Marriage: Love and Law exhibition catalogue - Flipbook - Page 74
FAMILY, STABILITY,
NATION
This powerful symbol of the Anglo-European, middle-class nuclear family living
in suburban Australia surrounded by forms of modernity was front and centre
to the Menzies ‘forgotten people’ agenda. The Menzies-era ideal also contained
clearly delineated gender roles. The husband commuted to work in the city
from Monday to Friday. Head of the family, he made the big decisions in their
interest. His wife stayed at home to raise children and ‘keep’ the home.
Hers was an unpaid role that she gladly partook in support of her husband.
During the post-war years the institution of marriage was
promoted as being central to Australia’s stability and its national
security. Prime Minister Robert Menzies’ ideology of self-sufficiency
and having a stake in the nation took shape in ownership
of a suburban home and land. The family unit—husband,
wife and two or more children—was promoted as the nation’s
primary form of social organisation.
56 Sydney County Council
Queen Victoria Building,
demonstration kitchen,
22 February 1962
Black and white negative
1962
NSW State Archives,
NRS 21243, 0900
56
74
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