Born in 1968

If you were born in 1968, the world seemed to be coming apart at its seams — the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy reached Australia on the television news and felt close and terrible. Vietnam was at its bloodiest, and the Australian casualty lists were growing. The anti-conscription movement was becoming a genuine mass movement — teach-ins at universities, moratorium marches being organised.

Young Australians were reading about the Paris student uprising and the Prague Spring and wondering what their own version of political energy might look like. But everyday life still had its particular Australian texture: the smell of the eucalyptus in summer, the barbie on the back lawn on Australia Day, the footy finals with their tremendous noise. The surf culture was at peak cool — *Morning of the Earth* was still a few years away, but the culture it would document was already fully formed.

Sydney and Melbourne were acquiring the first glimmerings of cafe culture, Greek and Italian restaurants making the city's eating more interesting. A new Holden HK was the car of the moment — big, comfortable, Australian-made and proud of it. Kids still played cricket on the footpath with a tennis ball and a rubbish bin as a wicket.

The country was changing faster than it could process, but the backyard and the beach remained constant.