In 1916 the Upwey Progress Association (Melbourne) asked for a street lamp to be removed because it had the words "Made in Germany" on it.
St Kilda Football Club changed its colours in 1915 from red-white-black (same colours as the German imperial flag) to the black-gold-red of Belgium's flag. St. Kilda reverted to the original colours later.
Many German Australians changed their name. Paul Schubert, teacher at Sturt Primary School in Adelaide, had to change his name in order to keep his job. He became Paul Stuart in 1916.
Even the British royal family needed to change its name. No longer Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; the new family name was Windsor. [Саксен-Кобург-Гота: династическое имя правящего королевского дома с 1902 по 1917 гг.; его носили Edward VII (правил с 1901 по 1910) и George V – правил с 1910 по 1936; последний во время 1-й мировой войны сменил его на династическое имя Windsor]
Governments in Australia changed very many German place names, despite the fact that these German names derived from "pioneers". In South Australia the government changed 69 names of places and geographic features.
These prejudices did not exist only in Australia. In the USA 'sauerkraut' (кислая капуста) received the new name 'liberty cabbage' and 'hamburgers' received the new name 'salisbury steaks' (named after the doctor Dr. J.H. Salisbury: he recommended eating a burger three times daily).
During the war the Australian Government tried to introduce conscription (призыв в армию). Australians rejected conscription in the first Conscription Referendum in October 1916. The referendum of 28 October 1916 asked Australians: Are you in favour of the Government having, in this grave emergency, the same compulsory powers over citizens in regard to requiring their military service, for the term of this War, outside the Commonwealth, as it now has in regard to military service within the Commonwealth?
"Patriots" blamed the failure of this referendum on Roman Catholics and German Australians. These "patriots" were sure that German-Australians had voted against conscription and that the large numbers of German-Australians must have affected the vote.
In 1917 Prime Minister Billy Hughes took away from German Australians the right to vote, however, the second Conscription Referendum held in December 1917 was also defeated.
Prime Minister Billy Hughes
Most of the anti-German feeling was created by the press who tried to create the idea that all those of German birth or descent supported Germany. A booklet circulated widely in 1915 claimed that "there were over 3,000 German spies scattered throughout the states".
Anti-German propaganda was also inspired by local and British companies who were keen to take the opportunity to eliminate Germany as a competitor in the Australian market. Germans in Australia were increasingly portrayed as evil by the very nature of their origins.
Australian trade with Germany and immigration from Germany were banned for the first few years of the 1920s. Officials in the German Department of Foreign Affairs wrote in the 1920s that anti-German feelings seemed stronger in Australia than in any of the other English-speaking countries.