Batik Art

Batik is an Indonesian word and refers to a particular method of dying cloth known as 'resist dying', whereby part of the cloth is deliberately prevented from absorbing colour dyes. Instead of a uniformly patterned colour effect, Batik cloth is a vibrant mix of hues, with varying colour intensity on different parts of the cloth.

Wax or paste is commonly used in traditional resist dying - this is applied to various parts of the cloth before the whole is dipped in dye. As the wax is usually applied by hand and the process not exact, a more random colour pattern is achieved, with indistinct, rather than precise borders around the patches of colour. It's a process that has been used in Asia, Egypt and Africa since ancient times.

Skyhooks: Living in the 70s

They had flares, glam jumpsuits, dubious hair and plenty of attitude...Melbourne group Skyhooks was the quintessentially seventies band. In fact they even wrote a song about it - Livin' in the 70s, which shot up the charts in 1974. They were, in their day, a very popular band.  Love them or hate them (and not many people did hate them), Skyhooks were at least different. Visually, each band each member had a completely unique, theatrical presence - there didn't seem to be one cohesive style, although  musically, they were tight..

Split Enz

Originality was the key to Split Enz's success

The musically inventive and visually theatrical band Split Enz emerged in Australia in the latter half of the 1970s and while we were were more than happy to claim them, the band was in fact born in New Zealand. Enz was  formed at Auckland University in 1971 and the original line-up included Phil Judd, Tim Finn, Noel Crombie, Robert Gillies and Mike Chunn.

When Judd left the band (he later rejoined) the gap was filled by Tim's younger brother Neil and in 1974, noted  keyboard player Eddie Raynor joined the group. In the following year, after garnering a significant following in NZ, they made the shift to Australia, changing their name from Split Ends to Split Enz, as a fond nod to their home country.

Daddy Cool

Daddy Cool CD, "includes every hit they had"

Daddy Who? Daddy Cool?
According to Australian rock legend, what began as a tongue-in-cheek rock band in Melbourne in the early seventies, turned almost overnight into a serious success story. Harking back to the hip Beatnik lingo of a decade and a half earlier, the band was named, with affectionate humour, after The Rays, 1957 song, Daddy Cool.

Their first single, Eagle Rock was released in 1971, shooting to No 1 on the Aus. music charts and remaining there for ten solid weeks. Further successes followed with Come Back Again, Lollipop, and Hi Honey Ho. Most of the songs were written by lead vocalist, Ross Wilson, though a couple of 50s cover songs, Baby Let Me Bang Your Box and Sixty Minute Man appeared on the album Sex, Dope, Rock'n'Roll; Teenage Heaven.

Sharpies

Lobby Loyd and the Coloured Balls

In Melbourne and to a lesser extent, Sydney, in the late 1960s and 1970s, a new youth subculture emerged among the clubs and dances of the rougher suburbs. It was a shortlived enthusiasm but virally strong while it lasted.

This group took some but not all, of their inspiration from the British skinhead movement and were so concerned about their image and dress code,  they became known as Sharpies - ie; sharp dressers. In the 70s in particular they were a strong and sometimes oppressive presence...they seemed to be everywhere, usually hanging out in large groups.

En masse, hardcore Sharpies could be intimidating in a Clockwork Orange kind of way and with the impetus of group bravado, possessed a deliberately posed, tough, defensive attitude. Their band of choice was Lobby Loyd and the Coloured Balls and in the dance halls, where  they would form insular clusters, they had a peculiar, distinctive way of dancing...clenching their fists and pushing their head and arms up and down in jerking movements. 

Cultural Uniform
The Sharpie visual code was rigid. Male or female, you couldn't be a Sharpie if you didn't have  short hair, often with a few rats tails and ideally, pierced ears. Typically, they wore braces, high-waisted pants, striped cardigans, tight tees and ankle boots for boys/platform shoes for girls. Significantly, Sharpies had a powerful sense of belonging and thus an us and them mentality which tended to encourage aggressive feelings toward those outside the clan...especially those long haired, Neil Young-loving alternative types. Disenfranchised youth seeking identity and a sense of family? Probably.

Early Sharpies
For a fascinating look at the emerging Sharpie culture of the 60s, take a look this 1966 YouTube video which features a vintage report from the ABC show Four Corners. The Sharpies look more like clean cut refugees from the 1920s than aggressive skinheads, though according to the report, there were 'dangerous brawls' between the Sharpies and Mods, usually instigated by the former.  Sharpies, who had homophobic prejudices (as did many people back then), viewed the Mods as way too effeminate for their liking. It's also interesting to see the differences between the 60s and the 70s Sharpie scene just a few years later. These were the seeds of the movement: