Australian Film Industry During The 1960's-1970s

Contrasting with the vinyl records industry, the Australian film industry during the 1960’s-1970s was not as successful as expected, due to the leading of American film industry. Even if it was a small boom in the film industry with movies mainly inspired by the war, it didn’t last long because of the costs of the equipment, imported from America. The movies that people around Australia could see on the 1000 screens around Australia (by 1965) were mostly American and British films for young people inspired in the American lifestyle, like Butch and Cassidy or Easy Rider.

In 1961, the pill changed the meaning of sexuality. Now women had the right to decide the time to have a child or to go to work, but at the same time, the debate about sexuality

Women won rights such as equal pay and maternity leave. The Australian troops came back home from Vietnam in 1972, after a period of protests of the people, and the indigenous people were counted in the census for the first time in 1971. Also, since 1974 non-white people were accepted as migrants in Australia, which meant that this was the decade of multiculturalism. The issues about the environment led the politicians to take action and as a result, pollution levels were controlled and areas like Kakadu and the Great Barrier Reef were proclaimed National Parks which meant that they were protected zones from environmental destruction.

However, the influence of the television, film and music led the fashion: the boots used by Wonder Woman, the flared pants of the Charlie’s Angels, the platform shoes and the clothes used by the stars of Saturday Night Fever and the glittery style of David Bowie set a style within the fashion in the 1970s.

The disco genre was the most popular rhythm in the mid-1970s and led the young people to the nightclubs full of lights in movement and coloured floors where they could dance the new

Inflation increased the cost of living and there was a high rate of unemployment due to the increased use of technology which replaced many people and to the high wage rate.

After the previous change in migration policies, multiculturalism became to be a part of the Australian living, and it enriched the country with new foreign and exotic foods. Environmental issues were treated publicly and it resulted in initiatives to help with the issues.

In 1988 Australia celebrated its Bicentenary with lots of events during the year, such as the World Expo trade show in Brisbane and the opening of the Federal Parliament House in Canberra.

The Aboriginals made big steps to gain land rights after struggling for several years. Unfortunately, indigenous people remained poor, and the celebration of the Bicentenary of Australia was considered as a time of mourning for them in remembrance of their misery and degradation lived in the last 200 years.

A very sad event occurred on the 16th of February 1983, when a bushfire destroyed 520.000 hectares of land in Victoria and South Australia and burnt two thousand homes, killing 72