From the rock ‘n’ roll and punk scenes, milk bars and schoolies, surfies, skaters, ravers and the modern-day Eshay, generations of young Australians have been creating culture, but much of it risks disappearing from the historical record.
A new archive dedicated to Australian youth culture could help unlock a richer, more inclusive national history, according to research from Griffith and Monash Universities.
Dr Christine Feldman-Barrett, from the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research, said a formal national archive celebrating the culture young people have created, collected and shared would provide a dynamic “third space” for youth to better understand themselves and their contributions to society.
“An archive like this could give young Australians a new way into Australian history, through the music, fashion, places, objects and experiences that actually mattered to them,” Dr Feldman-Barrett said.
“Youth culture has often been treated as fleeting or frivolous, but those throwaway trappings of teenage life, a diary, a T-shirt, a mix tape, can become powerful historical artefacts.”
The proposed archive would bring memories and objects together while also embracing the digital culture that increasingly defines young people’s lives, including gaming, websites and social media platforms.
The research suggested closer observation of young people’s experiences across time helps illuminate a wider scope of socio-historical realities such as the role and experience of different genders and ethnic communities.
Co-author Professor Paul Long from Monash University said he envisaged an Australian archive akin to London’s Museum of Youth Culture and Berlin’s Archiv der Jugendkulturen.
“These are not traditional archives, but dynamic spaces dedicated to collecting and sharing youth culture using exhibitions, workshops, digital projects and community participation,” Professor Long said.
The work highlighted an archive could also help bridge generations, helping young people see themselves as part of Australia’s history, while validating the experiences of older generations as worthy of historical attention.
“Everyone has been young,” Dr Feldman-Barrett said.
“That gives youth culture an extraordinary power to connect generations.”
The researchers argued this intergenerational exchange could be particularly valuable at a time when questions of belonging and social cohesion are increasingly important.
‘Imagining the Archive of Australian Youth Culture’ has been published in Cultural and Social History.
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