The 1970s was a decade of rapid change and social upheaval.
Many will remember the burnt orange and avocado green interiors, the towering platform shoes, the big hair, staggers jeans, Skyhooks and Sherbet, but it was much more than this.
Putting It Out There: Melbourne in the 1970s is an exhibition that explores the turbulence of the time, at the Royal Historical Society of Victoria (RHSV), opening Friday 14 September until 14 January, 2019.
As part of the opening weekend of the exhibition, the RHSV will also be holding a conference, War, Peace, Protest: Fifty Year Reflections On 1968. It will reflect on fifty years since key international events had an impact on life in our community – the escalation in the Vietnam War and Australia’s role in that conflict, the student riots in Paris in May 1968, the anti-war protest movement particularly within American universities, and the symbolic Black Power protest at the 1968 Mexico Olympics which also involved Melbourne athlete Peter Norman. A distinguished panel of historians and first-hand observers will revisit that time and ask the question: what significance do we draw from those events, fifty years on?
Putting It Out There: Melbourne in the 1970s is grounded in the domestic arena. It reflects on and explores the ways in which the life of the city and society were shaped by the changing ideas and actions. Old and newly defined political and social causes reached and touched all. This played out against a backdrop of political and social division brought about by the Vietnam War moratoriums, the Dismissal, the economic instability of the Oil Crisis and escalating local unemployment.
People took to the streets, formed community groups, activist associations, consciousness raising and political parties. Music and theatre reflected our growing identity. The young identified themselves as a Sharpie or Surfie, took courage to define their sexual identity, or simply enjoyed being young.
The 70s saw the first live televised AFL grand final (1977), creation of the bionic ear (1978), the first Aboriginal jockey to win the Melbourne Cup in 1973. Community Legal Centres were established in Fitzroy, Springvale and Nunawading and the Aboriginal Health Service in 1973 in Fitzroy, the Vietnam Moratorium and the withdrawal of troops, movement against uranium mining, the opening of Tullamarine airport, the collapse of the Westgate Bridge (1970) and its subsequent opening (1978), the growth of the women’s liberation movement and much much more.
Eleven display cases and numerous panels touch upon some of the most significant events and movements; telling the ‘70s story from a Melbourne perspective.
The exhibition will be built around memorabilia with clothing, kitchenware and LPs while flyers, posters and badges capture the causes that were passionately supported.
Women were demanding recognition of their rights to make their own life choices. A bright orange Women’s Lib t-shirt, with the iconic clenched fist, will be displayed with several of the badges from this movement. It was also a time of increasing awareness and support for those who had been forced to conceal their sexual identity. The program from the first National Homosexual conference in Australia, held in Melbourne in 1975 will also be on display.
‘Curator Zoe Henderson discussed the idea of curating an exhibition on the 1970s last year and I grabbed the opportunity with both hands, says Rosemary Cameron, Executive Officer, Royal Historical Society of Victoria. ‘The 1970s are my decade when I came of age, went to university and generally discovered life. And I just happen to have the perfect dress for the opening night – a wonderful vintage Marimekko dress I first wore to my year 12 formal in 1974.
‘This exhibition,’ Cameron continues, ‘will be rich in nostalgia for some, and for others, it will be window onto a Melbourne world which is hard to imagine these days. We all wore our hearts on our sleeves through carefully chosen protest badges and we cared.’
WAR, PEACE, PROTEST: FIFTY YEAR REFLECTIONS ON 1968 – RHSV CONFERENCE
Friday 14 September 2018, 5.00pm to 7.30pm & Sunday 16 September 2018, 9:30am to 4pm
Friday 14 September 2018, 6.30pm
Dr Peter Edwards delivers the biennial RHSV Augustus Wolskel Lecture
Now we know: a half-century perspective on Australia’s Vietnam War
Sunday 16 September 2018, 9:30am to 4pm
10am – Welcome: Assoc Prof. Don Garden, OAM, President RHSV
Introductory comments: Maree Coote, Author, The Melbourne Book, The Art of Being Melbourne
10.15am – Keynote Address: 1968 – From the Vietnam War to Vietnamese Immigration: Melbourne’s Long “Sixties”
Assoc. Prof Seamus O’Hanlon, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Monash University
11.00am – Save Our Sons: The Activists’ Perspective
Rebecca McLean, film-maker and Dr Jean McLean, Member of the Legislative Council, Victoria 1985-99, Convenor of the Save Our Sons Movement 1965-73; Special Advisor, Victoria University. Special screening of Rebecca McLean’s SBS documentary SAVE OUR SONS (S.O.S.) 1996
1.20pm – Influences from Abroad: Paris, May 1968: and its wider influence
Emeritus Prof. Charles Sowerwine, Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne
1.20pm – Influences from Abroad: Black Power 1968 and its ramifications in Victoria
Emeritus Prof. Richard Broome, History, La Trobe University
2.30pm – Panel Discussion: All speakers
Chair: Dr Andrew Lemon, panellists reflect on the theme.
All guest speakers are available for interview.
Putting It Out There: Melbourne in the 1970s opening Friday 14 September until 14 January, 2019.
War, Peace, Protest: Fifty Year Reflections On 1968 – RHSV Conference, Friday 14 September 2018, 5.00pm to 7.30pm & Sunday 16 September 2018, 10am to 4pm
Royal Historical Society of Victoria, 239 A’Beckett Street, Melbourne. http://www.historyvictoria.org.au/
