Physical description

Black and white negative, of SW2 565 (St Kilda Beach) on the Moreland Road stub at Brunswick/Coburg. Has the tracks to Brunswick Depot in the background.



On the side of the tram is a sign "Save to help control prices"





Photo not in Wal Jack Melbourne album.



Neg was in a Bright Methodist Church offering envelope - stored with negative file - has 1949 in pencil on the envelope. Wal Larsen was a Bright resident.





Note on the background to the sign: Norman Abjorensen wrote in The Canberra Times about the election of Menzies in 1949 - see https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/6532529/the-election-which-shaped-australia-for-decades/ (Accessed 9-6-2021): Not known how the sign was sponsored.



"The uncertainty was magnified by a range of post-war concerns and expectations that the expansionary 1949 budget brought into sharp focus. The nation was still war-weary, tired of austerity and impatient with rationing and controls; people wanted to spend their accumulated savings on the new household goods starting to appear in stores, and the taxation burden was resented. Further, rising inflation was a problem, with the Consumer Price Index rising by more than 10 per cent in 1949. It was little wonder Menzies' pledges to end rationing and "put value back in the pound" fell on such eagerly receptive ears."