WW2: The home front Americans One of the most severe tests of the Australian public in war was the presence of large numbers of United States troops in transit through Australia to various war fronts. These troops had three major impacts on Australian life. One was to force the opening up of major cities to new cultural ideas - in particular, to bring entertainment to what were very closed-down cities at weekends. The Australian tradition …showed first 75 words of 331 total…

…showed last 75 words of 331 total…the troops involved only the tiniest minority of soldiers on each side. A third impact was on Australia's indigenous people. Many black Americans were among the troops who passed through Australia. While blacks were discriminated against in the United States, they had far more civil rights than Australia's indigenous people. Many indigenous Australians met with these Americans, and were deeply influenced by the possibility for greater civic and economic equality that they seemed to represent.