The ‘Most Dependable Element of Any Country’s Manhood’: Masculinity and Rurality in the Great War and its Aftermath

Abstract

Historical work on masculinity in Australia has been fascinated with intersections between ideal manhood and notions of rurality in the early twentieth century and has focused particular attention on the ‘bushbred’ model of manhood said to have been reinvigorated by the Great War. This article explores two rigorous examinations of the agricultural industry undertaken in New South Wales around the time of the War: a Labor-dominated Royal Commission in 1917–18 and the Legislative Council ‘Carruthers Committee’ in 1920–21. The ideal rural man depicted in these inquiries – a domesticated and modern man – is more suggestive of the dictates of modernity than of the cultural influence of the Anzac legend. This article has been peer-reviewed.