Items
Subject is exactly
Economy
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2021-02-02
Exotic Pets and Reptile Gain Popularity in Australia
According to the article, Australia is experiencing an increase in exotic pet popularity during the pandemic. With people having more time and resources, the demand for pets, in general, is on the rise. The fear of reptiles exhibited by Generation X is not there in younger generations, so demand for these cool and unusual creatures is on the rise. -
2020-07-06
Snow trip before the storm
HIST30060 This is a photograph I took from the top of Mount Buffalo overlooking the Ovens Valley on the 6th of July, a day before Premier Daniel Andrews announced a second lockdown in Victoria. My extended family decided to take this trip during the first week of winter school holidays to enjoy the snow. We were especially keen to go to support the local economy as it had also been devastated by the bushfires. I recall a shared feeling of elation at being able to go on holidays together once more; however, there was a sense of trepidation at the increasing numbers of Covid-19 cases in Melbourne. When the second lockdown was announced, I remember being scared of going back into lockdown, and unsure of whether I should stay in Melbourne or move back in with my parents in Ballarat. Eventually, I decided to cut my holiday short to drive back to Melbourne, pack up my things and move back in with my parents in regional Victoria. -
2020-05-18
Working at a bottle shop during COVID19
Throughout the pandemic I worked in a bottle shop owned by Coles in South Melbourne. Sales increased dramatically during the pandemic for two reasons. Firstly, people were worried about Dan Andrews closing bottle shops during lockdown. Secondly, because bars and venues were closing, people had to source their own alcohol. During the interim period when people were discussing what the stage 3 and 4 lockdown would look like customers would come into the shop and ask if we were considered an ‘essential service’. I would respond with “I assume we’re considered essential,” “how would you survive without booze?” and “you’d know more than we do.” During this period of time it seemed like everyone knew a friend or an acquaintance of a friend who was in politics and sharing information about COVID lockdown meetings and what the next stage would involve. The uncertainty of not knowing if I’d be working next week was stressful and caused anxiety and it also caused me to panic buy wine (most of which was not touched). Nonetheless, we stayed open throughout all lockdowns and acquired new customers. During lockdown our sales increased on cocktail ingredients such as triple sec and campari because people started making cocktails at home. During the pandemic customers seemed to have more time to chat and browse and wanted to try new products. but this could also be because they liked the excuse to stay out of home for longer. As well, Coles gave employees who worked from March to May 2020 a one-off thank you bonus for working during the hardest weeks of the pandemic. Working during a pandemic had highs and lows, I was grateful that I didn’t live with my family, so I couldn’t bring home to virus, but it was hard juggling extra hours at work around online uni and other aspects of life. HIST30060 -
2020-11-09
Getting a COVID-Safe Haircut
With COVID-19, even things as simple as getting a haircut were never the same. The photo above shows what that looked like. In Bahrain, where I live, hairdressers were closed down in March and were only reopened months later. When they finally did, patrons and customers had to abide by certain restrictions. There was only a fixed number of customers allowed in. Body temperatures had to be taken. Contact details had to be provided for the purposes of contact tracing in case anyone was exposed to the virus. Masks and face shields were mandatory for the persons giving the haircuts. Moreover, many people seem to not want to handle cash, and as a result, cashless payments are more popular than ever. This reflection was submitted as part of the HIST30060 Making History project at the University of Melbourne. HIST30060. -
2020
The Warning Signs
While COVID-19 restrictions became part of the everyday, it was at times difficult to keep track of their constant changes and revisions. Businesses started to put up signs outlining their policies for staff and clients to keep everyone safe. The first image is from a cafe in Potts Point, one of many local businesses put under strain by the pandemic. The second is from an aged-care facility in Woollahra in response to the beginning of the second-wave outbreak in Melbourne. -
2020-04-22
Jan Fran- Text From Facebook Post
I have included Jan Fran’s name in this only because the facebook post was public and she is an established political commentator, but I was somewhat anxious about publishing her words in this way. When I first saw this facebook post it honestly probably took me about a week to get over my sheer rage at the amount of money Jeff Bezos has personally made profiting from the pandemic, which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for that fact that his personal wealth is so staggeringly incomprehensible already. I read the other day that he has pledged a billion dollars to charities in the wake of coronavirus, which is just under a third of his personal wealth. How is it that one man can accept brownie points for donating a billion dollars in a context when he can justify keeping nearly two billion dollars in personal wealth while income inequality is a driving force in the deaths of over a hundred thousand people in his own country alone. How can anyone can claim to have ‘earned’ or ‘deserve’ such a staggering amount of money in a world rocked by a global pandemic is just so incomprehensible. Jan’s point about this false trade-off between the health of the economy and safety, which is made on so many levels above and beyond public health in a pandemic (because funding free education is bad for the economy rather than billionaires) is so striking, and I can only hope there are enough people who are more disgusted with the two billion dollars Jeff Bezos decided to keep than there are wanting to pat him on the back for donating the one billion. -
2020-06-02
Rewilding (Part III)
This is my literary response to being relatively safe whilst watching Covid reek havoc around the world. -
2020-05-25
Delayed Shipping Email
An email which states that due to international shipping issue related to COVID-19 they anticipate the order will be shipped late April/early May. At the time of contributing to the archive (late May) the item had still not arrived. It's frustrating that the delay has been this long. HUM402 -
2020-05-08
Ballarat 5 May 8 2020
Commentary and newspaper extracts regarding Murdoch press attacks on Victorian governments handling of COVID-19. -
2020-05-05
Free Parking During The Virus, Central Ballarat, Australia
Illustrates Council's effort to reduce costs for necessary travel during period of social restrictions -
2020-03-31
Socially distanced family meetings
HUM402 The new measures my parents and I take to see and provide my sister with the supplies she has been unable to source herself for her own home. My sister is a nurse and alike many others, is working extra hours to keep hospitals safe and functioning for our community. Our brick fence now acts as our divide, to keep us physically apart but still able to see and support each other. -
2020-04-21
Notice on front of bottle shop showing that alcohol can still be purchased in bulk quantities.
Notice shows restriction on how much alcohol can be bought in Australia from liquor outlets. The amount had been reduced from previous week. -
2020-04-21
Notice on front of St Vincent de Paul's op shop, closed during lockdown, Ballarat, Australia.
Another image of a closed down business in regional Australia -
2020-04-21
Notice on the front of the Savoy Cafe, Ballarat, Australia, during lockdown.
An image of a closed business in my home town during the lockdown. -
2020-04-21
Salvation Army Op Shop, Ballarat, closed
Shows a notice on the front of a closed down business, Ballarat, Australia -
2020-04-21
Closed business in Ballarat, Metro Hair Design
A picture of a closed business in Ballarat during lockdown. -
2020-03-27
Free Home Delivery Service
Supplier to hospitality industry turns to home delivery to save fresh produce small business -
2020-03-26
Keep calm and drink (take away) coffee
These posters went up around our neighbourhood within a day of the government order that limited all restaurants and cafes to take away service only. The same message was also printed as a paper slip and placed under car windscreen wipers. The business behind the signs is Lux Foundry cafe, located on my street in Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia. The sign pleads with people in the neighbourhood to keep patronising the cafe, so the cafe can continue employing its staff: "We will never abandon our team. We will never abandon you. Please don't abandon us". This poster is a poignant illustration of the economic crisis that was unleashed immediately by the COVID control interventions. -
2020-03-27
Class tensions in Melbourne over virus transmission
Residents of Melbourne's wealthy suburbs at the centre of coronavirus spread as they return from Aspen ski season. -
2020-03-23
Banking information
Banks experiencing high volume of calls re financial hardship -
2020-03-03
Empty shelves
First sign of empty shelves in early March