Last updated 09/07/24: Online ordering is currently unavailable due to technical issues. We apologise for any delays responding to customers while we resolve this. For further updates please visit our website: https://www.cambridge.org/news-and-insights/technical-incident
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 November 2008
The division of responsibility for aged people in modern society, between the State and their adult children, has received little systematic attention although the matter remains a perennial item of public debate. This paper reports the Australian experience of debate and legislation in this field. It is argued that the State assumed responsibility for the support of the elderly when, under pressure from prevailing demographic and economic changes, nineteenth-century public welfare, charitable, penal and insane institutions were unable to respond. This claim is illustrated by reference to the legislation, which was passed in several of the States, requiring the provision of intergenerational support for close categories of kin. The reasons for the failure of the measures legislating filial piety are discussed and an assessment is offered of the utility of such schemes.
1 Burgess, E. W., ‘Family structure and relationships’ in Burgess, E. W. (ed.), Aging in Western Societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1960, pp. 271–298.Google Scholar
2 Goode, W. J., World Revolution and Family Patterns. Free Press, New York, 1963.Google Scholar
3 Parsons, T., Age and sex in the social structure. American Sociological Review, 7 (1942), 604–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 Nimkoff, N. F., ‘Changing family relationships of older people in the United States during the past fifty years’, in Tibbetts, C. and Donahue, W. (eds), Social and Psychological Aspects of Aging, New York, 1962.Google Scholar
5 Goode, W. J., 1963, op. cit. pp. 368–374.Google Scholar
6 Palmore, E. B. and Whittington, F., Trends in the relative status of the aged. Social Forces, 50 (09 1971), 84–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7 Cowgill, D. and Holmes, L. (eds), Aging and Modernisation. Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, 1972.Google Scholar
8 Palmore, E. B. and Manton, K., Modernisation and the status of the aged: international correlations. Journal of Gerontology, 29 (1974), 205–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
9 Cowgill, D., The aging of populations and societies. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 415 (1974) 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10 Lasch, C., ‘The family and history’, New York Review of Books (13 11), 1975.Google Scholar
11 Fisher, D. H., Growing Old in America. Oxford University Press, New York, 1977.Google Scholar
12 Salaff, J. W., Working Daughters of Hong Kong: Filial Piety or Power in the Family? Cambridge University Press, New York, 1981.Google Scholar
13 Burgess, E. W., 1960, op. cit.Google Scholar
14 Rheinstein, M., ‘Duty of children to support parents’, in Burgess, E. W. (ed.), Aging in Western Societies. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1960, pp. 422–443.Google Scholar
15 Spengler, J. J. in Busse, E. W. and Pfeiffer, E. (eds), Behavior and Adaptation in Late Life. Boston, Mass, 1969.Google Scholar
16 Rheinstein, M., ‘Motivation of intergenerational behaviour by norms of law’, in Shanas, E. and Streib, G. (eds), Social Structure and the Family: Generational Relations. Prentice Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1965, pp. 241–266.Google Scholar
17 Spengler, 1969; op. cit. pp. 368–374.Google Scholar
18 Spengler, ibid. p. 368.
19 Dickey, B., Dependence in South Australia, 1888; the Destitute Board and its clients, Australia 1888, 8 (09 1981), 88–96.Google Scholar
20 Rheinstein, M., 1965, op. cit. pp. 251n.Google Scholar
21 Hambly, D. and Turner, J. N., Cases and Materials on Australian Family Law. The Law Book Company, Sydney, Australia, 1971.Google Scholar
22 Paul, W., The Law Relating to Maintenance Orders and Kindred Topics. The Law Book Company, Melbourne, Australia, 1937.Google Scholar
23 Kewley, T. H., Social Security in Australia, 1900–72. Sydney University Press (1st edition), p. 4, 1965.Google Scholar
24 Briggs, A., The welfare state in historical perspective. European Journal of Sociology, 2, 2 (1961), 221–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25 Cairns, J. in Roe, J., Social Policy in Australia: Some Perspective, 1901–1975. Cassell Australia, Sydney, 1976.Google Scholar
26 Thomson, D. W.,‘Provision for the Elderly in England, 1830–1908’. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Cambridge, 1980.Google Scholar
27 Thomson, D. W., 1980Google Scholar, ibid. p. 129f.
28 Coghlan, T. A., Wealth and Progress in New South Wales. New South Wales Government Printer, Sydney, 1891, p. 853; (also volumes for 1893, 1894).Google Scholar
29 Kewley, T. H., 1965, op. cit. pp. 7–8.Google Scholar
30 Cage, R. A., The Origins of Poor Relief in New South Wales: An Account of the Benevolent Society, 1809–62. Australian Economic History Review, 20, 2 (09 1980): 153–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
31 Kewley, T. H., 1965, op. cit.Google Scholar
32 Kewley, T. H., 1965Google Scholar, ibid.
33 Dickey, B., Charity in New South Wales, 1850–1914: outdoor relief to the aged and destitute. Royal Australian Historical Society Journal, 52, 1 (03 1966), 9–32.Google Scholar
34 Dickey, B., Some Welfare Statistics for N.S.W. 1850–1914. Australian Historical Statistics, No. 1 (07 1980), 54–60.Google Scholar
35 Cage, R. A., 1980, op. cit.Google Scholar
36 Cage, R. A., Benevolent Society of New South Wales. Australian Historical Statistics, No. 5 (05 1980) 5–23.Google Scholar
37 Cage, R. A., 1980Google Scholar, ibid. pp. 10–11.
38 Dickey, B., Hospital services in New South Wales, 1875–1900: questions of provisions, entitlements and responsibility. Royal Australian Historical Journal, 62, 1 (1976). 35–56.Google Scholar
39 Horsburgh, M., Some issues in the government subsidy of hospitals in New South Wales, 1858–1910. Medical History, 21 (1977), 166–81.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
40 Kennedy, R. E. W., Poor Relief in Melbourne: the Benevolent Society's contribution 1845–1893. Royal Australian Historical Society Journal, 60 (12 1974) 256–266.Google Scholar
41 Kennedy, R. E. W., 1974, op. cit. pp. 256.Google Scholar
42 Dickey, B., 1966, op. cit. p. 10Google Scholar
43 Krupinski, J. and Stoller, A., Survey of institutionalised mental patients in Victoria, Australia, 1882–1952. In 3 parts.Google ScholarThe Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 1 (24 02); 269–276; vol. 1 (3 03); 314–321; vol. 1 (10 03); 359–367.
44 Dickey, B., 1981, op. cit. p. 90.Google Scholar
45 Dickey, B., 1981Google Scholar, ibid. p. 90
46 Victoria Royal Commission to Inquire into the Conditions and Management of the Charitable Institutions of the Colony, Report. Vict. Parl. Papers, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1–146, 1871.
47 Victoria Royal Commission on Charitable Institutions, Report. Vict. Parl. Papers, vol. 4, no. 203, 1890; vol. 6, no. 210, 1891; vol. 4, no. 60, 1892–3; vol. 3, no. 48, 1895–6.
48 Kewley, T. H., 1965, op. cit. p. 16.Google Scholar
49 Butlin, N. G., Investment in Australian Economic Growth, 1861–1900. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1964.Google Scholar
50 Harris, H. L., The financial crisis of 1893 in N.S.W. Royal Australian Historical Society Journal, 13, 6 (1927), 305–343.Google Scholar
51 Butlin, N. G., 1964, op. cit. p. 194.Google Scholar
52 Butlin, N. G., 1964Google Scholar, ibid. p. 390.
53 Butlin, N. G., 1964Google Scholar, ibid. p. 390.
54 Butlin, N. G., Australian Domestic Product, Investment and Foreign Borrowing 1861–1938/39. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1962.Google Scholar
55 Kennedy, R. E. W., 1974, op. cit. p. 257.Google Scholar
56 Butlin, N. G., 1964, op. cit. pp. 238–239.Google Scholar
57 Butlin, N. G., 1964Google Scholar, ibid. p. 14.
58 Harris, H. L., 1927, op. cit. p. 311.Google Scholar
59 Jackson, R. V., House building and the age structure of population in New South Wales, 1861–1900. Australian Economic History Review, 14, 2 (09 1974), 143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
60 Butlin, N. G., 1964, op. cit.Google Scholar
61 Harris, H. L., 1927, op. cit. pp. 340–341.Google Scholar
62 Butlin, N. G., 1962, op. cit. pp. 16–17.Google Scholar
63 Coghlan, T. A., 1894, op. cit. p. 969.Google Scholar
64 Dickey, B., 1966, op. cit. p. 21.Google Scholar
65 Dickey, B., 1980, op. cit. p. 54.Google Scholar
66 Kennedy, R. E. W., 1974, op. cit. p. 258.Google Scholar
67 Kennedy, R. E. W., 1974Google Scholar, ibid. p. 263.
68 Kennedy, R. E. W., 1974Google Scholar, ibid. p. 265.
69 Coghlan, T. A., 1893, op. cit. p. 574.Google Scholar
70 Dickey, B., 1966, op. cit. p. 10.Google Scholar
71 Kewley, T. H., 1965, op. cit. p. 62.Google Scholar
72 Kewley, T. H., 1965Google Scholar, ibid.
73 Reeves, W. P.State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand, vol. 1, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1902.Google Scholar
74 South Australia, Aged Poor Royal Commission, Report. S. A. Parl. Papers, vol. 2, no. 21, 1898–1899.
75 South Australia, Aged Poor Royal Commission Report, 1898–1899, ibid.
76 Commonwealth of Australia, Royal Commission on Aged Pensions, Report Aust. Parl. Papers, vol. 11, no. 196, pp. 1251–1253, 1907–1908.
77 Commonwealth of Australia, Yearbook, vol. 1. Canberra: Government Printer, 1901–1907, p. 1115 (subsequently issued annually).Google Scholar
78 Kewley, T. H., 1965, op. cit. p. 126.Google Scholar
79 Kewley, T. H., 1965Google Scholar, ibid. p. 127.
80 Kewley, T. H., 1965Google Scholar, ibid.
81 Kewley, T. H., Social Services in Australia (1900–1910)Google Scholar: with special reference to old age and invalid pensions in New South Wales. Royal Australian Historical Society Journal and Proceedings, 34, 4 (1947), 189–257.
