From working the land, to digging up minerals, from manufacturing to the services industry, Yakka: Australia At Work explores how work has shaped Australia from the Second World War to the present.
Each episode is themed around a particular form of work. The first, SOIL & TOIL, is about agriculture and how, since the Second World War, Australia has had to adapt to survive in changing global and domestic economies, a volatile political landscape, and face the challenges of an unpredictable climate.
Episode two MAKING A NATION, explores the post-war work revolution in which Australia was transformed from an agricultural economy into a manufacturing one. Full employment guaranteed unprecedented prosperity for most Australians and a high standard of living.
Episode three, GROUNDBREAKERS, is about mining. From the 1949 coal miners’ strike which almost undid the economy (and certainly undermined the Labor government) to the ‘Axe the Tax’ demonstrations sixty-five years later, this episode is about the political power of miners and the mining industry since the Second World War.
The final episode, AT YOUR SERVICE, is about two things: women and the services industry. Today, women are dominant in the Australian workplace because they are equipped intellectually to take advantage of an economy which is more about brains than brawn.
Production credit: A Wildbear Entertainment production. Financed with the assistance of National Museum of Australia, ANU Australian Studies Institute, National Archives of Australia. Financed with support from the ACT Government and Screen Canberra. Series Producer Mike Bluett. Executive Producers: Alan Erson, Dr Holly Trueman, Serge Ou. ABC Executive Producers Leo Faber and Madeleine Hawcroft.
