Figure 1.--These boys with their blazers and short pants probably attend a private school. The image is from a series of one off drama's entitled "The Worst Day of My Life". |
|
Foreign programing, especially American programing, made up much of the early programing that children watched in Australia. HBC knows relatively little about actual Australian TV shows. Some Australian shows have been sindicated in other English-speaking countries, especially Britian. For some reason, however, they have not appeared in America. Hopefully our Australian readers will provide some information about Australian television. The best known Australian television proram is 'Neighbours', a film anout the daily goings on among the families on Ramsey St, a Melbourne suburb. Over the years since 1985, quite a number of boys have been featured on the program. One of the most well known Australian children's films is 'Skippy'--sort of an Australian 'Flipper' only about a kangaroo.
Foreign programing, especially American programing, made up much of the early programing that children watched in Australia. An Australian reader who was a boy in the 1960s-70s reports, "I watched the same diet of American TV shows like the 1950's Lassie series, Leave It to Beaver, The Munsters, cowboy films, Walt Disney, tv movies and quality shows like My Three Sons, the Andy Griffith Show, Gentle Ben, and many, many others far to many to numerous to mention."
HBC at this time has information on only a few TV programs actually produced in Australia. We would be very interested in comments on these programs from our Australian readers. There wer plenty of Childrens shows on ABC Australia and her commercial network cousins. Several were very well done. We have only limited information on them at yhis time. Hopefully our Australian readers will provide more information.
Gameshows-Amazing has children in play shorts uniform vie to win prizes for their school.
Arround The Twist is still on air from 1993 onwards. The boys and girls wear school uniforms and I think the youngest boy wore grey shorts to school.
'Bellbird' was a long-running Australian TV series. It had an occasional casually dressed boy or two in it.
'Big Breakfast 10' had a childrens breakfast show with uniformed kids vying for prizes plus cartoons and [?pg] childrens TV shows.
Blockbuster is a kids show where the children tend to wear more formal uniforms. Boys in grey school shorts uniform from Queensland and New South Wales schools and girls in dress uniforms try to block out each teams counter blocks. I think there were 8 children per school team per 5 day program. Two children start each round till the end of the day when one student tries to score more points on their own without a partner or opposition team school. All the audiance is also uniformed.
|
A reader tells us about 'Bootleg', a BBC Australian/English joint production with an interesting premice. It was a serial made for children's TV as a three-part mini series in 2002. I think it was shot in Australia. The BBC mini serial was based on a novel of the same name by Alex Shearer (1949- ). It was about banning chocolate, I'm not sure just why. Kind of an early appearance of the modern food police. It was set in the future and England was a totalitarian state. Chocolate was an excellent device to get children's attention and illustrating what totalitarian state could mean. The Head Mistress of a secondary school was a staunch supporter of the ban. Meanwhile impotrant officials of the state were secretly eating chocolate. The Japanese made a 13- part cartoon series based on the book/TV program called 'Chocolate Underground' (2009).
This is about some young ladies who are about to commit themselves to Jesus forever as nuns. It features boys and girls in 1960s school uniforms.
The children wear American style clothing. Huck Finn Riverboat storylines with two stowaway ghosts and kids in American-influenced clothing. I think in some stories uniforms were worn but I'm not sure.
ABC show made by Barron Films featured many children and their madcap adventures on Circle Island. A lot of the children wear school uniforms.
'Class of 74' featured school uniforms.
'A Country Practice' often featured boys in school uniforms.
An ABC production. The children wear school uniforms and English-styled outdoor clothing.
A girl from our future travels back to about 1987 in a pyramid pod and meets a teenage girl with badly coloured hair and a little bright boy in a school uniform with greyshorts abd shirts like those featured in the second "Skippy" program.
A science fiction show with a campy, comedy beat was called Halfway Accross The Galaxy And Turn Left. Aliens try to fit into Australian/Earth life. School uniforms were featured, long-leg baggy grey shorts, shirt, and blacktie).
'Heartbreak High' is an ABC TV series featuring students not wearing school uniforms, but rather trendy American trends clothes/
'Hey Dad' was a family comedy about a single dad with a
son and two daughters. Aa little chubby 8 year old boy used to pop in on this family dressed in a school uniform. The two daughters wore blue school dresses uniform like the ones in Home and Away and
Neighbours. The oldest son a teenager wore a grey trousers and white shirt uniform.
'Home and Away' is a beachside soap that is simular to Neighbours. The children in the how wear chool uniforms, white shirt, jeans and maroon jumper. A Catholic boys school is featured occasionally. Sam a blond little boy wore long leg baggyish grey shorts in his earlier days in the series. He wore a light blue short sleeved shirt, grey long socks with black shoes or basic brown
leather strap sandals.
'I Can Puddles' is an Aussie mini series featuring the lifestory of Alan Marshall an Australian novelist from the early 1900s (1900-40). The series features boys in period fashions of those bygone days. His father was a drover (sheep rancher). Alan contracted polio at aged 8 years.
'Its Academic' was a school quizz show featuring high school students wearing their school uniforms with blazers/long grey trousers.
BBC/ABC production. Life around schoolboy Jimmy Clitheroe/Mrs Clitheroe (Molly Sugden). The children wear school uniforms I think.
School children wearig their uniforms have competd on Jeopardy.
UK ATV production. Four children look after their house after their mom dies. They wear classic school unifiorms.
K.O. Kids Only 7network was a show hosted by Colin Pearce with a puppet sidekick (Jellybean) plus co-host. Six children make a costumed appearance. Many of the children in the audience wear school uniforms.
The children wear period costume/uniforms. A magic mirror takes girl back and forth in time.
Sci-fi series featuring a marine girl and the occupants of an undersea Australian/American deepsea community. The children wear a special all blue uniform
with blue shorts.
Neighbours is the most important Aussie soap opera. It has also become one of the most widely followed daily soap around the world with new countries signing on every year. Many children have been featured over the years, providing a view of changing boyswear and school uniform fashions.
Nick Takes Over Your School is a Nickelodeon (Nick) cable TV production. It is a children's reality show. A young lady visits a school somewhere in suburbian Australia to kid around with the children and teachers in a fun way. Most of the featured schools have boys/girls in uniforms.
Linegame show for year 6/7 schoolies in summer school uniforms. The boys mainly wore greyshorts, ties and short sleeved white, bluegrey and yellow or green shirts.
Pigs Breakfast is a TV show featuring two real aliens but the humans think they are muppets or something. The boy host a teenager is 16 years old and wears American-type fashions based around todays baggy jeans plus cargo pants/shorts. Students that appear with the two children who are friends of the two aliens wear blue shorts, white shirt, blue and black tie, blue jumper, black shoes and the girls wear a blue and white Scottish tartan school dress with white socks.
The mini-series A Poormans Orange and Harp in the South is about a very poor Irish Catholic family living in the 1950s Surry Hills near Sydney in New South Wales. This show is a very good film and shows the school clothing of boys and girls in th 1950s-60s. It also features the ratbag Aussie male common in many films. A Catholic school is dpicted in the film. Both big and small boys clothing is shown, be it shorts or one piece shortsets. This show is one of the best historical drams known to HBC.
The Australian children's series Skippy--a bit like Flipper, but starring a kangaroo instead. The series is set in contemporary Australia and features typical clothes worn by Australian boys. The Original Skippy series in the 1960s-70s stared, besides Skippy, Sonny the boy from the bush. He often wore the basic jeans and Leave To Beaver-type shirts. The 1992 version also featured typical clothes.
|
"Snobs" is a sit-com about Australian school children. A new family moved into the neighborhood. There were 26 episodes (30 minute) made. It was produced by Australian Southern Star Entertainment Pty Ltd. The Executive Producers were Noel Price, Kris Noble, and Nick Wilson. The writers
were Graeme Koetsveld, Robert Greenberg, Mark and Shirrefs. The series was distributed by Nine Network, Channel 5, Southern Star. The series was set in the
beautiful ommunity on Sydney's northern beaches. The shows tell the story of unlikely friends. Abby is the daughter of a well-to-do middle class traditional family.
Marian is a boy from a group of trendy parets who are almost nomads and are called the Ferrals. Their arrival disturbs the peace of the community. It is also the
source of the plots for the shows various episodes. The costuming is used to point up the difference in the communities - the Ferals and boys from the local school.
Children in Sons and Daughter commonly wore school uniforms.
A Australian TV series set in the late 1930s to early 1940s is The Sullivans. It provides good examples of period clothing in Australia during the 1930s. Sort of
an Australian soap opera, but two big teen age boys, one Australian the other an English refugee, have imprtant roles. Both wear short pants and knee socks. The Australian boy wears a cap, but I've never seen him in a blazer. I'd say the boys are about 16 years old. I was watching this with a girl friend, she remarked, "Aren't those boys awfully big to be wearing short pants and kneesocks?" The production company, was renowned for churning out low budget soaps, and I don't believe there was any technical upgrade until, its run was confirmed. A lot of the costuming came from second hand shops, and I think more for budget reasons, than anything else included a lot of newsreel footage. However it ran for over 1,100 episodes. The rights are now owned by BSB, and who knows it maybe due for another airing. The Sullivans is one of the few Australian programs that has appeared on American television--PBS of course.
Sci-fi series in which a boy from the future travels back to past earth to try to save his future.
ABC production. A teen commedy in which a boy changes schools and towns. The children wear school uniforms.
Wild Kat features the same uniform that the Sam charactor wore from Home and Away.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
[Return to the Main national tv page]
[Introduction]
[Activities]
[Biographies]
[Chronology]
[Clothing styles]
[Countries]
[Photography]
[Bibliographies]
[Contributions]
[FAQs]
[Glossaries]
[Images]
[Links]
[Registration]
[Tools]
[Boys' Clothing Home]
