Page 13 - Demo

11After World War II, Australia maintained high tari%u00a0 s on imported goods to protect and grow its domestic industries. The goal was to foster a strong local manufacturing sector, create jobs for returning soldiers and reduce reliance on imported goods. This protectionist approach helped build a diverse manufacturing base during the booming postwar years.But by the 1970s, Australia began scaling back tari%u00a0 s as the economy needed to modernise. The%u00a0 high cost of protected goods as well as%u00a0ine%u00a0 iciencies in local industries made it clear that more competition was needed. The global trend towards free trade and a desire to improve productivity led to the gradual reduction of%u00a0tari%u00a0 s, aiming to make Australian industries more%u00a0 competitive on the world stage, but this%u00a0 often meant that manufacturing ended up going o%u00a0 shore. Design remained a highly valued part of our lives right up until the early 1990s, but then we seemed to fall out of love with the idea of things being made in Australia and designed for Australian conditions. We went from being a nation of people who fixed things to a nation of people who bought stu%u00a0 o%u00a0 the internet.*In the 1950s, the Australian home was changing. Put simply, we wanted to fill the new house on the quarter-acre block. The boom saw innovative furniture design, thanks to the availability of new materials and, sometimes, the shortages of others. New production techniques and the influx of skilled European immigrants also played a part.During this period, architects and designers such as Robin Boyd and Grant Featherston were household names. Their views were influential. In this optimistic climate, designers were fueled by the idea that good design could change people%u2019s lives, and the general public were coming along for the ride. Designers such as Douglas Snelling (also an architect), who was 1950sThe House of Tomorrow, designed by Robin%u00a0Boyd with furniture by Grant Featherston and textiles by Frances Burke, was featured in the 1949 modern home exhibition, %u2018Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow%u2019 in Melbourne