HIST30060: Family Texts

Item

Title (Dublin Core)

Disclaimer (Dublin Core)

DISCLAIMER: This item may have been submitted in response to a school assignment prompt. See Linked Data.

Description (Dublin Core)

This is a screenshot of a family text conversation in August 2021. The mother, nicknamed “mrs matriarch” on the Facebook Messenger application, is relaying rumours of an intensification of the lockdown restrictions, including the involvement of the military. She also encourages the popular practice of hoarding or panic buying.

This conversation encapsulates popular anxiety around the suddenness of government responses to the pandemic. The user alerts their family based on a rumour that the 8pm Victorian curfew would be moved earlier to 5pm. In hindsight, the 5pm curfew never eventuated. Instead, the 8pm curfew became 9pm, before it was later removed. The user’s fear that the military would be involved further shows the anxiety felt by Victorian residents and the sense of entrapment.

The conversation also indicates the popular phenomenon of panic buying and hoarding. The text reads, “get whatever you need for today now” and “buy a bunch – we are heading for tighter restrictions in lockdowns,” even for a perishable item like strawberries. Rumours had a very real effect on the population, prompting atypical economic behaviours, including the infamous toilet paper hoarding. The low price of strawberries reported by the user also illustrates the strange supply and demand for groceries during the pandemic and excess of fruit that year.

Date (Dublin Core)

August 21, 2021

Creator (Dublin Core)

Self

Contributor (Dublin Core)

Self

Event Identifier (Dublin Core)

HIST30060

Partner (Dublin Core)

University of Melbourne

Type (Dublin Core)

Screenshot

Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)

English Consumer Culture (shopping, dining...)

English Home & Family Life

English Social Media (including Memes)

Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)

family

Facebook messenger

hoarding

panic buying

fear

anxiety

restrictions

military

Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)

Panic buying

Text messages

Family

Hoarding

Lockdown

Curfew

Restrictions

Government measures

Pandemic

Linked Data (Dublin Core)

HIST 30060 University of Melbourne Syllabus

Date Submitted (Dublin Core)

10/26/2022

Date Modified (Dublin Core)

10/29/2022

11/01/2022

11/02/2022

Date Created (Dublin Core)

08/21/2021

Item sets

Covid 19

This item was submitted on October 26, 2022 by [anonymous user] using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://www.covid-19archive.org/s/archive

Click here to view the collected data.

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