A new temporary exhibition opens this Friday at the Port Macquarie Historical Museum in Clarence Street, Port Macquarie.
Headlines and Hemlines is about the people, issues and events that shaped the 1960s with a local perspective. The inspiration for the exhibition came from the Port Macquarie Beatles Festival to be held over the weekend of March1-3.
The 1960s is regarded as a decade of political and social change in Australia, women began to question their restrictive roles in society, Indigenous people
were recognised as citizens, and the hippie revolution was reflected in new fashions, hairstyles and music.
Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War through conscription divided the community and there were demonstrations against the government. Some of the world’s biggest bands toured Australia
in the 1960s, including the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and
in 1964, the Beatles. Beatle-mania hit Australia with thousands of hysterical, screaming fans mobbing the band wherever
they went.
Headlines and Hemlines uses stories and images from the Port Macquarie News and objects and ephemera from the Port Macquarie Historical Society’s collection to reflect what life was really like here at home in the 1960s. Australia may have been undergoing great political and social change but for towns in regional Australia some of those changes would take a little longer to filter through.
The exhibition is on display until Friday, April5.
