Australia's Baby Boomer Generation

Australia in the Baby Boomer Years

In nearly every way imaginable, Australia was a totally different place in the first Baby Boomer decade to the Australia we know today, and the majority of the changes that took place were witnessed by the Baby Boomers in their years of growing up and reaching adulthood (1940s-1980s). Life in 1946, the year in which the first Baby Boomers were born, was lived differently to today. The Australian population, like many other peoples of the world, had endured six years of war, during which time the activities young people would have normally pursued - a career, financial security, an education, getting married - had to be put on hold for the war effort. Many went off to war - some never came home. Everything - food, clothing, household goods, building materials, money etc. - was in short supply and people had learnt to go without and live frugally. Needless to say, when the war was over, a positive attidude and great anticipation of good times ahead swept the nation, as it had done at the turn of the century when the Australian states united in Federation and moved forward eagerly into a new century.
1940s overview |1940s timeline

The 1950s became a time of massive growth of the public sector and major taxpayer-funded investment in vital national infrastructure. The Government of Prime Minister Bob Menzies, which came to power in 1949, saw its role as nation-building; the trade unions, which represented almost two thirds of workers, saw themselves as having a legitimate place in national economic management. The overwhelming national ethos was one of social solidarity. Industry was run by conservative men who played it safe, protected from competition from the outside world by Government approved tariffs. They were happy to deal with unions and allow the union picnic day and Labor Day holiday to become part of the national calendar and character, without a thought about its effect on profitability. Australia in the 1950s was a nation of people who were dependent on the state for their education, their livelihoods and their retirements, and looked upon the Government as their rock, their shelter and guide, rather than a necessary intrusion into their lives, which is the view many present day Australians have of their Governments.
The arrival of the first migrant ship in 1947 marked the beginning of an era of intense immigration from Europe that would continue until 1977 when the last migrant ship, the passenger liner Australis, disembarked the last of its passengers in Sydney. Assisted Passage migration from Europe would continue into the 1980s, however all new arrivals would now come by air.
1950s overview | 1950s timeline

If ever a decade could be described as a decade of change, it was the 1960s. Between 1965 and 1975 Australia changed dramatically and significantly, to the degree that the education historian, Alan Barcan, described the changes as a cultural revolution. warranting description as a "cultural revolution". It was during the period 1965-1975 that the skids were put under this "prevailing culture", with much of the challenge and impetus for change coming from social protest movements subscribing to an interpretation of democracy at odds with the prevailing understanding that "democracy depended on quiesecence among the citizens". The period seeded the future with movements and ideas that challenged and changed Australian society and culture as women, aborigines, gays, lesbians and environmentalists variously articulated, demanded, claimed, struggled and gained attention and rights previously denied.
Popular culture changed its direction dramatically in 1963 with the release of the first Beatles records. The day their first single, "Love Me Do", was released could very well be seen as the day the Sixties started swinging. At first, it was simply a refreshing change and somewhat of a novelty to hear someone singing a song with a Liverpudlian accent rather than the usual Amercian twang. By 1964, when more four-piece rock bands from Liverpool appeared on the scene and started pushing the solo American artists and girl groups off the airwaves, everyone knew there was a major change taking place.
1960s overview | 1960s timeline

If the 1960s was a decade of change, then the 1970s was one of reflection and consolidation. The economic boom that began in the latter years of the 1940s came to an end in the early 1970s. During this period, overseas companies had spent millions of dollars establishing themselves and their products and services in the lucrative Australian marketplace, thus managing to keep Australians in full employment. The event that brought the slowdown in economic development and sent businesses down a path of rationalisation, was what became known as the oil crisis of 1973. And just as the seventies were a time of reflection and rationalisation for the business community, those who helped bring about the changes of the 1960s - the songwriters of American popular culture - took stock of what had been achieved both in the world and in their personal lives, and they didn't like what they saw.
For the man in the street, the idealism of the previous decade had long been left blowing in the wind. There were increasing anxieties to cope with; global pollution, the exhaustion of the earth's natural resources, conflict in the Middle East, the humiliating defeat in Vietnam, corruption in the highest levels of American government with Watergate and Nixon's resignation, an oil crisis, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia turning its fertile land into killing fields. A daily diet of the world's troubles poured into Australian homes via television.
1970s overview | 1970s timeline

Ronald Reagan's election in the US in 1980, like Malcolm Fraser's in Australia in 1975, ushered in a new age of Western conservatism that was embraced by the Baby Boomer generation. They had tried to change the world in the sixties; disillusioned, they gave up and went and had a good time in the seventies. Now, in the 1980s, it was time to settle down, build a career and establish a lifestyle to which they would have no trouble becoming accustomed. Thus emerged the Me! generation of status seekers. "If you've got it, flaunt it" and "You can have it all!" were watchwords. Binge buying and credit became a way of life and "Shop Til you Drop" their philosophy. Tom Wolfe dubbed the Baby Boomers in the 1980s as the "splurge generation". Designer labels were everything, even (or especially) for children.
Collectibles were big in the 1980s. Smurf and E.T. paraphernalia, Cabbage Patch dolls, camcorders, video games (Nintendo, Pac Man, Game Boy), Rubik's Cube, Teenage Mutant Nija Turtles, and Barbies (now Hispanic, Black, Asian) were big. New innovations included discount air fares, lite foods, aerobics, minivans and talkshows. Kermit the Frog didn't find it easy to be green, hospital costs rose, the world began losing people to AIDS, and unemployment rose. On a brighter note, Australia celebrated its 200th birthday, Gone with the Wind turned 50, ET phoned home, Australia became the first country to unbolt the America's Cup, the holy grail of yachting, from the clubhouse bar of the New York Yacht Club in 1983, and Communism began to falter.
1980s overview | 1980s timeline