australian society and life
The 1960's in Australia saw a definite change in society from past decades with the amount of hippies' and social drug users growing enormously. The Vietnam War and the wanting for peace as well as the live life by the day attitude brought this on because people realised that life was a gift and it shouldn't be wasted. The drug most commonly used was marijuana or pot' because of its ease of use and quick high, another popular drug was LSD because it changed peoples view on the world and took them away from it all. The clothing in the 60's also changed dramatically with more liberal attitudes towards fashion resulting in less formal clothes including tiny mini-skirts and tight jeans for woman and board shorts and checkered shirts for guys. Many people in the 60's also believed in unprotected sex and a lot of people especially hippies' arranged campouts in the bush were they would sleep under the stars, have a campfire, smoke pot', play guitar and have sex. The hippies' also arranged many peace protests against the Vietnam War, which the Australian Government had sent over 5000 Australian troops to by 1967. They stopped sending them in 1968. Other important events in the 1960's included in 1962 the death sentence being abolished from Tasmania, which was the final place it was used and STD calls being established. In 1964, 82 seamen died when aircraft carrier Melbourne crashed in to a US destroyer and 20 year old me were conscripted. In 1967 the pub closing time was extended to 10:00pm in Victoria and Prime Minister Sir Robert Menzies retired leaving the way for Harold Holt. Then on the 17th of December 1967 Holt died in an unexplained drowning off the beach in Portsea, Victoria.
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