Living in the Seventies

Exhibition Review: Visual Art | Brian Rope

Living in the Seventies | from the collections of the National Library of Australia (NLA)

NLA Treasures Gallery | 14 August 2025 to 1 February 2026

1975 was a year to remember in Australia, especially so for those whose ages were such that they truly participated in everything that happened. Now the National Library of Australia (NLA) has reflected on what it was like to live in the seventies.

Dr Guy Hansen, the library’s Director of Exhibitions says Living in the Seventies explores whether there is more to 1975 than a dose of Baby Boomer nostalgia. “Looking at the collections held by the National Library of Australia reveals a much more complex story about a fascinating time in Australian history.” To consider the truth of that, I’ll focus on how exhibits in this great exhibition of posters, books, photos and more impacted on me (slightly older than the Baby Boomers).

The end of 1974 saw tropical Cyclone Tracy devastate Australia’s most northern city, Darwin. During a family get together, my brother-in-law received orders to prepare himself to go to Darwin the next day as part of the disaster relief contingent. That affected all our family, and most certainly had a major impact on him.

In 1975 music, art, fashion, literature and film transformed our view of the world. Significant films including Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Removalists proved we wanted to see Australian stories on the big screen. I certainly wanted to see more. Our favourite television show Countdown provided a soundtrack for suburban life with glam rockers Skyhooks. I watched the show regularly. And who didn’t love AC/DC and Aunty Jack?

Ego is not a dirty word_nla.cat-vn1843249

Attending the exhibition’s media preview provided an opportunity to chat with one of our favourite Australian TV personalities who entertained us through the seventies. No, it wasn’t Norman Gunston who was crowned “King of Canberra” in 1976. It was Denise Drysdale sharing some memories and reflections of the 70s – from TV to fashion, feminism and politics, and how 70s events still influence Australians today.

Norman Gunston and Denise Drysdale_nla.obj-148394048

The long-running Vietnam War which had a powerful impact on Australians finally ended. I wasn’t called up for Army service, but I knew a few people who were. The protest marches at that time recently very much came to mind again, with recent major marches relating to the current Gaza situation drawing comparisons.

Australia’s Federal government led by Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam implemented major social reforms including no-fault divorce but also found itself mired in a series of political controversies. The women’s liberation movement challenged many long-held assumptions about the roles of women. Funded projects for 1975’s International Women’s Year included another feature film, Caddie, a study of the working conditions of migrant women, and the establishment of various women’s centres and refuges. My wife was one of many women who had to resign as a public servant following our marriage in 1965. I knew activist and academic Elizabeth Reid before she was appointed, in a world first, as Women’s Affairs Adviser to the Prime Minister.

Women on the march_nla.obj-137045864

1975 ended dramatically. Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the government on 11 November. I was then working for the Australian Public Service Board in offices quite close to the then Parliament House. After hearing rumours, I joined others running to see what was happening. We made it in time to hear Whitlam make his famous speech on the steps of the House.

Newspaper vendor_nla.obj-152388014

Flared jeans, platform shoes and burnt orange dominated 70s’ fashion. I wore them all. They were all gloriously rendered on brand-new colour television sets. And, yes, I owned one.

Colour TV What to look for_nla.cat-vn1285282

This exhibition has most effectively brought together a range of objects exploring politics, conflicts and disasters, as well as popular culture, food, fashion and sport, in a colourful celebration of iconic seventies design. Have you still got your copy of Margaret Fulton’s Cookbook?

Margaret Fulton Crockpot Cookbook_nla.cat-vn2834240

This review is also available on the author's blog here.

William Yang's Mardi Gras

Exhibition Review: Photography | Brian Rope

William Yang's Mardi Gras | William Yang

National Library of Australia (NLA) Treasures Gallery | 6 December 2023 – 1 December 2024

One of my prized possessions is a copy of Yang's book China, inscribed simply by his own hand “To Brian, Best Wishes, William Yang, Port Macquarie, 2011”. I had just heard and seen one of his presentations during the Australian Photographic Society’s annual convention in that coastal centre.

Yang is a well-known and renowned Australian performer, filmmaker, artist, and photographer. He began his career shooting fashion, but soon shifted to social documentary. Gay liberation, illegal Sydney warehouse parties, and AIDS-related deaths were all documented by this photographer.

Born in Mareeba, North Queensland, in 1943, Yang was raised in the little village of Dimbulah in the Atherton Tablelands. He got his first camera when he was seventeen but didn't start taking photography seriously until he was a university student. He relocated to Sydney in 1969 with the intention of becoming a playwright, but instead found employment as a freelance photographer covering social events. When his 1977 solo exhibition Sydneyphiles opened at the Australian Centre for Photography, his images received critical acclaim.

That exhibition gave viewers an almost voyeuristic glimpse into the social circles and private lives of people who were rarely seen by the general public, including socialites, fashion designers, actors, directors, artists, and Sydney's gay community. The community at that time was controversial as homosexual behaviour was prohibited. In Australia, pictures of gay life, love, and sex had never been shown so widely. Those who were gay and had their photos taken by the artist ran the risk of losing their jobs or facing rejection from their families.

In 1978, a newly formed Gay Solidarity Group held a protest demonstration followed by a parade celebrating queer pride: the Mardi Gras. Due to illness, Yang missed the first three annual parades whilst convalescing in Queensland. Returning to Sydney in time for the 1981 parade, Yang became a pre-eminent chronicler of Mardi Gras.

More than 250 of Yang’s photographs are held by the NLA. Among them are series relating to artists, writers, actors, celebrities, friends, Chinese Australians, intimate dinners, boisterous parties, and the Mardi Gras. This NLA Collections-in-Focus exhibition, William Yang’s Mardi Gras, displays material from over 20 years of photography documenting the parades. Originally opened late in 2023, the exhibition had to close whilst the venue was being renovated but has now resumed.

The 24 images displayed (all with Yang's trademark handwritten descriptions on them) explore four themes: Protest, Community, Art and Remembrance. What began as a protest event celebrating queer life, also became a community event; an artistic event; an event to remember people of the community lost to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

An image of a fairy makes a statement about the courage of revealing oneself as a gay/queer at that time.

Fairy, Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, 1982. William Yang (National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136859502)

An image of two people lighting a candle effectively and sensitively remembers those who died from AIDS.

“The Last Candle.” AIDS Vigil 1994. 2/10. William Yang (National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136864462)

Morals crusader, Fred Nile, was made fun of in the 1989 parade when a Papier Mâché version of his head on a platter made an appearance. Yang was there to get an image.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Head of Fred Nile
1989 Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras. William Yang
(National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136862227)

Yang was also there in 2009 to capture a simple, but effective, image of a protestor urging people to fight AIDS rather than Iraq where Australia had been involved in armed conflict from 2003.

“Protest.” NSW Mardi Gras. 2009 1/10. William Yang (National Library of Australia-nla.obj-136861261)

After years of documenting the parades, Yang wrote in his monologue Friends of Dorothy I’ve finally figured out what Mardi Gras is. It’s the re-enactment of a ritual. A ritual we have worked out over the years as defining and celebrating a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex culture.

In a review of Yang’s Sydneyphiles Reimagined, at the State Library of New South Wales, Edward Scheer wrote Yang’s photographs …… offer the complete opposite of the selfie. ….. he offers carefully framed and curated portraits. ……. He brings the pictures back into the present moment.

This exhibition reminds us of the importance of Collections held by the NLA and other institutions. The opportunities to see exhibitions of selections from such Collections should be taken by us all if we possibly can do so.

This review is also available on the author's blog here.