In 1967, an Australian television crew sat down with Kevin and Heather Conway and asked them to account for their money. The Conways had four children and one income. Kevin brought home $41 a week after tax. With child endowment (the government payment to families at the time), it came to $45.50.
Heather spent between $7.50 and $8 a week feeding six people.
Yes, really
They lived in a housing commission home (Australia’s public housing), and paid $9.80 a week in rent, not counting electricity and gas. When asked what he’d consider a decent wage, Kevin named a figure well above what he was earning.
ABC Australia (@abcaustralia) resurfaced the interview recently with the modern equivalents laid alongside the originals, and the clip has been circulating since. Kevin’s $41 becomes roughly $656 a week. The $45.50 with endowment becomes about $728. The grocery budget goes from $8 to around $128. The rent goes from $9.80 to about $157.
Everything is in Australian dollars, then and now.
Viewers can’t believe it
The comments have been less about the math and more about what it implies. “No travel, take away, tattoos, video games, new cars, four bed, two bath with media room, no nails, eyelashes,” one viewer wrote. “They lived very humbly.”
Another was blunter about the comparison. “Modern families with two incomes can’t afford to have four kids. I think that says enough.”
