Born in 1960

If you were born in 1960, Australia was prospering and slightly smug about it, and why not — the wool cheques were good, the factories were humming, and the Menzies government seemed as permanent as the weather. But the world was changing faster than the country quite knew. The contraceptive pill was being discussed, though not yet available.

Television had arrived everywhere and was now the primary entertainment for most families. The beach and the pub and the footy were still the pillars of Australian social life, but television had woven itself into all of it — *The Graham Kennedy Show* on HSV7 in Melbourne was making Kennedy the most famous man in the country, his larrikin genius a kind of mirror for the national character. Rock and roll had settled in: Col Joye, Johnny O'Keefe, the Delltones — Australian pop was finding its voice.

Surfing was becoming not just a pastime but a culture, with its own language and hierarchy and brands. The milk bar was where you went after school, the cream brick counter and the condensation on the milkshake glass and the jukebox in the corner playing something with a beat. Summer holidays meant the coast: the beach house, the sunburn, the fish and chips eaten on the seawall.

Australia was comfortable, a little complacent, and about to be shaken awake.