Born in 1966

If you were born in 1966, two things happened that literally changed everything: Australia went decimal, and Harold Holt became Prime Minister. On 14 February, the old pounds, shillings, and pence gave way to dollars and cents, and the confusion was spectacular — every shop had conversion charts, grandparents did the maths on the back of envelopes and still got it wrong, and the old currency lingered in conversations for years. "How much?

" "Three dollars." "That's thirty bob." The Beatles released *Revolver* and it sounded like nothing before it.

Holt replaced Menzies after sixteen years and brought a younger, sunnier style — he was a keen swimmer and water-skier, deeply comfortable on the beach in a way that suited the national self-image. Vietnam conscription was biting harder now, and the protests were getting louder. The television news was more confronting, bringing the war into the lounge room nightly.

Australian soldiers were fighting at the Battle of Long Tan in August — 108 men holding off 2,500 in a rubber plantation in the rain — and the country followed the news with a particular tight-chested pride and grief. The footy was fiercely contested, the cricket was on all summer, and on summer evenings every second family was in the backyard with the barbie going and the radio on.