‘Mothercraft not learnt by instinct’: An investigation of the infant welfare movement in Australia 1919–1939

Drawing from the work of Norbert Elias, this paper examines the infant welfare movement in Australia in the inter-war years. Elias maintains that during the course of what he describes as the ‘civilising process’, the psychological and behavioural distance between adults and children has increased. As a result of this growing distance, the period of childhood has become longer and the process of the transition to adulthood more complex. In this way, parenthood is experienced as an increasingly difficult task, and one that does not come naturally but requires education and training. It is the contention of this paper that the infant welfare movement, with its emphasis on parental education, can be understood as part of the civilising process: as an unintended consequence of the growing distance between children and adults.