BOOK REVIEW: ORSTRALIA – A Punk History 1974-1989 by Tristan Clark

BOOK REVIEW: ORSTRALIA – A Punk History 1974-1989 by Tristan Clark
New South Books/PM Press, 1 Nov 2024
Paperback, rrp $39.99
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
88%

Orstralia is as in-depth an excavation into the Australian punk n’ roll underbelly as anyone could hope for, leaving few stones unturned in its exploration of the anarchic musical scenes which popped up around the country in that pivotal fifteen-year period from 1974 to 1989.

Tristan Clark has undertaken his self-appointed role as historian with gusto: 130+ interviews; a tsunami of cult, often flash-in-the-pan short-lived bands; a dizzying cast of musicians and hangers-on; a sometimes bewildering, intertwined, amorphous collection of scenes divided by distance whilst united by – if not always ideology, then certainly attitude. It’s an exhausting read but extremely rewarding and undeniably valuable.

If there’s a small downside to it at all, it’s in trying to remember the cavalcade of names who pop up, often fleetingly, sometimes with scant backstory. This seems a very minor gripe when looking at such a huge picture as an entire nation’s punk history over a decade and a half – especially when considering that in that pre-internet era the country felt even larger than it does today, and some scenes had no cross-pollination at all.

Back then, to succeed, a Perth band literally had to travel across the country or risk staying put with a modest following and little chance of being heard nationally.

For this reader, the most powerful takeaways are that a) how fantastic that so many people felt the urge to protest the power and subvert normality so passionately across the country, and b) how shameful that so much racism existed in the punk scenes.

 

Category: Book Reviews