• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

“Buy Australian-Made” [29 October 1924]

5 February 2022 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: This article was published in The Sydney Mail (Sydney, NSW), 29 October 1924.]

“Buy Australian-Made”

There is every opportunity for housewives to be patriotic by buying goods made in Australia. It seems a pity that so few take the trouble to inquire the source from which most of our household commodities originate.

It is well understood that Australia cannot compare in a hundred and one ways with other countries which have been manufacturing for centuries. But it does appear to be rather foolish that no real effort is made in the interests of the Australian-made articles, and that prejudice alone is preventing various firms from having a fair deal, as it were.

For, after all, it is rather discouraging when the salesman “pushes” to his hardest such things as have come overseas, and we are familiar with the woman who, when asked if she prefers English or local products elevates her nose and says distinctly and without hesitation, “English every time.” This means that the Australian industries suffer because women (who are the biggest buyers) will not even condescend to help them. But if they would only be fair and try the goods before condemning them they would probably be agreeably surprised at the excellence of that which they are scorning.

Why the imported goods receive so much more attention than the locally manufactured articles is not clear. But it is quite true that the latter are often placed in the background, and a big show made with things which are not one whit better. There are some goods which are taken for granted, as it were, and no complaints are made as to their excellence. For example, there is flour. We buy this local product without comment. Then our sugar seems to be beyond comparison, and lately there has been a great demand for dried fruits.

Some of our jams are excellent, but, of course, it is a great mistake to make comparison with the flavour, because it stands to reason that fruit which is grown abroad must of necessity be quite different, from that which is grown on this side. Our preserved fruits are excellent, and much lower in price than the canned products of America, for instance. There are one or two brands of local peaches which it would be impossible to improve upon, and some of the shops sell these as reasonably as ninepence halfpenny and tenpence halfpenny for a large tin. We are also putting up some excellent olives just now — olives grown in the mountains and elsewhere. But these are too often put on the back shelf, while those from overseas are given pride of place. The best quality marmalade is particularly good.

The “Australian-Made Preference League” is doing all it can to further our industries, but it must have the support of the women to be successful. Certainly one does not expect buyers to take an inferior article, but when the Australian ones are as good as the others they should certainly be purchased in preference.

For the future, therefore, patronise your own land as much as possible. In many cases we can do just as well as others. The great thing is to give it a fair trial. Even if some of the imported goods are a bit better in some ways, we must be prepared to make a little sacrifice if we would sing “Advance Australia.” We can be very patriotic impersonally, and it is easy enough to join in the chorus. But when it comes to making a decision so far as our food is concerned it is quite another matter.

If more patronage were accorded to Australian-made goods the factories would not languish for want of support, and the opportunity would be given to improve conditions generally and to employ more people. It would mean, too, that there would be work for everyone who needed it. Women have it in their power to help the “Australian-Made Preference League” and their own country.



Source:
The Sydney Mail (Sydney, NSW), 29 October 1924, p. 22

[Editor: The original text has been separated into paragraphs.]

Filed Under: articles Tagged With: 500x500, Australian-Made Preference League, buy Australian, publication The Sydney Mail (Sydney), SourceTrove, year1924

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • To Australia [poem by Ruby Jean Stephenson, 18 November 1943]
  • [General news items] [4 April 1912]
  • [Australia has had more than its share of shipping disasters of late] [4 April 1912]
  • [Probably Professor Marshall Hall was right] [4 April 1912]
  • Gold-seekers of the Fifties [1 July 1899]

Top Posts & Pages

  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Taking His Chance [poem by Henry Lawson]
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
  • Australian slang

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • IAC on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Stephen on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • IAC on The late Louisa Lawson [by George Black, 2 October 1920]
  • Percy Delouche on Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
  • Phil on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in