AustLit

'High school education underwent a radical change in Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, commensurate with the major changes experienced within other institutions and social environments. This article is an exploration of Australian television’s use of the schoolroom within drama during the 1970s, with a focus on three productions: 290 half-hour episodes of Class of ’74/’75, 39 hour-long instalments of Glenview High and a pilot for Jackson High, a one-hour show that was not developed but which proved to be a forerunner for Glenview High. The article demonstrates that such shows provide insight into attitudes to both schooling and to teenage life in Australia in the 1970s, as well as being in themselves important and engaging examples of early Australian television drama.' (Publication abstract)

Entrepreneur, aviator, publisher, publicist, propagandist, playwright, songwriter, motorist, land developer, dreamer: for five brief years it seemed like there was nothing Clement John DeGaris couldn’t do. He’d talk you into investing your life savings with a promise of doubling them in a year and then, when he lost them, he’d talk you into giving him more. He was dashing, patriotic, handsome, fearless and funny: men and women adored him. He’d put a ‘second storey’ on Mildura with his marketing skills and tenacious work in the fruit, irrigation and land industries; he was going to build a new home afresh at Kendenup, Western Australia. Along the way, he wrote and sold books and plays, songs, suburbs and a host of other equally remarkable schemes. There seemed to be little that C. J. DeGaris couldn’t achieve: he was a new kind of Australian man, modern, quickwitted, unflappable.

David Nichols tells the story of this extraordinary comet in the Australian sky of a century ago with a vigour, humour and empathy appropriate to DeGaris himself. The tragedy that the man brings upon himself and his family, and the cruelty of fate, make a universal story as well as an unexplored piece of Australian history that stretches from the birth of Mildura, through to the South Australian settlement of Pyap, to the exciting creation of a new kind of ‘colony’ at Kendenup, and Melbourne’s roaring twenties.  (Publication summary)

'Nichols examines the soundtrack album to Dogs in Space, focusing particularly on the tracks recorded by Ollie Olsen for the film and most notably on ‘Rooms for the Memory’, a song revived from Olsen’s band Whirlywirld and sung by Michael Hutchence. The song was a minor hit in Australia at the time and served both as publicity for the film and as a statement of intent for Hutchence and future aspects of his solo career. The chapter also explores the importance of the soundtrack both as a repository for music of the period examined in the film and a curation of recreated or re-recorded songs.'

Source: Abstract.

'Born in Adelaide in 1897, to a dysfunctional father and self-sacrificing mother, acting prodigy Fanny ‘Judith’ Anderson was her family's meal ticket from childhood. Her move to the USA at the age of twenty-one – with a letter of introduction to Cecil B. DeMille – might well have been disastrous, particularly as DeMille ‘rejected her as too plain’ (336). Yet this, like many setbacks, was no long-term impediment. DeMille, incidentally, cast her in The Ten Commandments thirty-eight years later.' (Introduction)

'Richard Lowenstein’s 1986 masterpiece Dogs in Space was and remains controversial, divisive, compelling and inspirational. Made less than a decade after the events it is based on, using many of the people involved in those events as actors, the film explored Melbourne’s ‘postpunk’ counterculture of share houses, drugs and decadence. Amongst its ensemble cast was Michael Hutchence, one of the biggest music stars of the period, in his acting debut.

'This book is a collection of essays exploring the place, period and legacy of Dogs in Space, by people who were there or who have been affected by this remarkable film. The writers are musicians, actors and artists and also academics in heritage, history, urban planning, gender studies, geography, performance and music. This is an invaluable resource for anyone passionate about Australian film, society, culture, history, heritage, music and art.' (Publication summary)

'David Nichols tells the story of Australian rock and pop music from 1960 to 1985 – formative years in which the nation cast off its colonial cultural shackles and took on the world.

'Generously illustrated and scrupulously researched, Dig combines scholarly accuracy with populist flair. Nichols is an unfailingly witty and engaging guide, surveying the fertile and varied landscape of Australian popular music in seven broad historical chapters, interspersed with shorter chapters on some of the more significant figures of each period. The result is a compelling portrait of a music scene that evolves in dynamic interaction with those in the United States and the UK, yet has always retained a strong sense of its own identity and continues to deliver new stars – and cult heroes – to a worldwide audience.

'Dig is a unique achievement. The few general histories to date have been highlight reels, heavy on illustration and short on detail. And while there have been many excellent books on individual artists, scenes and periods, and a couple of first-rate encylopedias, there’s never been a book that told the whole story of the irresistible growth and sweep of a national music culture. Until now ...'

Source: Publisher's blurb.