Old School Australia Just Hits Different 😎 

The 80's was my teenage years, really bad fashion decade, but amazing time for Australian music.

the speedo is called Budgie smugglers here in australia

The 70s and 80s was the best time in history to be a teenager. Total freedom

FYI Speedo was originally Australian

Hi Ian, the picture of the Melbourne street is Swanston St it’s a main road that runs north/south up the middle of the city, it is in the seventies not sixties because if you look on the street at the Bradmans building you’ll see there’s a red 1972 HQ Holden parked in the gutter also the yellow car on the right is a British Leyland which only came out in 1971.

The bike is a Ducati. The photo labeled 1960's I think is 1970's as the red car to the left looks like a HJ Holden and the yellowish car next to the tram looks like a Datsun 120Y.

@12:10 The 1970s street picture of Melbourne with the trams, etc. Was taken on the corner of Flinders and Swanston street from the old now demolished Princes Bridge station (it's now part of Federation Square) opposite it to the left of this photo is Flinders Street station, the Bradford sign is on the renowned Young and Jackson hotel and St Paul's cathedral is on the other corner to the right of this photo. And yes I'm old enough to easily remember seeing this intersection as it is in the photo.😢

A lot of changes happened in the 60's and 70's. Our currency changed from pounds to dollars, measurements changed from imperial to metric, speed limits changed from mph to kmph and cars had to be fitted with seatbelts, which was not mandatory before. I was in primary school so not only were we learning the old way, but suddenly we were also having to learn to convert everything as well.

Oh my golly gosh, you're a year younger than my son. The 80's (and 90's) were great, especially the bloody music I enjoyed that, thanks Ian.

Love these videos of old school life. Much easier times, much simpler and heaps of fun.

14:33 I first went to school just as they were rolling out metric into the curriculum (a couple of years ahead of the metric changeover. Since the teachers were learning metric themselves, they thought in terms of conversion from imperial to metric and inadvertently taught us both systems😆 And in turn, us kids had to teach the rest of the adults

That picture in Melbourne with the trams was not in the 60s. It was early 70s. If you look at the red car in front of the tram it’s a HQ Holden sedan

I’m 69 and was an apprentice electrician working on the half round building in 1971 for 3 yrs and use to walk one block south to Elizabeth st and flinders st t intersection in from of flinders station. Hot flavourded milk shacks at the cafe. Merry Christmas to you and your wonderful family.🇦🇺✌️🇺🇸🌲

Aged 14 I also saw The Beatles in Melbourne,1964. Magic times.

Fun Fact: Speedo is an Australian brand, started in 1928 Bondi

Maybe the ladies in the wedding party look unhappy because of the lack of room due to their damn shoulder pads! 🤣🤣

the 80's was the best.

We had advisory speed signs on corners. We used to take the kilometre ‘suggestion’ and try to do it in miles.

Those photos of the 90's got me reminiscing about day of old. Throughout out the 90's I had long hair, down to the middle of my back. I lived in a small mining town in Central Queensland. I worked hard & partied harder. Put on a little reggae music (with a spliff) or garage or grunge (Very loud) or hair metal (Big time). Sitting around a raging camp-fire, drinking until you fell over, in the middle of a national park's camp-grounds. Oh how I miss the 90's.

Fantastic photos, I am the keeper of five generations of family pics and recognised many of the fashions! 😂 I used to watch a lot of old movies with dad too, and remember many showing maximum speed of 30mph, I thought wow, I could bicycle faster! 😁👍

I was only 13 when I saw the Beatles at Sydney Stadium but that makes me old enough to remember a lot of the stuff in the other photos. Changing to metric was a gradual process over several years starting with the change to decimal currency in February 1966 and changing the speed limits was probably one of the last. It wasn’t as hard as you would think, prices were displayed in both currencies at first, the weatherman gave both temperatures when he told us the forecast after the news each night and their were lots of tv and radio ads and free information booklets. Those short shorts on the men were something else, weren’t they? We had a footballer called Warwick Capper who wore the shortest, tightest shorts imaginable. My sister and I called them his Playtex shorts because the Playtex bra slogan was about how they ‘lift and separate’! The best part of 90s fashion was losing the giant shoulder pads that were part of 80s fashion. I would love to see you do more of these.

KMart clothing is cheaper now than it was in the nineties. I remember metric starting in Australia when I was in Grade 6 in 1972. We were learning conversions in Grade 6. The Concorde had just started passenger flights, too, if I'm remembering correctly.

The girl with the Beatles ticket reminds me of my mother telling me that the Beatles motorcade stopped on the way into Melbourne from Essendon airport to pick up my Godmother. She was a stunner.

I miss the 90s also man. I remember thinking back at the end of 99 that things don’t need to get any better…. Then all the shit hit the fan after 2000. 🤷🏻‍♂️

The Melbourne shot with the trams looks like the intersection of Swanston and Flinders Sts, with the Young and Jacksons hotel on the left hand side of the photo, which means St Pauls Cathedral would have been on the right and Flinders St station is opposite Y&J's hotel. Y&J's is home to the famous painting of Chloe (a nude female which hangs is the main bar).

G'day Mate! That shot of Melbourne with the trams...I'm pretty certain that lower left is a bright red HQ holden which came out in 1971 so possibly not from the mid 60's... Cheers!

I started driving in Australia in the mid 1990s, and it still hadn't become very unusual to convert speeds from miles/hour to kilometres/hour. At least it wasn't unusual when buying a first car as anything over 20 years old still had an MPH speedo.

I started school just after they changed to metric. We got our drivers license at 17, for me that was 82 right at the time 2nd hand EH and HR holdens where cheap and if you wanted to pay a bit more you could pick up an SLR Torana, A9X and GTR XU1 or the cream of the crop, an XB Ford Coupe. 77 Bathurst one two baby. Those were the days. AC/DC Sydney 1981, the release of Hells Bells. what a concert. Cold Chisel last Stand 1983, another (you had to be there). The Werriikimbi 4 Day Music Festival 1984. 19 bands including Barnesy, The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Redgum. That was huge (and mind altering). Dire Straights 1986 final Aus tour. Another mind altering event but that was perfect for Dires Straights performance in the Sydney Entertainment Centre. A five year span, that had to be experienced to truly imagine those opportunities lost to time. Best time to be a bloody aussie.

The metric conversion happened during the model run of the HQ Holden. In the 80s local holden's and fords had metric bolts on the body and imperial in the drive line.

The metric changeover of traffic went so smoothly I don't even remember it and I was a driver at the time.

I am so glad my dad didn't wear budgie smugglers, he wore stubbies thank god. My brother wore his footy shorts everywhere in summer in the 80s.

Born, Sydney , 1964. Loved the late 60's. Hated the 70's. Loved and totally miss the 1980's. Live Pub Rock, bright day-glo everything. 6 hours in the water surfing at Wanda/ North Cronulla then home to zap pizza and rewatch Top Gun. Bathurst wasn't a two horse race back then either. Houses had proper backyards.

Speedo= budgy smugglers

Awesome as always mate. I love it when you laugh at us, knowing full well you get us. You truly are one of us. Love to the whole family mate

I learnt to drive in a car with miles on the dash in the mid 80's. I still remember the conversion rate for miles to kms.

I can use both quite easily. When we switched to metric many businesses used it as an opportunity to rip off consumers by giving less for the same price. The switch was fairly easy to do. Teachers had to be the first to learn and then teach it to kids. Conversion tables were available for everyone to use.

I remember my Dad, buying a clear decal, with Km/hour on it that he stuck onto the speedometer in our car. I sat in the car and watched him apply it, hesitantly, because he was worried about lining it up properly with the miles per hour already on the speedo.

In New Zealand, we also changed from MPH to KPH, dad bought a really tidy low mileage AP6 Valiant that year, the government supplied little KPH stickers for old MPH speedometers, and unfortunately the Valiant's prior owner had messily stuck them on with Ados glue ,a bit annoying.

I was at the Beatles concert in Sydney that year. It was at the Stadium with a revolving stage . I was 3 rows back.

That shot of Melbourne looks like the intersection of Swanston Street and Flinders Street, looking up Swanston from maybe opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. That’s the famous Young & Jackson pub on the left with the Bradmills advert on the top. I had my first Australian McDonald’s a few doors up from there just over 20 years ago, and sat there being all Britishly taken aback by all the armed cops wandering in and queueing up for their lunch. Yes, Aussie cars only have km/h on the speedos - another one of those things expats like me find odd for a bit. We’re used to both mph and km/h markings because driving your own car in Europe is something Brits do now and then, just as Americans sometimes go to Canada or Mexico. Australia is of course a very long boat from anywhere that uses miles.

You are from 92? wow now I feel really old.. in 92 I had just started on my second five year contract in the french foreign legion.. Those pictures are full of nostalgia.. From a time I remember well but from a part of the world far from where I grew up.

The bike is a spitting image of one from the old James Bond movies, where they fire rockets from them.

Speedo is an internationally renowned Australian company. With that said, they’re better known here as Budgie Smugglers.

and before going metric the currency changed from pounds shillings and pence to decimal currency in Australia and New Zealand in the later 60,s.....67, 68. I remember my oldest brother giving me some play money for my birthday and he told me 'that's the sort of money we are getting soon. A double scoop ice cream cone went from sixpence to 5 cents (relavant to a 5 year old.) I was taught both systems in school.🙂

I don’t know if anyone has answered yet but the picture from the 1960s in Melbourne is Swanson Street. The picture is of the buildings opposite the State Library of Victoria. It’s a pretty icon subject matter. If you do a quick google search you can use this backdrop and see Melbourne transform throughout the decades. X

At time stamp 11:33, the green and yellow Melbourne trams, I was a conductor on them from the Essendon tram depot in the early 1970s, don't know the street. I was 14 years old when we switched the metric system. Cheers.

I was 18 in ‘92, not the same country anymore….

Don’t forget that roller skating movie Xanadu was made late 70s, released 1980 so there’s indication of skating early 80s. Xanadu starred our first Margot Robbie - Olivia Newton John.

Fashion has changed a lot.. I remember I was fully invested in baggy type post grunge jeans and with a chain for my waist belt what a style that was. Made you look badass. 😂😂 Also we miss the 90s too.. we. can relate. The internet didn't make you dumber. 😂

I was born in 82, and yea, I miss the 90s too. I was 13 in 95. Simpler times 🤘

You should check out these two Aussie movies...Don's Party & The Odd Angry Shot.

It looks like a Ducatti to me, Ian judging from the emblem on the front...I was at that Beatles concert, in Sydney 1964, the old Stadium at Rushcutters Bay....I was 15 years old...Unfortunately, I dont still have the ticket....It was amazing! I remember the old trams well.. I used to travel on them with my grandmother all the time....We used to have the same ones in Sydney....Think that be Spencer St in Melbourne...I grew up with the old imperial system in Australia, so I remember it well...I was 10 years old when Buddy Holly and his friends passed away...

My own appreciation for their nation started about 1981 after discovering Radio Australia on shortwave radio in the middle the night (US Central Time). "What is that song?!?" I'd later discover that it was 10yrs old the first time I heard it. Legendary. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oQfAZVsz6KM.html

If you want to get a feel for Australia in the 60’s watch a movie called “Wake in Fright” scarred me for life.

Bastard stole the kid's cricket stumps to prop up the bloody barbie!

Might be worth having a look at Front Up a SBS show from the 90's. The host would interview random people walking by all over Australia. Everyone has a story.

My parents both told me that the conversion was fairly easy for them. They were 18 and 15 at the time

I can remember kilometre conversion stickers. That you could buy and stick on to your speedometer plastic clear cover.

Yep, deffo a Ducati. Probably a Desmo, maybe a Darmah with a fairing.

IWRocker. That MELBOURNE picture is in Swanston Street, when it had cars. Now it is CLOSED to through traffic. The little YELLOW CAR is a Datsun 120Y. 1200cc 4 speed 4 cylinder. Popular for 1st Car Buyer of the time.

The change over in 1974 came at the right time for me, I was 12 and can work in both systems and convert in my head. 2023 driving a 1957 Ford Mainline at 60, pulled over by the police ..... but officer I was not doing 100 in a 60 zone, my speedo said I was only doing 60.

Yeah it was a bit of a hard thing to get your head around with metrics as I went to school starting in 1960 and was taught pints and gallons, feet, inches, fathoms, furlongs miles and chains, ounces, pounds and tons so it wasn’t easy and I remember buying a sticker that went over my existing speedometer for my pretty new 1972 LJ GTR X-U1 (wish I still had it) that was designed to fit that model that showed kilometres per hour as well as well as smaller miles per hour and companies made these for the majority of popular cars, I also remember for many years after having to do quick calculations in my head where I would convert metric to British imperial to get a comparison like four and a half litres being equivalent to a gallon etc, believe it or not but I still think and speak in old imperial measurements quite often

"...even THAT looks nostalgic now - it's freaky how the 90s, early 90s, seem like they're far away now... wow." Feeling old, Ian? 😂 (NB: I was born early 70s, so imagine how I feel!)

Oh WOW. That looks like my photo albums. 😂 That made my day! Thanks mate😆

Not certain of others but early 2000's Jaguars had a button on the dash that switches from miles & mph to klm & kph on the speedometer.

Awesome vid mate for some of us we still live this old school life the bikes the trips the camping the cars why change what’s already wicked

There was a short period when some cars had both mph and kmh...my dads Holden HZ Kingswood Wagon had large mph and small kmh on the speedo...but subsequently old cars only had mph and newer cars only had kmh.

The “60’s” Melbourne pic is actually the “70’s” hj Holden, Gemini and 120y Datsun

I learnt both metric and imperial measurements, i went to school in the 60s and 70s . Still to this day i can convert all imperial measurements into metric and back . Some conversions we were taught 2.2 lbs = 1 kg ( 1 lb = 450 gms) , 10 mph = 16 kph ( 6mph=10 kph )and as a rough calculation Celsius into Fahrenheit is double it then add 30 , not exact but close enough to know whats what .

The Bike WAS INDEED a Ducati . Pantah 650 model I believe , although could have been 600 of even 500 . I'm thinking , the Wedding Photo , the Bride has just spotted that the Parents are starting to fight , and the Boys are BETTING on the Outcome . 🤣

The motorcycle in the second pic is already a decade old at that time. It was the last gasp of the Ducati 900 SS.

I can't remember much of the 90s, I was drunk most of the time.

First one Speedos up is classic, Buggie Smugglers (What is the difference between a budgie and a budgerigar? Budgerigars, or budgies, are most commonly known in the United States as parakeets. They are native to Australia,) you welcome.. XD

I can't even remember why Australia converted from imperial to the metric system of measurements, even though the United Kingdom and the United States - our two biggest allies - were still using imperial measurements at the time. We just accepted, apart from expressing our annoyance from time to time at having to convert from imperial to metric. Incidentally, even though Commonwealth countries started transitioning towards the metric system in the 1960s, it didn't all happen at once. In Australia, for example, road signs switched from mph to km per hour and fuel switched from gallons to litres at the petrol bowser in July 1974, but it wasn't until 1988 that the government formally announced that it had completely transitioned to the metric system. I myself converted back to inches and miles for a long time after the changeover (old habits die hard) but I eventually gave in to the new system. I did keep my old SAE spanner and socket tool set for a long time, however, even when automotive industries converted to metric, since every now and then I would have to work on old cars that had been built with SAE/AF sized fasteners. Not too many of those around now, though.

The cars on the photo at 11:22 tell me that’s later than the 60’s. I can see a Datsun 120y and a Holden Gemini so probably mid 70’s IDK

I have so many retro pics of my parents around my house. The classic 70s hippy pics, Dad's hair almost as long as Mum's. The bell bottoms and no shirt, cheesecloth short dresses, the strictly classified bong-circle pics with the uncles (you're damn right I framed them), then we move into the 80's perms and pornstache with shoulder length hair and terry short shorts. Iconic. My Mum's fashion sense and style was absolutely stunning, but my Dad's was a great source of laughs. My 80s fashion was simply running round the backyard butt ass nekkid covered in mud.

The UK also has MPH and KPH on car speedos and MPH on road signs. Only 9% of the planet still use MPH. Apart from the US and UK, it's mostly a handful of current or previous British and US colonies/territories that still cling to the old ways.

You really are an old soul Ian. Good onya.

In 1947 Australia signed the Metre Convention, making metric units legal for use in Australia. In 1970 the Metric Conversion Act was passed, allowing for the metric system to become the sole system of measurement. 1987 - the property industry, the last major industry holdout, converted to metric. 1988 - with Western Australia fully implementing the change, metrication was completed nationwide and the metric system became the only system of legal measurements in Australia.

1974 was my first year of high school. I’d been using imperial all through infants and primary school and had to learn metric in high school lol. My first car 1980 had mph on the Speedo

the bike is a DUCATI 900 s2 maybe 1984 bevel drive. (Gear driven cams)

The bike is a Ducati 900S2. I had one .

The change over to the metric system in Australia actually started from 1947 and was finally nation wide by 1988.

The cars pre-metric all had mph, cars during the switch were manufactured with dual graded speedos (like you said about US cars), and then they eventually just came in kph. I remember early HQ Holdens were mph, then transitioned to both, and the newest ones had kph only (my dad's was kph, 74 model). You could buy stickers for your speedo for older cars to stick over the older numbers. American cars added kph in the 1970s when Canada went metric. Previous to that they only showed mph. The funny thing is cars sold in the US had the mph as the dominant with kph as the secondary, while "exports" had the kph as the dominant and mph as the secondary.

1992 the year i remembered very well if its yesterday i was 25 years of age so when you mentioned you were born in that year oh it makes me feel really old 😆

Jeez, Mark. I was just going to post about the Maroon Kingswood and the Datty. Ha.

The closest I can come up with for the Ducati is a 1984 MHR 900. A beast. I got my licence in 1975. Back then there were no speed limits outside of the towns and cities. In NSW, the state maximum limit of 100kph was introduced in 1978. How we survived in our V8 falcons and holdens still makes me wonder.

the photo of melbourne 1960s is actually mid to late 70s going by the cars

Sweden changing from left hand drive to right in 1967 would have been even more difficult.

I was 7 years old in 1974 and certainly remember the MPH signs on the road and that our car had both MPH and KPH on the speedometer. These days with digital displays, it's easy enough to convert between the two.

Decimal currency was introduced in 1966 ( the year I was born) my family was still having to do conversions 10 years later so I learned both 😂🤷‍♀️ same went for speed and. Measurement. We learned both at school

Growing up as a true blue Aussie Cricket fan 🏏 nothing was more exciting & more Australian than a Summer of Cricket! I have always wished that I got to experience Cricket during the 70s & 80s - just watching the highlights had me buzzing with excitement - but at least I got to enjoy the 90s & early 2000s! So imagine: hot, sweltering & humid heat always in or around the 40°c mark - so bloody hot that your thongs melt to the tarmac & your entire body is constantly sheathed in layers of dripping sweat; the smell of VB or XXXX beer, BBQed meat & chlorine from the swimming pool lingers heavily in the air & the familiar sound of Richie Benaud, Tony Gregg & Bill Lawrie commentating the current Cricket match on the TV, OR the radio is switched over to ABC Grandstand - anything just to make sure you don't miss a single wicket or 6! Australia, of course, in the lead. Christmas is nearly here & you're looking forward to being able to play Cricket with the relo's rather than by yourself against a brick wall, & knowing that the Boxing Day Test would be the next day. I was even nicknamed: "Warnie" for my love of spin; & then there was the rest of my boys: Gilly, Simmo, McGrath, Punter, Hayden, the Waugh Brothers, Gillespie.... watching Brett Lee & Shoaib Akhtar go head to head with their fast pace, pegging the ball at each other in excess of 160km/hr... Every ball bowled was a potential wicket & had you on the edge of your seat - every wicket taken would have you jumping up & down cheering loudly & every wicket lost was booed.... Ah mate, THOSE were the days - what an INCREDIBLE atmosphere, there truly was nothing like it - it was M.A.R.V.E.L.L.O.U.S, as the great 12th man would say 😉 Then all of a sudden, all my boys retired, pretty much at the same time (making the same mistake the Windies made, that cost THEM their form), they even changed the Cricket tune - no more "ya da da, ya dada da..." The DRS really went to shit, relying too heavily on technology; & quite frankly, was disrespectful to the Umpires... Cricket just suddenly lost all its shine - like an old, well used cricket ball. It died. No more buzzing, excitement inducing atmosphere anymore. Now I just sit quietly on the lounge & watch it 🤷‍♀️ But anyway, that's my Australian story of nostalgia I thought I'd share - I know some of you can relate, but for those of you who can't: I feel sorry that you never got to experience a great Australian Summer of Cricket 🏏🥵🍻🇦🇺

They're called "budgie smugglers" here.

Every dad and grandad have a pair of Speedo's/Budgee Smugglers on hand here in Aus. Especially in the back of the car lolz. Surf lifesaving, Lido's and Rowing regatta's are very popular here.

We also used Fahrenheit measurements for temperature up till the early 70s then it changed to Celsius

That 70's shot of Melbourne would've been Swanston Street with the red HQ/HJ and I could be wrong but that orange car may have been a Datto(Datsun/Nissan). In 1974, I would've been 1 so I can go from imperial to metric and vice versa(depending on the situation).

There were crescent shaped "K's per hour stickers that went on the speedo. Just line up the 35 and 60 on the sticker.

The motorcycle is a Ducati 900S2, early 80s.

DEFINITELY a Ducati! I had a black late 70’s/early 80’s Ducati Darmah that was easily the best bike (including sound) that I ever had. Cheers from Oz.

Those kmart prices in the catalogue are actually quite expensive for the day. The prices are a bit cheaper now actually in kmart. The most expensive clothing now would be $40, cheapest would be say $15 jeans and $8 tshirts. Regular bra would be $12, still get a nice dress for $20.