In Australia's 1911 Census recorded the population as 4,455,005 with the median age of 24 years old.
Just over 4 per cent of the population was aged over 65, in a category named "old age".
Men between 15 and 64 made up almost two-thirds of the population.
Sydney was the biggest city, Hobart the smallest.
The Immigration Act of 1901 restricted migration to people primarily from Europe, meaning the country was largely Caucasian.
Indigenous Population
In 1914 there were no accurate figures about the size of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Indigenous Australians were excluded from the Census, denied civil rights under the Constitution, and disenfranchised from voting.
The Defence Act also prohibited Aboriginal people from serving in the military.
Despite that, more than 400 Indigenous men went to war. They were given equal pay during the course of the conflict.
Education
Australia enjoyed a high level of literacy, with 96 per cent of the recorded population older than five able to read.
Many children from working class families had to leave school before the age of 12 to do a trade.
The states had different education systems. In New South Wales, children between 6 and 14 were required at school for at least 140 days a year.
In 1912, Queensland started to set up free high schools for some students. General, commercial and domestic science courses were offered.
Economy
Agriculture and manufacturing were driving a prosperous Australian economy in 1914.
The pastoral industry was at the centre of economic activity and exports were increasing as slower sailing ships were replaced by coal-burning steam ships.
The basic wage for Australians was 8 shillings a day. That's about $43 in today's money.
In some cities, the rent for a three-bedroom house with a kitchen was 12 shillings ($65) a week, and general expenses (not including food and rent) were about 14 shillings ($75) per week.
According to the New South Wales Industrial Court, the "living wage" for a family of four was 48 shillings ($232) a week.
Travel
Cars were making their mark on Australian roads by the time war broke out.
Melbourne had new electric trams but horse and cart, bullock trains and bicycles were still the main forms of transport.
The construction of the last leg of the transcontinental train line began in August 1914 with the goal of finally linking every state, including Western Australia, by rail.
The Fighting Temeraire
The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 is an oil painting by the English artist J. M. W. Turner. HMS Temeraire was one of the last second-rate ships of the line to have played a distinguished role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. [more]
Liberty Leading the People
Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France. [more]
Ophelia
Ophelia is a painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais, completed between 1851 and 1852. It depicts Ophelia, a character from Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark. [more]
The Music Lesson
The Music Lesson or Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman by Jan Vermeer, is a painting of young female pupil receiving the titular music lesson. [more]
