Those Were the Days

In photographs and words, this beautifully presented book rekindles memories while providing glimpses of the 1960s in Australia: the Vietnam War and the conscription lottery; the Swinging Sixties, with its mini-skirts and changing fashions, the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the Australian group, The Seekers; the loss of a Prime Minister by drowning; the excitement of Kings Cross; the building of the iconic Opera House; the advent of decimal currency; Aboriginal recognition and the changing social patterns, including the arrival of immigrants from the UK and Europe; overseas working holidays for Australians; censorship; sporting successes and the new frontiers in Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland, with the mineral boom and new towns appearing in the desert.


The kaleidoscopic images are in both colour and black-and-white and are juxtaposed to emphasise the differences that emerged during this exciting decade of change.


Ron Morrison has been taking photographs for over 60 years. He started as a cadet photographer at the Newcastle Morning Herald in 1949 and left in 1959 to begin a press photographic agency. He later taught photography in the National Art School and was Head of Department in the School of Fine Arts at the NCAE (now University of Newcastle). Ron has a PhD (University of Wollongong), an MA in Graphic Design (University of Central England, UK) and a Dip.Art. He has exhibited widely and is the co-author of fifteen books. 



Elizabeth Morrison has a BA DipEd (Dist) from the University of Newcastle and has taught Professional and Media Writing in the School of Communications at Charles Sturt University. In addition to writing many articles, Elizabeth has written the text for five photographic books and recently a book on commonly confused words, The Right Word.