and I remained leader of the Party until 1935. I left Parliament in 1949. Previously In 1910 I stood for Federal Parliament but lost my seat in 1913. Whilst editor of the Ballarat Evening Echo I rallied round the Labor anti-conscription cause. I failed to win a seat in the Victorian Parliament in 1920, but within two years I was back in federal politics. An inspired speaker, I was made leader of the Labor Party in 1928. I became Prime Minister in 1929 only days before the Wall Street crash.
             The depression resulted in mass unemployment among wage and salary earners. Severe entrenchments occurred in both the private and government sectors. Wages and salaries were reduced, thus making it difficult even for those with jobs to survi...