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Women

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The 1980s was a great time to be a woman in Australia. After a second wave of women’s rights, it was a time of empowerment and positive feminism. In the 1980s, women had been awarded equal pay to men, and felt a greater sense of authority and control in the workplace, and were keen to work their way into senior positions. This was reflected in the new fashion trends that emerged at the time -  the 1980s power suit, with it’s stiff, sharply cut design was worn by women as a way of expressing their new-found sense of power and asserting their equality with men. These fashions helped them break out of traditional female steyrytupes, with their masculine, wide shouldered style, exuded success and dominance.

Pop culture icons, such as music star Madonna, also largely influenced women of the decade. With her “Material Girl” image, Madonna introduced new risqué trends like visible bra straps and wearing underwear as outerwear, as well as inspiring female dominance, confidence, and the attitude to go out there and get what you want.

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Youth Culture - Yuppies

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The 1980s, also nicknamed the “me” decade, was the ideal time to be an ambitious young person in Australia. With the Australian economy booming, property values sky-rocketing and businesses making larger profits than ever before, it was the perfect conditions for the emergence of “yuppies”, and acronym for “Young Upwardly Mobile Professional Person.” The term, coined by the advertising industry, was meant to describe this new breed of person - in essence, a young person who “worked hard, and played hard”. The pictures above give an insight into what yuppies were like. These career-minded, status obsessed youth of the time likely formed as a reaction against the politically and cultural rebellious hippies of the Sixties and Seventies. Yuppies were ambitious and goal-oriented, and due to their hectic lifestyle, rare free time was spent in indulgent ways; for example expensive perfumes or wines - conspicuous wastage was part of the attitude.

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1985 Dunk Contest

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CD ROM

During the 1980s, the development of the CD-ROM by both Sony and Philips represented a massive leap forward in data storage technology .  This discovery impacted many Australians as well as other countries as it was very popular in this decade due to the fact it was easier to distribute computer software, including games and multimedia applications and store computer data and audio.   Even though floppy discs were available in this period of time, the CD-ROM could hold about 650MB times more data. This meant that software that previously required multiple floppy discs in order to install or run could fit in a single CD.

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Hepatitis B vaccine

The breakthrough of the hepatitis B vaccine becoming commercial impacted many Australians in this decade as the vaccine enabled many Australians  to be protected  by the virus effectively and safely.   Hepatitis B is the most common serious liver infection in the world and is transmitted through blood and infected bodily fluids. This can occur through direct blood-to-blood contact, unprotected sex, use of unsterile needles, and from an infected woman to her newborn during the delivery process. Even though there was the first commercially plasma derived hepatitis B vaccine for human use in 1981, the second generation of hepatitis B vaccines in 1986 were proven more beneficial as it was synthetically prepared and did not contain blood products like its predecessor. 

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First Personal Computer

The discovery of the first commercially successful personal computer the Apple Macintosh impacted many people in Australia and world-wide.   This was because this invention allowed people to store larger amounts of information and was easily accessible. The Macintosh was first released on January 24th 1984 and was originally introduced by Jef Raskin who was an Apple employee that focused on easy-to-use. low-cost computer for the average customer.  This invention was so successful compared its predecessor the Apple Lisa which was introduced in 1983 as it was smaller and  had featured a graphical user interface (GUI) which used square pixels instead of rectangular ones that made it far easier to accurately map graphics on to the screen.

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Taking down the Berlin Wall - 1989

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Technology/Music - The Walkman

A major trend in Australia in the 80s was the Walkman which transformed the way Australians, particularly teenagers, listened to music. It also boosted the evolution of miniature technology as well as paving a path for many other portable music devices to follow. The portable cassette player was so popular because it was one of the world’s first relatively low cost portable audio devices and also allowed the personalisation of the audio device with playlists and stereo playback with some even capable of recording. The Walkman represented the exciting change and new developments in Australian pop culture in the 80s that made the decade such a great decade to live in.

-Karen

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Sport

The 1980’s was a thrilling decade of sport with a surge in national spirit where the whole country supported and cheered on Australian sport. Examples of this include when Australia had the highest medal tally in the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1962 and the yacht ‘Australia II’ winning the American cup in 1983 finally upsetting America’s long winning streak. The way sport was played was evolving in the 80s with increased corporate control over Australian sport with millions of dollars put into competitions as a result. The new corporate sponsorship as well as the escalation of interest in sport science were major moves in the 80s and played a great role in increasing Australia’s sporting interest and victories. Another aspect of sport that made the 80s such a great decade, were laws that made it illegal to discriminate people because of their gender, marital status and pregnancy and this allowed many women to join sporting clubs as well as perform in male dominated sports. These changes that improved sport in the decade, made the 80s a very enjoyable decade to be an Australian.

- Karen

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Toys

The 1980’s was the decade that had wonderful toys, making life very enjoyable for Australian children growing up in the 80s. Toy fads including My Little Pony, Polly Pocket and Pound Puppy provided hours of fun for little girls and boys were also equally provided for with Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Omnibots and remote control cars. The infamous Rubik’s cube was also extremely popular during the 80s. These toys had a huge impact on the decade as they were new and exciting and helped to provide an entertaining and pleasurable decade for Australian children to grow up in. The relaunch of many of the toy fads from the 80s in future decades emphasises the value and significance of the 80s toys as well as reinforcing the appeal and superiority of this decade.

-Karen

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Ferris Bueller’s Day Off 

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Popular music of the 80s

Music video by Olivia Newton-John performing Physical. (C) 1981 Geffen Records. It doesn’t get more 8ies than this. I love the line “There is nothing less to talk about unless it’s horizzontally” :)

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During the 1980s, home VCRs became much more common in the household homes of Australia. The VCR became an important entertainment feature. This was because television programmes could be recorded and watched at a later time. This appealed to the audience as they had more freedom to watch what they wanted, when they wanted. Also, instead of going to the cinema to watch a film, people could buy the video of the film and watch any time. The increase in popularity of the VCRs made watching programmes more convenient for the common family. The 1980s, as a result, also became a decade in which the general public were accustomed to not adapting to the social norms and understanding the concept of freedom.

-Dinu

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Fashion also was important in the 1980s. Everyone dressed for success and dressed sensibly. Many people followed the trends of celebrities such as Madonna and Princess Diana. Many fashion designers began to challenge traditional views introducing interest into fashion and changing style. MTV revolutionalised fashion also being influenced by other cultures developing newer fashion trends. The fashion of the 80s was defining the Australia identity. The fashions were loud, big, gaudy and bright clothes. Big was beautiful in the eyes of the people in the 1980s. In the 1980s there was also a focus on strength and fitness which also promoted a healthy lifestyle for Australians.