Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A local Adelaide based business that survived the Great Depression to become the engine of war economy.
Discover the fascinating history of General Motors Holden, from its humble beginnings as a leather supply store to its key role in World War II. Founded in 1856 in Adelaide, Holden started as a saddlery before transitioning into the automotive industry in 1898.
As the Great Depression hit, it became a subsidiary of the United States corporation, General Motors; and under its new transnational management it became one of the dynamic engines driving the war economy in 1940-45, a mobilisation that some think to have been Australia’s most important contribution to victory against Japan.
Presented by Joan Beaumont who graduated in 1969 from Adelaide University with a History Honours degree. She is currently a professor emeritus at the Australian National University. She has published extensively on the Australian experience of war, including the award-winning Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War. Her definitive study of Australia in the Great Depression was published in 2022.
A local Adelaide based business that survived the Great Depression to become the engine of war economy.
Discover the fascinating history of General Motors Holden, from its humble beginnings as a leather supply store to its key role in World War II. Founded in 1856 in Adelaide, Holden started as a saddlery before transitioning into the automotive industry in 1898.
As the Great Depression hit, it became a subsidiary of the United States corporation, General Motors; and under its new transnational management it became one of the dynamic engines driving the war economy in 1940-45, a mobilisation that some think to have been Australia’s most important contribution to victory against Japan.
Presented by Joan Beaumont who graduated in 1969 from Adelaide University with a History Honours degree. She is currently a professor emeritus at the Australian National University. She has published extensively on the Australian experience of war, including the award-winning Broken Nation: Australians in the Great War. Her definitive study of Australia in the Great Depression was published in 2022.
