New book explores the decade Australia exported itself to the world

A new book argues that the 1980s was the decade Australia “packaged” itself for the world and showcased its culture such as art, music and tourism.

The Eighties: The Decade That Transformed Australia by Frank Bongiorno from the ANU School of History is a social and cultural history of milestones like the 1988 Bicentenary as well as forgotten ones like the failed attempt to create a national beer market.

“People argue over the decade, about its meaning and whether the changes that occurred are for the better or for the worse,” Frank, an Associate Professor says.

“What’s happened since the early 2000s is that there’s been an increasing nostalgia, in everything from FM radio to TV mini-series on various aspects of the 1980s.”

Frank wanted to answer broad questions about what happened to Australians during that decade and how they responded to the pressures which built up as a result of globalisation and local conditions.

“I’m interested in the ways that people’s ordinary lives at work, at home, their leisure lives were being transformed during that period,” Frank says.

“It has sections that look at things like the personal computer, the video recorder, what was happening to people’s homes in that period, as well as of course popular music, film, television and drama. “

Frank thinks there was an attempt to “package Australia” especially the lead-up to and during the 1988 Bicentenary and by sectors including the tourism industry.

“The use of Paul Hogan, for instance, or the very aggressive marketing of Australian beer overseas, and popular culture such as Neighbours and the Crocodile Dundee movie are all examples of this trend,” he says.

The wedding of the decade!

While writing, Frank noticed the “continuing importance of the local”, citing jokes from the television shows such as The Comedy Company which he argues wouldn’t have worked abroad.

“In this period of globalisation, on the cusp of the world wide web, you don’t understand this period without understanding the local,” he says.

“Neighbours did better in Melbourne than Sydney, so much so that it failed [on its first channel, Seven] because it did so badly in Sydney.

“Entrepreneurs wanted to create a national beer market, but failed because there were incredibly localised state-based drinking habits that people were not prepared to give up.

“XXXX drinkers in Queensland resented Alan Bond attempting to push Swan Lager on them.  That might seem a trivial example, but it speaks to a larger pattern.”

Speaking with ANU postgraduate students helped Frank decide which popular musicians he should include; ultimately landing on acts such as Kylie Minogue, INXS and Nick Cave. Postgraduate student Megan Kelly also helped with research.

Frank says unlike his previous book, The Sex Lives of Australians: A History, his new work was largely created, researched and written in Canberra.

“Canberra and the ANU are just ideal for this sort of book because there’s so much relevant expertise here,” he says.

“I’m not an economic historian, but as you’d expect there was a lot of discussion of those sorts of things here. There was no shortage of people to turn to for expertise at a place like ANU and that’s incredibly reassuring.”

Interested in studying History? History is one of 50 majors available in the Bachelor of Arts and can also be studied as a specialist Master of History program. 

Debbie and Tim from Australia You're Standing in It