On the Home Front: Western Australia during World War II
Rationing during World War
2
By
Elizabeth Palmer
Limits
placed on newsprint, in May of 1940, heralded the start of World War II
rationing. Newspaper had to bring out
smaller papers and, for many, it meant the end of the evening paper.
By
the end of 1940, petrol was also rationed.
The rationing of petrol lasted until June 1949, when the Chifley
government was defeated by the High Court.
Chifley then appealed to the States to introduce their own system of
petrol rationing.
In
1942, the Rationing Commission was established and ration books were issued to
all Australians for clothing, tea and sugar.
Australians
were given a number of coupons and each time they made a clothing purchase,
they had to hand over a certain number of coupons. Expectant mothers, who had concerns over whether they would have
enough coupons to clothe their new child, could apply for an additional 150
coupons on supply of a medical certificate.
Fifteen prohibitions were placed on womens’ clothing. No evening wear, evening cloaks or dinner
gowns were allowed. Dry cleaning shops
were prohibited from cleaning such garments.
John Dedman, the war organiser of industry, issues a special Dedman suit
in 1942, which did away with vests, double-breasted fronts and buttons on
sleeves and cuffs. He was photographed
wearing the suit, but it did not have wide appeal.
Tea
was rationing in July of 1942. Cafes
faced the problem of only being able to give their patrons one cup of tea. Sugar joined the list of items in August. Initially, Australians were allowed 2 lbs of
sugar, but by 1944 this was changed to 1 lb.
Special arrangements were allowed for housewifes that preserved
jam. The reason given, by Prime
Minister Curtin, for rationing sugar was that it was a “necessary insurance
measure” enabling Australian to fulfil obligations to Empire countries
dependant on Australia for sugar.
In
June of 1943, butter was rationed to ½ lb per person. The reason was to increase butter supplies to Britain. Again, this was better than the rations for
other countries. In Britain, people
received 2 oz per person and in the United States, the ration was 4 oz.
Linen
good were include in the clothing rations at the same time. All Australians received 56 new
coupons. The number of coupons
required, varied for each item. Double
bed sheets required 25 to 36 coupons.
Bath towels required three.
There
was much controversy between government and butchers in 1944, when meat
rationing was introduced. The Minister
for Trade and Customs, Senator Keane, accused the Master’s Butchers’
Association of engineering a plot against the meat rationing plan. The amount of meat allowed for each person,
was about 1 ½ lbs of high quality meat or 4 lbs of lower quality meat. It did not include items like canned meat,
cooked meat, small goods, poultry, rabbits, bacon or offal. Meat rationing continued until 1948.
The
Black Market was one way of getting around the rations. Another way was swapping rations. For instance, a family who lived in the city
may swap their clothing ration for the butter ration of a family that lived in
the country.
The
effects of rationing were more of inconvenience than anything else. By today’s health standards, the rations of
butter and sugar were more than adequate.
None of the items rationed would have had any negative effect on
people’s health. The rationed amounts
were also quite generous compared to other countries.
Timeline
28
May 1940 -- rationing of newsprint introduced
1
October 1940 – petrol rationing introduced
13
June 1942 – rationing books introduced – clothing, tea and sugar
6
June 1943 – butter and household linen rationed
17
June 1944 – meat rationing introduced
History
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Salvation Army Mobile Canteen
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