Those who did not participate in government ‘work relief’ programs were dependent on sustenance relief rations known colloquially as ‘the Susso’. The experience of dependence on ‘the Susso’ was so widespread it even inspired a popular children’s rhyme:

We're on the susso now

We can't afford a cow

We live in a tent

We pay no rent

We're on the susso now

Government sustenance rations and the dole were miniscule, and left many people with no choice but to make their money go as far as possible by making do with what they had, mending, re-using and recycling. The scarcity and poverty of the Depression era came to be reflected in the everyday objects people used in their homes, the clothes they wore, and the food they ate.

The material culture of the Depression provides countless examples of the ingenuity, grit and resourcefulness of those who lived through this difficult time by making do. Through objects and images in Australian museum collections, we can witness the anti-consumerist ethos of an era where sustainability was mandatory.

What’s for tea, Mum?

Some of the most enduring memories of people who grew up during the Great Depression is of the food they ate – in particular the memory of eating rabbit. In some food cultures, such as in Britain, rabbit was a well-regarded food that people enjoyed eating. But in Australia it was seen as a meat only eaten out of necessity or poverty, and hence it was given the name ‘poor man’s chicken’.

As a freely accessible game meat, rabbit became a staple of the diets of many families during the Depression and was a common substitute in dishes that called for (much preferred) chicken. It was often eaten with bread and dripping, another cheap food pairing relied upon to fill hungry bellies.

People laid rabbit traps to catch their own dinner, and then sold excess meat and pelts to others to generate much needed income. Rabbit pelts caught during the Depression were often used to make felt hats, such as the iconic Australian Akubra.

Others turned to fishing with homemade rods to get dinner on the table.

The monotony of a rabbit, bread and dripping became too much for some, and those with greater means sought out alternatives.

‘Mock foods’ became popular as creative cooks substituted ingredients with whatever was available and affordable. In the 1930s the Australian Women’s Weekly published recipes for mock fish, mock pineapple, mock raspberry jam, and even mock champagne.

Despite best efforts, the lack of nutrition offered by many of the foods available lead to widespread malnutrition, particularly in children and adolescents. Those who could not find the means to feed themselves relied on soup kitchens run by municipal councils or charity organisations such as The Salvation Army.

With so much gardening going on and food insecurity at an all-time high, learning how to save harvests for a rainy day became necessary.

Magazines published instructions and recipes for making and bottling preserves from home grown fruit and vegetables. People could use these homemade pantry stocks to supplement the Susso, or rely on them as an insurance policy should work suddenly dry up.

Those fortunate enough to still have a house supplemented their diets by growing fruit and vegetables in home gardens.

This had the added benefit of helping people out of work keep busy and take their minds off an uncertain future.

Thriftiness in the kitchen didn’t end with what food people ate and grew.

At a time when things could not be easily replaced the life of kitchen and tableware was extended through clever repairs. A ceramic teapot in the collection of the Wodonga Historical Society features an ingenious mend to a broken handle that was replaced with wire. Thanks to the repair the teapot retained its balance and function, and was used for many more years in the family kitchen.

Not a stitch to wear...

Being skint during the Depression didn’t stop people thinking about fashion. The clothing people wore operated as a sign of their status, or desired status, and looking the part was an important tool in looking for and keeping work.

A family in Heidelberg even hoped getting creative with clothing could generate income to buy their daughter a new pair of shoes. In 1931 the parents of 8 year old Patricia Chalcraft made her a dress out of an old curtain decorated with oil paint, to enter in a fancy dress party competition. The cartoons painted on the dress advertise the activities of the Heidelberg Unemployment Bureau, which assisted people in the local community to find work and offered social activities. Patricia won ‘most original’ costume, but unfortunately the prize was not much needed cash, but a book voucher.

Many resorted to second hand clothing to stretch budgets, and almost everyone saved buttons, zips and other embellishments to be re-stitched onto different items of clothing.

If a toe popped out of a shoe the hole was sewn back up, and soles were lined with cardboard to extend their life. Others made their own clothes - some even knitted with old bicycle spokes, ensuring absolutely nothing in the household went to waste.

When clothes became too worn to wear they were not simply relegated to the scrap heap – they were refashioned as quilts and cot covers, some of which were used and cherished by families for many generations.

This quilt was made from unpicked men's coats and suit jackets.

The ‘waste not want not’ use of scrap fabrics was not new to the Depression era.

In the late Victorian period ‘Crazy Quilts’ which made use of casts offs were a fashionable trend. In our modern world where ‘fast fashion’ clothing is plentiful, cheap, and made to be discarded, it is easy to forget that for most of history fabric and clothing were precious commodities.

And if someone needed new furniture to store their clothes?

They might have made a chest of drawers out of old kerosene tins, even using the box they came in. At a time when getting food on the table was the highest priority of most, many ‘ordinary’ household items became luxuries. People constructed vernacular furniture that made use of everyday items that might have once been considered rubbish.

Leisure items like toys were made from re-purposed scrap, like the Wodonga Historical Society’s handmade toy xylophone.

Recycling and re-using materials made it possible for children to experience the joy of play, even during the most difficult of times.

Born in a tent...

Families with furniture, kitchen ware, and vegetable gardens were usually those lucky enough to still have a house to live in. Rental evictions and foreclosures during the Depression cost many people their homes. With such high rates of unemployment, and factories and industries in the city closed, male breadwinners often had no choice but to hit the road to look for work in the country. Some itinerant workers succeeded and sent wages back to support their wives and children, while others were never seen again.

Tent cities and makeshift camps became places of last resort for those out of options entirely.

It was most often low-skilled workers and new migrants who found themselves camping out. They, like many others, relied on charity food relief to survive in a society without a comprehensive welfare system.