This exhibition slideshow provides a visual map of the exhibition including physical layout of key objects, audiovisuals and interactives that you can view before your visit to the museum. Objects with further information available online are hyperlinked to the Museum Online Collection Database for more in-depth study. Relevant online teaching and learning resources are featured at the end of the presentation. For best results, please download a copy of this slideshow for use on your computer.

1. The 80s are back
exhibition walkthrough

2. Exhibition walkthrough

3. Museum
entrance
The 80s are back
Exhibition
entrance
This exhibition walkthrough provides an overview of the:
• Physical layout and exhibition sections
• Key objects (click on the underlined numbers 1 to go to the Museum’s online collection)
• Audiovisuals and interactives
• Relevant online teaching and learning resources

4. The exhibition
explores Australian
life and popular
culture during this
formative decade
of social, cultural,
economic and
political change.

5. Objects:
1. Entrance - Multi-media tunnel
2. Community constructed exhibition title wall
2
1
The 80s are back exhibition entrance, level 3

6. Objects: Audiovisuals (AV):
1. Guard’s uniform from TV series Prisoner 4. Miniseries: excerpts from Bodyline, All the Rivers
2. Simon Townsend and his dog Woodrow Return to Eden (9mins)
3. Betamax video cassette recorder 5. Neighbours: Scott proposes to Charlene (2mins)
1
2
AV 3
1. On the screen
This section looks at some of the large and small screen stories of the decade.
From Mad Max to Neighbours, Crocodile Dundee to Prisoner, Australian stories
were making an impact on international screens.

7. Objects:
1. Apple ii 3. IBM PC
2. Tandy TRS-80 4. Commodore C64 computer
1
3
2
4
2. Video and computer games
The 80s were the golden age of video games.

8. Objects:
1. Sega Master System 3. Game Boy
2. Game & Watch 4. Nintendo NES
1
2
3 4
This section looks at some of the classics - Space Invaders, Pac-Man, Frogger,
Donkey Kong!

9. Objects:
1. Arcade Games 4. Apple Mac 128
2. Atari games 5. IBM PC
3. Mattel Intellivision
4
2
3
1 5
By the middle of the decade personal computers had moved games out of the
arcade and into the home, introducing a generation of kids to cyberspace and
setting the scene for the digital era.

10. Days of vinyl
3. Music
This section looks at the good, the bad and the ugly of the 80s music scene.

11. Objects:
1. Yellow dress worn by Kylie Minogue 3. Culture Club
2. School uniform worn on stage 4. Michael Jackson
by Divinlys’ Christina Amphlett
4
3
1
2
First there was post-punk and new wave … then there was Madonna, Michael
and MTV!

12. Subcultures:
1. Goth 3. Skinheads 5. Heavy Metal 7. Hip Hop
2. Rockabilly 4. Mod 6. Punk
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
4. Subcultures
The decade saw a burst of subcultures, with clothing, music and venue the
distinctive ‘badges’ of the different urban tribes.

13. Objects: View Audiovisuals Online:
1. Rockabilly outfit 3. Goths (11 mins)
2. Goth dress 4. Rockabilly (7 mins)
2
1
3
4
Goths & Rockabilly

14. Objects: View Audiovisuals Online:
1. Men’s mod outfit 3. Women’s mod outfit 5. Skinhead (6 mins)
2. Motor scooter 4. Skinhead outfit 6. Mod (9 mins)
1
3
4
2
5
6
Skinheads & Mod

15. Objects: View Audiovisuals Online:
1. Sharp boombox 4. Hip Hop: Rosana Martinez (8 mins) 6. Punk (8 mins)
2. Punk outfit 5. Hip Hop: Spice (6 mins) 7. Heavy Metal (6 mins)
3. Outfit - Wayne Campbell
2 3
4
5 1
6
7
Heavy metal, Punk & Hip Hop

16. Objects:
1. Mardi Gras 4. Drugs & alcohol:’just say no’
2. RAT party 5. Nightclubs
3. Sweatbox dance party 6. Music cube
1
2
5 3 6
4
5. Partying
The 1980s have been remembered as one big party. And it’s true there were a lot of
them.

17. Objects:
1. Music cube featuring:
RAT party: New Year’s Eve Sweatbox = Sweatbox
Severed Heads DJ Stephen Ferris 80s mix
1
As the decade progressed music fans began deserting live venues for the more
sophisticated pleasures of dance parties and nightclubs.

18. Objects:
1. RAT party T-shirts 4. Trousers & tail coat
2. Inflation’s Silver Lady 5. Waistcoat & trousers
3. Overalls handpainted in fluoro colours 6. SupeRATural banner
3
2 4 5
6
1
By the end of the decade Sydney was recognised as the dance capital of the
world.

19. Objects:
1. Projection of the AIDS Memorial quilt
2. AIDS memorial quilt project
1
2
6. The AIDS crisis
In the early 1980s news reports surfaced of a deadly disease that became
known as Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).

20. Objects:
1. AIDS education
1
Australia led the world in AIDS prevention, with the gay community in particular
rallying to educate people about the virus.

21. Objects:
1. Dressing for success
2. Interpreting celebrity style
3. ‘New age Business suit’
1
2
3
7. Fashion
The 80s saw as many fashion styles and statements as there were parties,
boardrooms and protest marches where you could wear them.

22. Objects:
1. Aerobics outfit 4. Wedding dress inspired by Princess Diana’s gowns
2. ‘Gold lame evening dress’ 5. Silver & black gown
3. ‘Stay Alive in 85’ T-shirt
5
4
1 3
2
This section looks at a few of these fashion statements and what they tell us
about the decade.

23. Objects:
1. ‘Aboriginal paisley’ by Bronwyn Bancroft 4. ‘Bran cusi’ dress, by Katie Pye
2. ‘Madame Lash’ costume 5. ‘Opal passion’ outfit, print by Jenny Kee
3. ‘Je suis mod’ dress
1 3
4
2
5
One of the styles that emerged in Australia was the ‘art clothes’. Artists and
fashion designers created garments that combined art, craft and fashion.

24. Objects:
1. Star Wars figurines
2. The A-Team
3. Knight Rider toys
2
1
3
8. Fads and toys
The 1980s was of conspicuous consumption and ‘must have’ products for kids
& adults alike.

25. Objects:
1. Sylvanian Families 4. Rubiks Cube
2. Swatch Watch 5. Yo-yo
3. Trivial Pursuit board game
2
1
5
3
4
Cashed-up parents were made easy targets for marketing techniques that
made toys like Rubik’s Cubes essential items for Generation X kids.

26. Objects:
1. Garfield soft toy
2. My Child doll
3. Puggle in a bag soft toy
1
2
3
This section looks at a few of these quintessential 80s items.

27. Objects:
1. Teenage girl’s bedroom
1
See what a teenage girl bedroom would looked like in the 80s.

28. Objects:
1. Xmas Day at Sans Souci 4. Optus Tower model
2. ‘Blue Holden’ 5. ‘Carlton’ room divider
3. 100% Mambo print
5
4
1
3
2
9. Design
This section looks at some of the memorable design statements of the decade.

29. Objects:
1. ‘Sunset in New York’ sofa, Gaetano Pesce 4. ‘Tree Tops’ floor lamp, Ettore Sottsass
2. Monorail 5. ‘Murmansk’ fruit stand, Ettore Sottsass
3. Pareo/ sarong, ‘Barrier Reef Garden’, by Ken Done
4
1
3
2 5
The 80s were definitely the decade of excess. Minimalism was out and an
irreverent exploration of colour and form was in.

30. Objects:
1. Timeline
1
10. Big events
This section includes a timeline and looks at some of the big events and
movements that defined the decade.

31. Objects:
1. Timeline
1
The 80s may be remembered as one big party but around the world the decade
was also a time of social upheaval and extremes …

32. Objects: Audiovisuals (AVs):
1. ‘Anybank’ 4. Migration in the 1980s 6. Bicentennial celebrations (5 mins)
2. The 1988 Bicentenary 5. Protest movement 7. Indigenous response to Bicentennial (8 mins
3. The Indigenous response 8. Migration story (5 mins)
3
2 AV
5
4
1
… prosperity & recession, celebration & disaster, soaring salaries &
unemployment, cold war rhetoric & perestroika.

33. Objects:
1. ‘Australia Day = Invasion Day’ poster 4. ‘Stop the drop’ T-shirt
2. ‘You are on Aboriginal Land’ poster 5. ‘Peace on where?’ poster
3. ‘We have survived ‘ poster 6. Dr Bob Brown’s beanie
4
1
5
2
3
6
Alongside the ‘greed is good’ philosophy, concern about the environment, the
threat of nuclear war and third world poverty galvanised public action and
protest.

34. Objects:
1. Spod’s stage outfit
2. Gallery Serpentine outfit
3. Dangerfield outfit
3
2
1
11. The Neo 80s
How far will the 80s revival go? Take a look at this section and find out.

35. Objects:
1. The Presets costumes
1
Young bands are pushing the 80s pop into strange and compelling shape, and
the striking shoulder pads are at the cutting edge of fashion.

36. Online resources & related program materials
1. The 80s are back exhibition,
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/the80sareback/
2. The 80s are back exhibition teachers notes,
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/pdf/education/teachersnotes/80s.pdf
3. The 80s are back syllabus links,
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/the80sareback/index.php/education/cu
rriculum-links/
4. 80s memories: trivia & facts, film & TV, music, video games, fashion,
subcultures, people and vox pops -
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/the80sareback/index.php/category/rem
embering-the-80s/this-week-in-the-80s/
5. Q&As with notable 80s people
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/the80sareback/index.php/category/rem
embering-the-80s/people-of-the-80s/
6. Vox Pops from the visitor kiosk,
http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/the80sareback/index.php/category/rem
embering-the-80s/vox-pops/
7. Australia in the 1980s Flickr Group,
http://www.flickr.com/groups/australiainthe80s/

37. 8. Migration Heritage Centre, http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/
9. ABC’s 1980s timeline, http://www.abc.net.au/archives/timeline/1980s.htm
10. Teaching Heritage NSW’s 1980s timeline,
http://www.teachingheritage.nsw.edu.au/2timelines/timefr.html
11. Design Institute of Australia’s Design timeline,
http://www.dia.org.au/content.cfm?id=115
Related Powerhouse exhibitions & resources
1. Yinalung yenu: women’s journey, level 4
2. Inspired! Design across time, level 3
3. Ecologic: creating a sustainable future, level 1
4. Cyberworlds: computers and connections, level 1
Image credit: All images used are from the Powerhouse Museum collection
Powerhouse Museum Learning

38. Exhibition walkthrough