Spotlight on the 60s

Panel event highlights all that’s changed, and stayed the same, over half-a-century of life in Bendigo.

UP to sixty years on, Bendigo locals are invited to a get together for an event celebrating the Post Office Gallery’s current exhibition, Modern Revolution: Bendigo and the 1960s.

The Modern Revolution exhibition incorporates the insights and memorabilia of a selection of people who grew up, lived and worked in Bendigo during the era.

Facilitated by guest curator Euan McGillivray, the upcoming 45-minute panel discussion will be joined by several of the 24 featured Bendigonians, who will talk through some of the major changes that took place way back then.

“The swinging sixties was the start of the permissive society, an exciting decade which really changed the world,” Mr McGillivray said.

“The exhibition uses their words, and they were able to discuss what happened in Bendigo as well as how it saw itself.”

Mr McGillivray said everyone interviewed for the exhibition remembered in particular “the loss of magnificent buildings in Bendigo during that time.”

“They also spoke of a freedom to achieve whatever they imagined. However, some were conscious of social inequalities and dangerous world events, such as the Cold War,” he said.

“While the 1960s became a time to self-reflect and discuss what type of future we wanted, it has been said that rural and regional populations were generally fairly conservative.

“An aim of the exhibition is to present, through the interviewed voices, Bendigo in the wider world.

“Some themes, while not Bendigo specific, had an impact on the interviewees – such as the moon landing, political assassinations in the USA, the contraceptive pill, Vietnam, equal pay and so on.”

The concept for the exhibition originated from the idea to pair it with the current Mary Quant show at the Bendigo Art Gallery – which is set deeply in the British 1960s – and to showcase what was happening in Bendigo at the same time.

Attendees will be able to visit the Post Office Gallery before making their way to the discussion at Bendigo Art Gallery’s Revolution Room.

Visiting curator Mr McGillivray is a legendary figure in the Victorian arts industry.

He has developed collections and exhibitions at Museum Victoria and was instrumental in the establishment of Scienceworks, Melbourne Museum and the Immigration Museum.

The panel takes place on Saturday 19 June, from 3pm to 3.45pm, with free tickets available via bit.ly/3cp4JXZ.

Modern Revolution: Bendigo and the 1960s runs at the Post Office Gallery, 51-67 Pall Mall, Bendigo until 29 August.