Albury, New South Wales, 1975
It’s 1975 and I’m living in the ’70s.
I do feel a bit edgy and also a bit weird, but none of the schoolboys I know are growing a beard. Quite the opposite; weekdays at conservative Albury High are spent wrestling with Pythagoras, Latin verbs and the Merchant of Venice, but on weekends and all through that blazing Riverina summer, the Murray River is our hang-out; our special place to go.
We pedal to Noreuil Park on our tredlies, with towels and transistor radios tucked into our baskets and pre-compulsory-helmet hair flying in the wind. None of us know the park is named after a French village where Australians fought and died. For us it’s simply a refuge from parents.
After we arrange our towels in a line facing the river, we adjust our bikinis, slap on tanning lotion and check out the boys. Who’s here? Who isn’t? Who’s ‘going’ with whom this week?
We turn the trannies and cassette decks to full blast, listening to January, Fox on the Run and that fabulous Skyhooks album again and again. We sing lyrics that we don’t understand and feel wise to actually know where Carlton and Toorak are. This isn’t about sheriffs getting shot, or the night Chicago dies – hell, some of us have even been to Lygon Street!
We love the way Shirl sings risqué lyrics; you just like me cos I’m good in bed and we wait for the 6 o’clock news punchline at the end of Horror Movie, happy to be shocked right out of our brains. Shirley, Red, Greg, Freddie and Bongo are clever. Pity none of them are as cute as Daryl and Garth from Sherbet.
We intersperse singing and sunbaking with swimming. Every hour or so we step carefully along the bush path beside the river, watching for tiger snakes (which we see regularly, and which are surprisingly speedy during nesting season) and make our way to the Hume Highway’s Union Bridge that links Victoria and NSW. In the ’70s you can still climb the pylons and jump off.
We spend hours leaping. We wave to truckers miming for them to toot their horns. They do. Then we jump, down down into the cool of the Murray. We know how to avoid snags and bridge footings, and somehow we all survive. Once in the water we swim quickly across the current and grab hold of the pylon scaffolding so that we can climb up and repeat the process.
When we tire of climbing and jumping, we let the current drift us back to our towels and trannies, still keeping an eye out for snakes swimming in the river; supposedly they can’t strike in water, but we don’t want to test the theory.
Such warm, sunny memories… In 1975 Albury is a popular half-way stop for touring bands and some crackerjack musicians pass through, thrilling our little universe. Late March and Skyhooks are in town. They play in a strange boxy room at the Albury Civic Centre. It’s a dreadful venue, but the lights are low and we’re wearing shiny satin pants. The fabric catches the strobe light as we dance and squeal and check out the boys (who aren’t dancing or squealing). Smoking is allowed and we all puff, trying to look cool. Boys – Marlborough Red. Girls – Winfield Green. I have sensitive eyes and spend most of the night wiping mascara from my weeping face while trying to look hot. A doomed endeavour.
By the end of that summer of ’75, AC-DC’s High Voltage rock and roll will detonate our playlist. Pop songs are about to become edgier, but in the meantime down by the river at Noreuil Park we’re still trying to make sense of Shirl’s provocative lyrics. Just what is a Toorak cowboy anyway?
Wonderfully evocative story, Dianne. My river of choice (convenience, really) was the Yarra, the “upside down” river that cuts through my home town, north east of Melbourne. Despite the geographical differences, nearly everything you write about here echoes my teenage summers by the river.
And the first time I heard Living in the Seventies? It was like that tiger snake you write about. It crossed my path and I am totally stunned, open-mouthed, transfixed and just a little bit frightened.
Terrific story. The images had that sun-faded orange tint of 70s nostalgia. Having written about my first exposure to Skyhooks (1974, first year uni) at Vinyl Connection, I thoroughly enjoyed your companion piece.
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for that great feedback.
I’ve just spent an hour dipping into Stereo Stories (including reading your fabulous pieces on John Lennon and Aretha, congratulations on those powerful stories). This format is so compelling isn’t it, and great the way music connects us and draws out shared memories of an era.
Thank you Bruce, ‘sun-faded orange tint of 70s nostalgia’ – what a gorgeous phrase!! Now I’m going back to read yours…
I loved your story Dianne. At first, as a fourteen year old, I could not see past the outfits, make up and theatrics so I didn’t like Skyhooks. Later on, after really listening to the lyrics, I grew in appreciation and realised how good they were. That may have come about one summer where the next door caravan was constantly blaring Living In The Seventies all day and night at the Point Lonsdale caravan park. I still love the guitar playing in Balwyn Calling and love to sing along to Lygon Street Limbo. I can’t remember ever swimming in the Barwon River in Geelong but I went canoeing on it a couple of times.
Hey thanks for that evocative feedback, David. I can just picture that caravan … Funny how things change isn’t it. As a teenager ABBA seemed so daggy but they’ve inspired so many great movies and spin-offs. Now I love their music too – must be getting old!! Thanks for sharing :-)
Great story and reflection on teenage life in a country town.
I spent many childhood summers down by the river at Noreuil too, as I often stayed in Albury with my grandparents over summer during the 70’s ( we were picnicking rather than partying)
Albury was bake off hot all the time. Used to buy my summer gear at Mates!
My Albury music memory is of ELO,, possibly late 70’s
Yep, I is another (late) 70s teenager. From the other side of the country, in Perth. Skyhooks were everything you captured especially the Australianism of their lyrics. You didn’t have to be from Melbourne to know they were singing about places familiar enough to us. Lucky for us West Aussies, Dave Warner turned up and gave us local references galore.
I was living in Sydney’s Northern beaches at the time when Dave Warner burst from the suburbs.
A lot of us got it despite the different place names.
Even on the Northern beaches we had our own the bleach blond headed Zongo
Lots of us went to the football just to hear ourselves scream just a suburban boy
Also saw Dave Warner at that time at The Manly Vale pub and it was packed.
Dave Warner, legend