Discussions on the history and historiography of Australia's New England

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

New England, generational change and the 1970s

This morning in a post on my personal blog I looked at Generational Change and the 1970s. In doing so, I deliberately chose Northern examples to continue fleshing out my thinking. Some things I have said before, but it all deepens my understanding.

What I didn't deal with are the detail of the social changes across New England after the Second World War. I know some of the changes because I was there. Others such as the story of Wytaliba I know little or nothing about.

Even where I do know something, my knowledge can be very patchy. For example, I don't know the details of the rise of Bellingen as a counter culture centre, I know very little of the detail of the rise of Byron Bay.

While I get very depressed at a personal level about New England history over the last forty years, one of the positives has been an increase in the diversity of New England life, the establishment of different local and regional traditions.

I would love to write more on some of this stuff not just to understand for myself, but to show people how they fit in. 

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