Born in 1974

If you were born in 1974, two things defined the cultural year: *Countdown* and ABBA. Ian Molly Meldrum's television show launched on ABC in November and immediately became the most important piece of music television in Australia — a weekly ritual, essential viewing, the show that would make and break careers for the next decade. And ABBA, who won Eurovision with "Waterloo," found in Australia a devotion that dwarfed anything they encountered elsewhere in the world.

Australians took ABBA personally. They would return here multiple times and the affection was mutual. Whitlam's government was still running at full tilt — and spending at full tilt, which was starting to worry people.

Inflation was up, the oil shock was biting, and the economy was beginning to feel wobbly. Cyclone Tracy destroyed Darwin on Christmas Eve, the most devastating natural disaster in Australian history to that point, and the response — the evacuation, the rebuilding, the generosity from the rest of the country — showed Australia at its practical, unsentimental best. The footy continued its seasonal religion.

Sherbet and Skyhooks were the sounds on every transistor. The beach was still free and the milk bar was still there and the barbie was still in the backyard. But the country was in for a turbulent year ahead.