History 70s Task

Feature Article

Events, People and Issues and main social cultural featuresThe 1970s was a decade of great economic, political, social and technological change for Australia. The Australian Labor Party led by Gough Whitlam came into power after the 1972 election which ended 23-year government of the Liberal-Country Party Coalition. The withdrawal of Australian troops from Vietnam, the abolishment of the White Australia Policy, promoting multiculturalism along with the many major changes installed by Gough Whitlam sparked a new era of politics. However, some oppose to this party believing Gough Whitlam to be excessively extravagant with public funds and was responsible for high levels of inflation, unemployment along with their involvement in a series of damaging scandals such as the Overseas Loans affair. In 1975, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam and his government were dismissed by the Governor General John Kerr, which brought Malcolm Fraser and his Liberal National Coalition Party into power.

The 1970s was also a decade for Aboriginal rights. They were counted in the national population for the first time in 1971 and the Aboriginal Land Rights Act was established in 1978 to recognise that Indigenous Australians had a right to claim control of land. It was also a decade for women rights as they contributed to one-third of the workforce, although they were still payed less than men. The Whitlam Government changed that and in 1972, they declared that equal pay should be given to those doing equal amount of work regardless of gender.

Several events of environmental destruction occurred which brought environmental issues to public debate in the 1970s. Anti-nuclear movements made their move after France conducted nuclear tests on islands in Pacific Ocean. Protests occurred due to the mining of uranium in Australia. These events sparked widespread protests forming environmental groups.

Gough Whitlam Malcolm Fraser

American and British Influences 1990sAmerica and Britain had a significant influence of Australia’s popular culture in the entertainment industry, food and shopping, and sport during the 1990s.

American and British popular music flew into Australia. The repeated broadcasting of American music videos on Australian music programs and radio stations had large impacts in the Australian music industry.

American films were the majority of the films watched in cinemas. Australian films contributed to just 15 percent of movies watched. Australian Television was heavily influenced by shows produced in America including The Simpsons and Seinfeld.

American fast food restaurants such as KFC and McDonalds have opened business throughout Australia. Supermarkets were also were greatly influenced and followed American trends.

McDonalds 1970s

Impacts of 70s in shaping Australian IdentityPrevious influences of America and Britain had impacted in shaping Australian Identity. Introductions of foreign ideas and styles have raised major concerns of the people of Australia. During this period of Australia’s history, our modes of food, sporting culture, fashion, entertainment and our social values and attitudes were heavily dictated by British culture. American popular culture in the entertainment and music industry has raised fears that the Australia’s identity would be carved out. Thus, new cultural ideas arise due to the many influences. Since Indigenous people are the original owners of the land, their roles in the revival of a true Australian identity had become apparent. Australia became a multicultural country and its unique identity of accepting people of all cultures had become known.

Aboriginal identity

SportAustralia is often noted for its love of sporting and performs well at it at an international level during the 1970s. Some sporting successes include three netball World Championships, eight gold medals in the 1972 Munich Olympics by the Australian swimming team and winners of men and women singles Wimbledon Tennis. Australia was also qualified for soccer World Cup Finals in West Germany and Australian players dominated the Wimbledon Tournament including Margaret Smith Court, Evonne Goolagong Cawley and John Newcombe. Cricket also came in to popularity after the Ashes between Australia and Britain.

Australian sport began to decline due to lack of government funding and because of this, it appeared to people it is discouraged to participant in sport. It was clear that Australian athletes can continue to dominate in sport if the government assisted in financial support. The Australian Institute of Sport was completed in 1981, aimed at helping athletes achieve their full potential.

Australia’s interest in football increased drastically in the 1970s. This begun with the grand final of the Australian Rules football between Carlton and Collingwood and sparked a crowd of 121,696 people. Australian Rugby also became well-known and popularity increased during the 1970s decade.

The availability of sport on the television promoted Australian sport and led to an increase in sponsorship and player salaries. Television sport availability also led to increased gambling, in particularly horse racing as it was broadcasted on television. Life Be In It, a media campaign was launched in 1978 to promote participation in gyms, marathons and leisure activities. This program allowed large group of people to be involved in sport along with improving their health.

Australia still remains as a sporting nation till this day, participating in Olympic Games, FIFA World cups and a lot more. Sports are also enjoyed through leisure activities and recreational and are still enjoyed by Australian people today.

Dennis Lillee

John Hipwell

MusicMusic in Australia in 1970s came to be of a wide variety. These included punk, teen pop, disco and heavy metal and these genres were enjoyed throughout the 1970s.

Initially, Australian music struggled to achieve success because American music dominated the markets and the media. As a result, in 1973 a code of practice was set down by the Australian Broadcasting Control Board stating that at least 10 percent of music broadcasted on radio was to be Australian music.

The contribution of the code has assisted in the revival of the Australian music industry and Australian artists and bands would aim at domestic charts rather than gaining success internationally. One successful band were the Skyhooks who achieved large-scale success on the domestic charts and their 1974 album “Living in the Seventies” came to be the highest-selling Australian album of all time.

Australian pub rock style music emerging in the 1970s was often noted for its simple rhythms and melodies and heavy electric guitars and drums. Cold Chisel and Midnight Oil were famous bands who utilised this style.

Disco music was brought in from the American ‘disco’ in the mid 1970s. Shiney outfits and dancing in nightclubs were the culture of disco and was heavily popularised from the disco-themed films such as “Saturday Night Fever” (1977).

Australians also enjoyed other genres of music including punk, heavy metal and teen pop. The move to aim music at the younger audience helped the rise in popularity for teen pop. Many of Australian music came from America and because of this, was greatly influenced by it.

Skyhooks

NirvanaFashionAustralian fashion in 1970s varied and frequently changed. Women usually wore long or short skirts with bright patterns and colours. Men would usually wear trousers and shirts. People who had greater concerns for nature, peace and freedom would wear “hippie” fashion.

Men’s fashion in the 1970s was more daring and colourful. Men wore bright big collars and wide colourful ties. Many men grew facial hair. These included side burns, moustaches and short beards. Flared trousers were also quite popular with both men and women throughout the 70s. Towards the end of the decade, trouser legs had begun to straighten.

Women’s fashion consisted of the usual skirts. Bras and corsets were noted as symbols of oppression and conformity and were not worn by many women. They would turn to the tradition male cloths such as men’s jackets, over-sized shirts, vests, baggy trousers, hats and ties. Typical female fashions like bell bottoms, long hair, and miniskirts begun during the 1960s and carried over to the 1970s. However, some women of the 1970s rather wear “midi” (knee length) or free-flowing “maxi” (floor length) skirts.

The movement of hippies had continued from the late 1960 to the early 1970s. Because the 1960s and 1970s periods of warfare overseas, people opposed to this and had more concern for nature. The hippie movement consisted of mostly young people in the early 1970s and begun to think about values of love, freedom, peace – a ‘hippie’ way of life. They would often take in drugs and wore rebellious styles of clothing. There fashion style came from non-Western cultures and natural fabrics and tie-dyed and paisley prints were popular among the hippie group. Clothes were usually handmade and bare feet or leather sandals were usual fashion. Symbols of peace like flowers represented the movement.

Hippies

Bibliography

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http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/culturally_diverse.html, April 2008 – feature article

Seal, Graham (1989). The Hidden Culture: Folklore in Australian Society. Melbourne: Oxford University Press. p. 50. – feature article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Australia , 23 August 2011 – music

Kent, David Martin (September 2002). "Appendix 6: The Record Ban" The place of Go-Set in rock and pop music culture in Australia, 1966 to 1974. . pp. 265–269. - music

http://people.hws.edu/mitchell/oz/papers/ParkerOz.html Christine Parker, Australian Studies: 28/11/96 – sport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_in_Australia, 22 August 2011 - sport

http://www.melbournecupeducation.com.au/history_of_fashion.html?contentId=3480 History of Fashion 2011 - fashion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_fashion - fashion

Pendergast, Tom; Pendergast, Sara (2004), ""Hippies." Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Clothing, Headwear, Body Decorations, and Footwear through the Ages.", Gale Virtual Reference Library, 5: Modern World Part II: 1946–2003, - fashion

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippie - fashion/music 22 August 2011

http://australiatrek.com/Australia_The_1970s_and_Beyond.shtml, 2006 – feature article

Images

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