The 60s were a decade of dramatic technological and social change. Internationally, we witnessed the Soviet Union and the USA take the Cold War into space where man finally walked on the moon; while back on Earth the contraceptive pill and amplified music fuelled revolutions between generations and between men and women. Although this proved to be a decade of student revolutions and "flower power", Cold War conflicts intensified: the Berlin Wall was built, the USA went into Vietnam, there was conflict in the Middle East, the world was taken to the brink of nuclear war over the Cuban missile crisis and Soviet tanks crushed the democratic movement in Czechoslavakia in the Prague Spring of 1968. We also witnessed on TV in our lounge rooms the tragic assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy.

Erection of the Berlin Wall	President Kennedy arrives in Dallas
Elvis Presley is "king"	Man walking on the Moon
Martin Luther King in Washington	Woodstock Music Festival

The 60s in Australia saw great change and excitement. Discoveries of massive mineral deposits made prosperity seem permanent. Cities rapidly increased in size and, despite controversy over the design, steady progress was made on the construction of the Sydney Opera House. The White Australia immigration policy was dismantled, and the government began to introduce social reforms for Aborigines and working women. Although affluence freed youth to indulge in the pleasures of the "surfie" cult - and in the avalanche of fashions, films and music - fear of the spread of communism (the "Dominoe theory") also spurred the Australian government to introduce conscription and go "All the way with LBJ" into the Vietnam War.

Harold Holt becomes Prime Minister	Beatlemania hits Australia
Mini Skirts raise eyebrows	Conscripts sent to Vietnam
Sydney Opera House takes shape	Charles Perkins and the Freedom Bus

To visit the School Archives for this decade,
simply CLICK on any one of the YEAR PLAQUES listed below.