This is a basic guide to the context background of Michael Gow's 'Away'

1. Michael Gow’s
Away
Background to the Play

2. The Great Depression
The Great Depression
(1929–32) was a time of
extreme hardship for
people in Australia. For
many people this period
began before the market
crash in prices and lasted
until the Second World
War (1939-1945).
The Great Depression's
impact on Australian
society was devastating.
Without work and a
steady income many
people lost their homes
and were forced to live in
makeshift dwellings with
poor heating and
sanitation.

3. Electric Shock Treatment
Electroconvulsive
therapy (ECT), formerly
known as electroshock,
is a psychiatric
treatment in which
seizures are electrically
induced in anesthetized
patients for therapeutic
effect.
The New York Times
described the public's
negative perception of
ECT as being caused
mainly by one movie,
"For Big Nurse in One
Flew Over the Cuckoo's
Nest, it was a tool of
terror, and in the public
mind shock therapy has
retained the tarnished
image given it by Ken
Kesey's novel:
dangerous, inhumane
and overused"
In the 1960’s the
public reaction to ECT
was negative.

4. Australia and The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was the first war to be shown on television to the Australian public
in their homes. Before television they relied on their local newspapers and radio
which in the end only really told them what they wanted to hear how all the 'brave
soldiers' were representing their country, not dying and being hurt just gaining victory.
The pictures they watched on the television were not what they had been expecting.
They saw the conditions the soldiers had to live in and they saw the conditions they
had to fight in, with many people seeing this the public’s support for the war
diminished and the withdrawal for allied troops was demanded by the people more
and more.

6. Immigration of the 1960’s
Post-war migration
Since early 1945, 7 million people have come to Australia as new
settlers. They have had a marked influence on all aspects of our society. In the 64
years of planned post-war migration, Australia has seen:
• nearly 6.8 million migrants arrive comprising about 3.49 million males and 3.29
million females
• more than 700 000 people arrive under humanitarian programs, initially as
displaced persons and more recently as refugees
• a population rise from around 7 million to over 21.5 million.
The trigger for a large-scale migration program was the end of World
War II. Agreements were reached with Britain, some European countries and with
the International Refugee Organization to encourage migration, including
displaced people from war-torn Europe.
 About one million migrants arrived in each of the six decades following 1950:
- 1.6 million between October 1945 and 30 June 1960
- about 1.3 million in the 1960s
- about 960 000 in the 1970s

7. Migration to Australia in the
1960’s
The 1960s were the really affluent
years. The most radical and
revitalizing change however was in
immigration which powered the
development of Australia.
The massive movement toward
Australia increased the workforce
during this time of development.

8. All of these ideas are present in the play written by Michael Gow -
AWAY