Online activity - 'Make do and mend'


Barbed wire and sandbags
Getting around
Keeping in touch
A House in the suburbs
Keeping healthy
School days
Working hard
Having fun
"Make do and mend"
"Populate or perish"
War and Peace Home

Online activities

1. You are a businessman. It is 1944 and on a recent train trip you lost all of your luggage. In your suitcase were three pre-rationing suits, six shirts, two pairs of shoes and so on. Write a letter to the editor of the West Australian newspaper complaining about rationing of clothing and clothing regulations.

   Extra information:
   Shoes = from 6 to 10 coupons
   Underwear = from 3 to 6 coupons
   Socks = from 2 to 4 coupons

Compare your letter with this sample one. Compare your answer

2. Draw up a pamphlet outlining the new regulations governing women's clothing. Make some suggestions to women about how they can make the best of their ration coupons.

Compare your pamphlet with this sample one. Compare your answer

3. You are a journalist with the Women's Weekly magazine. You usually write the column 'On and Off Duty' which is a gossip column about women in the services and things that they are doing for charity or the war effort when they are off duty. This includes the weddings of service women.

Write a brief report on the wedding of a servicewoman which includes a description of the outfits worn by the bride and groom at the church and comment on the attendance of any special guests. You could also comment on the weather.

(Hints: look at the photograph of Syd Gray and Roma Milbourne's wedding .
For further information about how the PM came to be at the wedding take the link to the online resource On track: Curtin's railway journeys.
For information about the women's services see the Working Hard section of this resource.)

Compare your 'On and Off Duty' column with this sample one. Compare your answer

4. Its January 1947. A few weeks ago you spent a whole Sunday at the beach in Cottesloe with a crowd of friends. It was a fantastic day and you took lots of photographs. You have just picked up your photographs which include pictures of you sitting at the railway station and another of your friend in his bathers. When you get home you telephone your best friend who missed out on the beach day because of illness.

Describe the photographs in detail to him/her. (Remember: photographs were black and white. You will need to describe colours)
(Hint: for extra information refer to the photographs in the section called Having Fun)

Compare your description with this sample one. Compare your answer

Creative Commons License

This website is © John Curtin Prime Ministerial Library, 2002. Except for images from third parties, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License