05/10/2026
Australia has been through a fuel crisis before.
During the 1979 oil crisis, some states introduced odd-and-even petrol rationing. That meant your number plate could determine the days you were allowed to fill up.
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Sources:
1. The Canberra Times via Trove, The Energy Crisis (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131697465), December 1973
2. Britannica, Yom Kippur War, September 2026
3. The Sydney Morning Herald, Panic buying? Begging Trump for oil? No worries. She’ll be right, August 2019
4. Environmental Protection Agency via Energy History, Gas Shortages, Oregon 1973-74, Project DOCUMERICA, U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-13003
5. 7NEWS Australia, Looking back at Australia’s previous fuel crises from last century (https://youtu.be/BY8sPfkcQyk?si=ytnyRCyX918QUt9v), March 2026
6. HISTORY, Why America’s Permanent Daylight Saving Time Experiment Failed, July 2026
7. Drive, Fuel Rationing not yet needed in Australia, but here’s how it could happen – government, March 2026
8. ABC News Australia, Could Middle East war lead to fuel rationing? (https://youtu.be/iH0W6o5M85A?si=rzZrI-COkPCoANG6), March 2026
9. Italo-Australian via Trove, The Depression in Australia (http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article259229654), May 1931
10. The Sydney Morning Herald, Trump’s tariffs: Great Depression shows why tariffs are such a bad idea, March 2025
11. State Library of New South Wales via Wikimedia Commons, Schoolchildren line up for free issue of soup and a slice of bread in the Depression, August 1934
12. National Museum of Australia, Great Depression, November 2025
13. National Library of Australia, Thinking outside the box: Creative approaches to family history research, August 2025