After decades of surffering through World War II and the Great depression, the 1950s were a sucessful and lively period for Australians. Employment up rised and allowed people to spend their money freely. Technology advanced increasingly after the war and soon changed the lives of many Australians. Television is one of the many examples that affected the lives of many people. It provided a link to the rest of the world and cars also gave people much more mobility to travel around. In 1956, when Melbourne hosted the Olympic Games, this led to a great sense of national pride and cast the internation spotlight onto Australia like never before.