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- Australian film industry dates back to the late 1890's (silent films), yet the interest from overseas in their films did not come until the 1970’s.
- It is estimated that making a feature film in Australia is about one tenth the cost of doing it in Hollywood.
- Paul Hogan’s movies include "Crocodile Dundee 1 & 2", "Lightning Jack", "Almost An Angel" & "Flipper".
- In 1956, the first pictures on a television overshadowed radio in Australia.
- Some of the first Australian series dramas were "Bellbird", "No. 96", "Skippy", "Homicide", "Matlock".
- The first Australian music shows were "Six o'clock Rock" & "Bandstand".
- Black and white TV was viewed by 98% of the population in 1970. In 1975, color TV was introduced to Australia.
- "This Day Tonight" was the beginnings of the current affairs shows in Australia (www.australianaustralia.com).
The most popular television shows in the 1990's were:
- Friends
- ER
- 60 Minutes
- A Current Affair
- This Is Your Life
- Mr. Bean Married
- With Children
- Hey Dad
- Home Improvement
- "Pulp Fiction" stayed in the top 40 video rental charts for 22 weeks, while "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" and "Shawshank Redemption" came in second and third respectively during the 1990's.
- The most rented video in Australia in 1997 was "The Long Kiss Goodnight", followed by "The Rock" and "Ransom".
- The annual attendance per person in Australia to the cinema is 3.9 times, compared with 2.0 for the UK and a whopping 35.3 times in Lebanon.
- Australian actress Nicole Kidman's biggest movies were- "Batman Forever", "Days Of Thunder" and "The Peacemaker."
- Australian Actor Mel Gibson's biggest movies were- "Lethal Weapon 3", "Ransom", "Lethal Weapon 2" and "Braveheart" (www.dingoblue.net).
The highest grossing films of all time in Australia are:
- Crocodile Dundee (48m)
- Babe (36m)
- Jurassic Park (33m)
- ET (32m)
- Forrest Gump (31m)
- Independence Day (30m)
- Star Wars (30m)
- Titanic (29m)
- The Lion King (27m)
- Mrs. Doubtfire (26m)
Music
- The most popular song of all time in Australia is "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. "Everything I Do" by Bryan Adams is second, and "Hey Jude" The Beatles third.
- Slim Dusty had the first No. 1 hit single in Australia, back when the first charts were started here in 1958. Slim dusty is a country music legend in Australia & has the world record for the longest recording contract with the same company: fifty years.
- The top three most successful bands in Australia in order are Dire Straits - "Love Over Gold", Fleetwood Mac - "Rumours", Led Zeppelin - "Led Zeppelin 2".
- The Beatles song "She Loves You" stayed in the Australian charts for 42 weeks back in 1963 (www.dingoblue.net).
Bands & Artists That Shaped Australia's Music History
Billy Thorpe began playing
in pop and blues bands in the early sixties. He also was
into Co-production, writing, singing and playing in one
of Mick Fleetwood’s (Fleetwood Mac) first bands,
“The Zoo.” He then formed “The Aztecs”
and produced some great early Aussie rock songs like-
"Most People I know think that I'm Crazy", and
"Over the Rainbow". He has now taken up writing
and has produced two semi-autobiographies about his life
in Sydney. They are called 'Sex Thugs and Rock 'n' Roll'
& 'Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)'.
The EasyBeats produced "Friday on my Mind"
an Easybeats classic song, set the scene for Aussie rock
in 1966 and also established Australia in the world rock
arena. They become one of the foremost live Aussie rock
acts. None of the members were Australian at that time,
two being Dutch & two British, living in Australia.
They were to become one of Australia's foremost live
bands.
Johnny O'Keefe was born in
Sydney 1935 and become Australia's first distinctive Rock
'n' Roll singer in 1956. He made the local Australian
charts in 1958 with "Wild One." "So
Tough" was the first of 5 No. 1 hits & 13 in the
top 10. The song "Shout" for which he is best
known, never made it to the top 10. In 1975 he released
"The Living Legend" which was awarded a
Platinum record. He died in 1978 from a heart attack.
Slim Dusty, (David Gordon Kirkpatrick), was born
at Kempsey, NSW in 1927. His country music record "A
Pub With No Beer" (released in 1957) still remains
one of his most popular. The song "A Pub With No
Beer" was released in eleven countries and was the
first Aussie song to appear in the English charts. He has
recorded over 1000 songs and has more than 100 gold
records.
Col Joye began his career with Johnny O'Keefe in 1958,
and his style of music at the time was directed at the
young audiences who were just getting their first taste
of television. Two of his best-known hits are "Sixteen
Candles" and "Bye Bye Baby."
Helen Reddy is great Australian singer who's biggest breakthrough came in 1972 with the song "I am a Woman." It became the theme song for the women’s liberation movement worldwide.
Peter Allen is an
Internationally renowned singer, songwriter and pianist.
Peter Allen grew up in Tenterfield NSW and then in the
late 50's he & Chris Bell formed "The Allen
Brothers" which took them on a tour around Asia and
The United States. They released several records together
until 1970 when they split up. His marriage of 3 years to
Liza Minnelli also broke up in 1970. Allen then moved to
New York and concentrated on his song writing and cabaret
act. His hits include "I Go to Rio" (1977);
"Tenterfield Saddler", "Quite Please,
There's a Lady on Stage", a tribute to his former
mother-in-law, singer Judy Garland; and "I Still
Call Australia Home". He won an Academy award for
his joint work on the theme song to the Dudley Moore
movie Arthur
Olivia Newton John was born in 1948 Cambridge England
but grew up in Melbourne Australia. In 1971 she moved to
the USA and did a cover of Bob Dylan’s "If Not
For You" which became her first international hit.
Later hits are "On the Banks Of the Ohio" (1971),
"I Honestly Love you" (1984 Written by Peter
Allen), "If you Love Me" (1975), "Your the
one that I Want" (1978) & "Physical" (1981).
She appeared in two films "Grease" (1978) &
Xanadu (1980). She is still in the music industry as well
as hosting a wildlife series on Television.
The Bee Gees -The Gibb brothers were born on The Isle
Of Man & started harmonizing together in their
bedroom in Britain at the end of the 1950's. The Gibb
family emigrated to Australia in 1958 and it wasn't long
before the brothers were singing in Aussie nightclubs. In
1964, inspired by the Beatle,s they become a teenage pop
group and used the money from their number one song
"Spicks & Specks" to head back to England
in 1966. Their first international hit was "NY
Mining Disaster,1941" and this led to a run of hit
songs also showing the song writing excellence of the
band. Some of their hit songs are 'Massachusetts','To
Love Somebody', 'Holiday', 'I've Gotta get a Message To
You','I Started a Joke', 'Lonely Day's', 'How Can You
Mend a Broken Heart'. They are up there with the
all-time great Aussie bands.
AC/DC - In 1963 the Young Family moved from Glasgow,
Scotland with their children; George, Angus, Malcolm
being the stars of the family of 9 children. George,
shortly after arriving with his family formed 'The
Easybeats'. His band had a profound influence on Georges
younger brothers Malcolm & Angus who then in 1973
formed the beginnings of AC/DC, (they got the name from
the back of a Vacuum cleaner.) Their first gig was on New
Years Eve 1973 in a small Sydney nightclub called
Chequers playing covers of Chuck Berry, The Rolling
Stones and The Beatles (www.dingoblue.net)
World View & Cultural Classification
* Traditions,
Holidays, Folklore, Myths
Language, Values, Proverbs * Nonverbal Issues
Australian
Educational System * Australian Healthcare
Improving Intercultural
Competence * Entertainment in Australia * Australian
Sports * Bibliography * Project Team
Cultural e-Résumés Home
Course Home
E-mail questions or comments to mkfinney@depauw.edu
January 26,
2001