The Years That Made Us(2013)

The Years That Made Us is a documentary series in which award-winning journalist Chris Masters examines the turbulent 1920s and 1930s that shaped modern Australia. Challenging the national myth that Gallipoli forged Australian identity, Masters argues the First World War actually fractured the country and nearly destroyed Federation. The Great Depression deepened the crisis, followed by the Second World War's devastation. Through his own working-class family history, Masters traces how ordinary Australians endured successive catastrophes and built the foundations of the nation today. The series weaves personal narrative with political and economic analysis, revealing how these decades of upheaval transformed the country and its people.