Rock Arena, Queensland and the Dreams of Punk

In the mid-1980s I was a teenager living in a tiny village on the edge of the outback in Queensland, Australia. The state was run by the National Party, a group of right-wing religious loonies who thought gambling, music on the Sabbath and dancing wildly were wrong. We got one channel on TV, the national ABC. On the ABC was Rock Arena, a lifeline for a young man with a fringe who enjoyed new wave and old punk music. I watched Suzanne Dowling deliver music clips in her deadpan style from far away centres of cultural enlightenment (London, New York, Sydney), where music was not just "the two sorts" we had (country and western) and art was not an insult. When I was about sixteen I tried to organize a band for the school dance (local proto-grunge band from Toowoomba 'The Artbeats') but the principle told me not to be ridiculous. So, in a mood for reminiscing I put up some clips from Rock Arena and three documents that reveal something of the environment I (and millions of others) grew up in Queensland ruled by Joh and the nationals (the government from 1969-1989), described today by the Fairfax Press as.

Those who are shocked at George Bush's questionable intellect, his mangling of the language, his blind Christian certainty, the use of righteous force against opponents and the strong suggestion of business cronyism, if not outright corruption of the body politic, need to get out more. Or read Evan Whitton and Phil Dickie on Queensland in the 1970s and '80s.
Johannes Bjelke-Petersen's reign - and it was a reign, for power rested in him in a virtually feudal manner - offered all those horrors.
And while it was on a modest scale by international standards, and led to no invasions or wars, it was nonetheless an astonishing, giddy madness so close to home.

Gravity Pirates - This Way To The Cargo Cult. Introduced by Suzanne Dowling on Rock Arena. Produced by Lobby Loyde (who is mentioned in the chapter you can download below from the book Pig City: From the Saints to Savage Garden, the story of rock music behind the bananna curtain, in Brisbane 1974-2000)


TISM (This Is Serious Mum)- Anarchy (Live @ The Club 1988)


Hunters and Collectors Talking to a Stranger (1982) Not actually from Rock Arena but I remember seeing it on the show a lot when I was a teenager and liking it.


Severed Heads made an appearance on Rock Arena in 1986 to perform a in studio set. This is part one of two.

- Petrol
- A Million Angels
- Bless This House


Severed Heads made an appearance on Rock Arena in 1986 to perform a in studio set. This is part two of two.

- Big Blue Is Back
- Harold & Cindy Hospital
- Propeller
- Halo


Jesus and Mary Chain, Just Like Honey (1985). Another that was introduced to me via Rock Arena.


The Smiths, How Soon is Now (1984). The Smiths were a favourite on Rock Arena. The Smiths were about as a far away from Queensland politics in the mid 1980s as you could get.

And now for some documentation:

Pig City: From the Saints to Savage Garden - UQ eSpace
This is chapter 1 of Pig City: from the Saints to Savage Garden by Andrew Stafford. From cult heroes the Saints and the Go-Betweens to national icons Powderfinger and international stars Savage Garden, Brisbane has produced more than its share of great bands. But behind the music lay a ghost city of malice and corruption. Pressed under the thumb of the Bjelke-Petersen government and its toughest enforcers - the police - Brisbane's musicians, radio announcers and political activists braved ignorance, harassment and often violence to be heard. Pig City maps the shifts in musical, political and cultural consciousness that have shaped the city's history and identity. This is Brisbane's story - the story of how a city finally grew up.

ENDING THE 1977-1979 STREET MARCH BAN: A COLLECTION OF PAPERS FROM TOOWOOMBA
[Originals in the possession of John E Ransley]
A collection of papers relating to the banning of all public protest without a permit by the National Party government. My parents were involved in the Campaign Against Nuclear Energy (CANE) and the civil liberties movement in Toowoomba in the late 70s and early 80's. I wasn’t watching alternative music videos then (I do remember my aunt returning from London in 1977 and giving me a gold razor blade, she said all the young people were wearing them in London), but this gives an idea of the atmosphere of Queensland at the time.

The Revolution will not be Televised!
A Campaign for Free Expression in Queensland
(1982-1983) by Ciaron O'Reilly
The successful Free Speech campaign in Brisbane during 1982 and 1983 is well documented in this pamphlet by Ciaron O'Reilly. Since the late 1960's Brisbane has had an active and diverse number of anarchist and libertarian groups, which have been prominent in all protest movements and local campaigns.