1975 was a year to remember. 50 years on, the National Library of Australia looks back on this amazing year and reflects on what it was like to live in the seventies.
Jaws and The Rocky Horror Picture Show filled cinemas and Picnic at Hanging Rock and Sunday Too Far Away proved that Australians wanted to see their own stories on the big screen. Australia’s favourite television show Countdown provided a soundtrack for suburban life with glam rockers Skyhooks and the infectious pop of Swedish Eurovision champions ABBA.
Flared jeans, platform shoes and burnt orange dominated fashion, all gloriously rendered on brand-new colour television sets.
Overseas, the war in Vietnam finally ended, Papua New Guinea became independent, and conflict erupted in East Timor. At home, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam struggled with rising energy prices, unemployment, and economic stagnation while also introducing major social reforms including universal health care and no-fault divorce.
The year ended dramatically when Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed Whitlam’s government on 11 November, quickly followed by an election in December ushering in Malcom Fraser as Australia’s new prime minister.
The exhibition brings together a range of objects exploring politics, conflicts and disasters, as well as popular culture, food, fashion and sport, in a colourful celebration of iconic seventies design.
Director of Exhibitions, Dr Guy Hansen said: “The exhibition explores whether there is more to 1975 than a dose of Baby Boomer nostalgia. Looking at the collections held by the National Library of Australia reveals a much more complex story about a fascinating time in Australian history.”
The 1975: Living in the Seventies exhibition is open at the National Library of Australia, Parkes Place in Canberra from August 14 2025 to February 1 2026. Entry is free, no booking is required.
