RAAF pay 1943

RustyD · Guru

RAAF pay 1943

jules47 · The Happy Helper

My father was in the RAAF during WW11 - he had children, don't know if he got more for that - but not much money, eh?

RustyD · Guru

Probably nothing extra for children but possibly a full adult wage if he was 21 or over.
I think dad joined the RAAF for the money as a clerk in 1944 got even less.

DMaxer · Guru

I think what you also need to appreciate is not just what it is worth today but what it could purchase back in 1943.

My parents purchased their land for 150 pounds in 1950 on my dad's pay of 5 pounds per week. That is 30 times his weekly wage. Today the land would be worth in excess of $800K (400K pounds) and the average wage of today is about $1,000 per week. I think that is where the comparison lies.

RustyD · Guru

DMaxer. You are correct. It's the buying power (aka disposable income). Back in the late 1960's when I was working in the now defunct SSB, I can remember the only two items that had increased as a percentage of take-home pay were cars & women's shoes. Cars mainly because some items that were accessories were now standard.

Today we are pressured into buying all sorts of stuff that didn't even exist when I was a kid. Don't think we had any electrical kitchen gadgets other than a Vitamiser. Even mum's sewing machine was a Singer treddly. My daughter has every gadget know to man hence the requirement for kitchens that are 2-3 time as large as they were post WW2.

jules47 · The Happy Helper

True - a lot of food was home made - no take away or ready made - I remember as a child we had a wood stove - probably worth a fortune now - always had things boiling on top or something baking in the oven - not bread -one of my brothers was an apprentice baker, we lived in Sorrento Vic. he used to bring hot fresh bread home - nothing ever tastes quite the same.

Santa · Guru

1943 in Oz you needed to be resourceful, rationing of essentials was introduced in 1942 including tea, sugar, butter clothing and petrol.

Right up until the 1950's most things were in very short supply, even if you had the cash the produce was simply not available.

Prices in 1950 were approx, loaf of bread 10 cents, litre of milk 10 cents, sugar 5 cents 500 grams, butter 25 cents 500 grams, potatoes 50 cents a kg, at these prices your 4 pounds 4 shillings a fortnight (just under $10) would buy quite a lot.

People were also right into home gardening and sharing surpluses, in times of dire need you do whatever is necessary.

https://www.ww2places.qld.gov.au/homefront/rationing/

Santa · Guru

jules47 wrote:
I remember as a child we had a wood stove - probably worth a fortune now -

We still have a Rayburn wood stove, use it for heating and cooking during the cooler months. smile

RustyD · Guru

Found this too. I think it belonged to my maternal grandfather.

Santa · Guru

Interesting Rusty, bit of history there. smile

JayDee · Guru

My father told me that when he and Mum married in 1938 that his salary was less than a quid or one pound or $2 a week.

My first pay packet was in 1953 when I earned 3 pounds a week standing out in the boiling sun melting lead.

To me that was a lot of money for 40 hours work

Today that same salary would buy one a cup of coffee and maybe a scone to go with it.

Having said all that we have never been better off in our lives.

Like the saying goes, from the little acorn grows the mighty oak. Time is a precious commodity.

Jay&Dee

rockylizard · Guru

Gday...

It is always intriguing to attempt comparison between 'yesteryear' and 'today'.

We all think things were either 'tough' or 'the good old days' - dependent on our temperament and our outlook. Indeed, our personal 'social status' today compared when comparing today to the good old days colours our 'reality'.

A detailed table of prices/costs is contained within this article - albeit only upto the year 2000. Here is a snippet -

"In 1901, the average weekly wage for an adult male was about $4.35 for a working week of almost 50 hours, which after inflation equates to $217.50. However, wages have grown much faster than inflation, with the average weekly ordinary time earnings for adult males in May 2000 being about $830.00 for around 37 hours work, in far better conditions."

The numbers in here give some idea of the 'ups' and 'downs' of 'the good ole days' and 'how good we have it now/how bad we have it now'

http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/Previousproducts/1301.0Feature%20Article482001

Cheers - John

Santa · Guru

Evening John, have to say I've never met anyone who recalls the war years as "the good old days" life was pretty tough for most people. smile

rockylizard · Guru

Santa wrote:
Evening John, have to say I've never met anyone who recalls the war years as "the good old days" life was pretty tough for most people.

Gday...

ya obviously not sat on the same verandas of the the same bush pubs that I have over the years ... the WAR years in themselves were somewhat difficult, agreed, but even when those who went through those years reminisce, they still talk about "the good ole days" when comparing 'them times' to 'these times'.

I betcha, just like this thread, sitting around any happy hour these days, or those verandas on those same ole pubs these days, the talk will often gravitate to those "good ole days" back in the time these 'younguns' of today have no idea what they are missing. "I remember when it only cost tuppence for 1 gallon of petrol" sort of thing

Of course, we also still like to tell the stories of how 'tough' it was and how 'tough' we had to be ... and how hard done we probably were - eg I had to carry a horse 10miles down a dirt road and across the creek with no bridge to get to school - one of my old man's favourite 'stories'.

Cheers - John

Leo · Senior Member

On RAAF pays, outside of house and rent benefits, didn't they receive a marriage allowance and child allowances? One of the practical reasons for the marriage allotment was that it required agreement to a set proportion of pay being paid direct to the wife. Booze and gambling were rife on pay days.

RustyD · Guru

More history unearthed. A parliamentarian's gold pass was exactly that. This is a pass that was my great-great-grandfather's when he was a state MP. Just flashed it on public transport for a free trip. He died as a sitting MP in 1889 and the pass has been in the family since then.

Scan 1.jpeg

RustyD · Guru

Leo wrote:
On RAAF pays, outside of house and rent benefits, didn't they receive a marriage allowance and child allowances? One of the practical reasons for the marriage allotment was that it required agreement to a set
proportion of pay being paid direct to the wife. Booze and gambling were rife on pay days.

I think you are correct about paying to the wife. That still happens. When men got paid cash, on pay days their spouses fronted up to the front gate and the men would hand over what pay their spouse thought they got paid and kept the rest for booze & gambling. When pay was put directly into the bank, the unions negotiated for money to be put into two accounts, one bank, one credit union, with one for the spouse and one for the blokes play money.

Leo · Senior Member

RustyD,

Thanks for your reply and details. An interesting thread thanks.

PeterD · Guru

RustyD wrote:
Pay on joining in April 1944 at age 19 was 4 Pound / 4 Shillings per fortnight. That's $294 in today's money with inflation. $147 / week.

Is there any breakdown of what was paid, like board and lodging. I think they received their keep and uniforms free in those days.

RustyD · Guru

PeterD wrote:
RustyD wrote:
Pay on joining in April 1944 at age 19 was 4 Pound / 4 Shillings per fortnight. That's $294 in today's money with inflation. $147 / week.
Is there any breakdown of what was paid, like board and lodging. I think they received their keep and uniforms free in those days.

The money I quoted was the net that went into his bank account. Im thinking that board / lodging and meals were supplied. I think original uniforms were supplied too. Initially he lived at the MCG. They used eat at the William Anglis school cheaply when they got sick of military food and got good haircuts at whatever school trained hair-dressers.

Eaglemax · Guru

I was 4 days past 17yo in 1973 and got full adult wages. Cheap board and meals, why dont some young people try that instead of the dole? I left in 1976. The only commendation was my participation in cyclone Tracy. When touring Oz in 2016 chatted to a guy at Barkley Homestead that recognised me from 1974. Turned out he was on the RAAF Darwin runway and help me unload a Hercules. Small world. My first pay packet was blown on a ghetto blaster ha!

ramblegambol · Veteran Member

My dad was due to be paid ONE SHILLING for his first week's work as an apprentice coal miner in Sunderland in the 1930s.
Unfortunately the mining business was having problems so that week the bosses decided to cut every miner's pay by a shilling.
Guess what he got paid!
Now THAT was tough!