how much should i be writing for this question, how much detail should i be writing about the source? should i be constantly talking about the time period and what the source reveals about that time?
You should be writing about 2 and a half pages (in teh hsc they give you two, but u should go over that slightly) in my opinion to get full marks. You should refer to the source but dont just say "the source tells us this and that" constatnly, you should interpret what its saying as well. Integrating this extra info is a skill that you will learn...I suggest looking at past hsc answers to source based questions to help you.