ABSTRACT
All changed, suddenly and sharply, when the Japanese swift offensive through South-East Asia brought the military theatre close to the Australian home front. Aboriginal experiences of wartime were, like those of white Australians. The Defence Act and Australian Military Regulations blocked the enlistment into the armed forces of persons classified as 'not substantially of European origin or descent'. The concentration of white troops in the north, and the 'matey' atmosphere of the army, had meant there was considerably greater first-hand contact between black and white Australians during wartime. In 1914-18 the participation of Australian women, apart from a small number of military nurses, was restricted to voluntary domestic tasks such as knitting socks or preparing parcels for the troops. In Australia, as in other participating nations, the war brought an end to a decade of soaring unemployment and social distress.
