Bodgies and Widgies
Encyclopedia
Bodgies and Widgies refer to a youth subculture
that existed in Australia
and New Zealand
in the 1950s, similar to the Teddy Boy
culture in the UK or Greaser culture in the US.
The males were called Bodgies and the females were called Widgies. Bodgies were often depicted in Australian media and folk-lore as louts. On 1 February 1951 the Sydney Morning Herald wrote on its front page:
The Mazengarb Report
(Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents) of 1954 was partly a response to the emergence of the bodgie & widgie subculture.
In 1956, the Sydney Morning Herald suggested:
In 1983, the Melbourne Age suggested:
The 1970s were the rockers' heyday in Adelaide. During the 1980s in South Australia, and possibly other Australian regions, young men who would now probably be classified as bogan
were called rockers. A softer, less hard version of the rocker, who wore less black, was sometimes called an Aussie Ocker.
Australian rockers were typically working class
and fairly reactionary. Typical interests were alcohol, girls, music, drugs and cars. They were known as troublemakers and street fighters, and there were several rocker gangs. It was not uncommon for rockers to fight members of other subcultures, such as surfies
, mods, skinhead
s and punk rockers
. They mostly liked hard rock
and heavy metal music
, by bands such as AC/DC
, The Angels
, Midnight Oil
, Iron Maiden
, Led Zeppelin
, and Deep Purple
.
Unlike their American and British counterparts, rockers in Australia had no association with rockabilly or Cafe Racer motorcycles. This Australian music/fashion subculture had more in common with or likeness to the "Headbanger" or "Metalhead" subcultures associated with Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music.
Cars common to rockers included Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, Fords, Pontiacs or other American 1950s and 1960s classics. Rockers who did not own those brands generally had modified Australian cars, such as early model Holdens, Fords or Valiants. A number of rockers owned motorbikes.
s; singlets or flannelette shirts (usually in a blue or occasionally red check pattern).Common jackets included classic suit jackets, generally dark coloured (blue or black); herringbone jackets; leather motorcycle jackets (sometimes with a fur-lined collar); red Holden
or blue Ford jackets (with the logos of local car manufacturers emblazoned across the back); or denim jackets or vests. Australian rockers usually wore tight jeans, often with the legs taken in. Some rockers sewed their jeans on (i.e. take in their jeans while wearing them, to make them as tight as possible) for the weekends.
Footwear common to Australian rockers included black ripple-soled suede shoes and black boots. Many rockers wore RM Williams leather elastic-sided square-toed boots, and some wore pointed shoes. Alternatives included ankle-high work boots (often steel capped), Adidas
Officials (a black leather trainer/sneaker) and the Ciak casual shoe (usually black).
Hair was often long with no distinct style. The other common look was slicked back or coiffed into a quiff
, using Brylcreem
or another hair cream. Some styled their hair into what were known as racks, hair curled into two waves meeting at a point at the forehead, but always slicked back on the sides. A few rockers had shaved heads. Headgear, if worn, was typically a black knitted beanie
(US name: watch cap, Canadian name: touque).
Tattoos, including bum tatts (amateur tattoos), were common among Australian rockers. Harder rockers often had small red stars with black/blue outlines tattooed on their faces (usually cheeks) and ears. These tattooed stars were known as rocker stars.
created a character named Kev Kavanagh for the 1972 sketch comedy series The Aunty Jack Show
and the spinoff series Wollongong the Brave
. A more exaggerated version of the character was revived as the "last living bodgie" in the 1985 comedy series News Free Zone.
Former Prime Minister of Australia
Bob Hawke
was nicknamed the Silver Bodgie by the Australian media for his thick silver-grey hair worn in the bodgie style and loutish behaviour before entering politics.
Youth subculture
A youth subculture is a youth-based subculture with distinct styles, behaviors, and interests. Youth subcultures offer participants an identity outside of that ascribed by social institutions such as family, work, home and school...
that existed in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
in the 1950s, similar to the Teddy Boy
Teddy Boy
The British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes that were partly inspired by the styles worn by dandies in the Edwardian period, styles which Savile Row tailors had attempted to re-introduce in Britain after World War II...
culture in the UK or Greaser culture in the US.
The males were called Bodgies and the females were called Widgies. Bodgies were often depicted in Australian media and folk-lore as louts. On 1 February 1951 the Sydney Morning Herald wrote on its front page:
What with "bodgies" growing their hair long and getting around in satinSatinSatin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...
shirts, and "weegies" cutting their hair short and wearing jeans, confusion seems to be arising about the sex of some Australian adolescents..
The Mazengarb Report
Mazengarb Report
The Mazengarb Report of 1954, formally titled the Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents , resulted from a ministerial inquiry sparked primarily by two infamous and well-publicised events in New Zealand's history: the 22 June 1954 Parker-Hulme murder...
(Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents) of 1954 was partly a response to the emergence of the bodgie & widgie subculture.
In 1956, the Sydney Morning Herald suggested:
The first bodgies were World War 2 Australian seamen who as well as impersonating AmericansUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
were black marketers and the first bodgie gang was the ‘Woolloomooloo Yanks’ who congregated in Cathedral Street Woolloomooloo. By 1948, about 200 bodgies were regularly frequenting Kings Cross milk bars. Soon, bodgie gangs formed at other inner-SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
locations. After a time, moccasins and American drape suitDrape suitDrape suits are a 1930's British variation of the lounge suit. The drape cut, sometimes called a "London drape" was popularized by Frederick Scholte, tailor to the Prince of Wales . Scholte observed that adding cloth to the shoulders of a jacket made many men look trimmer and more athletic...
s complete with pegged trousers replaced their attire of blue jeansBlue Jeans"Blue Jeans" is a sentimental popular song written by Harry D. Kerr and Lou Traveller in 1920. In the song, the singer is reminiscing about a long-ago young love that happened somewhere in the "hills of the old Cumberland." The chorus echoes the singer's longing:* The Parlor Songs Collection.* by...
and leather American Airline jackets or zoot suitZoot suitA zoot suit is a suit with high-waisted, wide-legged, tight-cuffed, pegged trousers, and a long coat with wide lapels and wide padded shoulders. This style of clothing was popularized by African Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Italian Americans during the late 1930s and the 1940s...
s. For bodgies, almost all of whom were working classWorking classWorking class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
, emulating the high status Americans who had so recently occupied Australia as military personnel was easier than achieving upward social mobility.
In 1983, the Melbourne Age suggested:
the term "bodgie" arose around the Darlinghurst area in SydneySydneySydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. It was just after the end of World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and rationing had caused a flourishing black market in American-made cloth. "People used to try and pass off inferior cloth as American-made when in fact it was not: so it was called bodgie"... "When some of the young guys started talking with American accents to big-note themselves they were called bodgies"
Australian rockers
Australian Rockers stemmed from the Bodgies and Widgies subculture that came into prominence in the late 1950s. Bodgies took on that James Dean look in the period of post-World War II prosperity.The 1970s were the rockers' heyday in Adelaide. During the 1980s in South Australia, and possibly other Australian regions, young men who would now probably be classified as bogan
Bogan
The term bogan is Australian slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background....
were called rockers. A softer, less hard version of the rocker, who wore less black, was sometimes called an Aussie Ocker.
Australian rockers were typically working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
and fairly reactionary. Typical interests were alcohol, girls, music, drugs and cars. They were known as troublemakers and street fighters, and there were several rocker gangs. It was not uncommon for rockers to fight members of other subcultures, such as surfies
Surf culture
Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion and life surrounding the art of surfing.The culture began early in the 20th century, spread quickly during the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to evolve. It affected fashion, music, literature, films, jargon, and more...
, mods, skinhead
Skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
s and punk rockers
Punk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
. They mostly liked hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
, by bands such as AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, The Angels
The Angels (Australian band)
The Angels are a hard rock band that formed in Adelaide, Australia in 1970. The band later relocated from Adelaide to Sydney and enjoyed huge local success until well into the 1990s. For the purposes of international release, their records were released under the names Angel City and later The...
, Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil
Midnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...
, Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
, Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
, and Deep Purple
Deep Purple
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...
.
Unlike their American and British counterparts, rockers in Australia had no association with rockabilly or Cafe Racer motorcycles. This Australian music/fashion subculture had more in common with or likeness to the "Headbanger" or "Metalhead" subcultures associated with Hard Rock and Heavy Metal music.
Cars common to rockers included Chevrolets, Oldsmobiles, Fords, Pontiacs or other American 1950s and 1960s classics. Rockers who did not own those brands generally had modified Australian cars, such as early model Holdens, Fords or Valiants. A number of rockers owned motorbikes.
Style and clothing
Australian rockers commonly wore black mesh shirts; black or white T-shirtT-shirt
A T-shirt is a style of shirt. A T-shirt is buttonless and collarless, with short sleeves and frequently a round neck line....
s; singlets or flannelette shirts (usually in a blue or occasionally red check pattern).Common jackets included classic suit jackets, generally dark coloured (blue or black); herringbone jackets; leather motorcycle jackets (sometimes with a fur-lined collar); red Holden
Holden
GM Holden Ltd is an automaker that operates in Australia, based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, before becoming a subsidiary of the U.S.-based General Motors in 1931...
or blue Ford jackets (with the logos of local car manufacturers emblazoned across the back); or denim jackets or vests. Australian rockers usually wore tight jeans, often with the legs taken in. Some rockers sewed their jeans on (i.e. take in their jeans while wearing them, to make them as tight as possible) for the weekends.
Footwear common to Australian rockers included black ripple-soled suede shoes and black boots. Many rockers wore RM Williams leather elastic-sided square-toed boots, and some wore pointed shoes. Alternatives included ankle-high work boots (often steel capped), Adidas
Adidas
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
Officials (a black leather trainer/sneaker) and the Ciak casual shoe (usually black).
Hair was often long with no distinct style. The other common look was slicked back or coiffed into a quiff
Quiff
The quiff is a hairstyle that combines the 1950s pompadour hairstyle, the 50s flattop, and sometimes a mohawk. The etymology of the word is uncertain but may derive from the French word "coiffe" which can mean either a hairstyle or, going further back, the mail knights wore over their heads and...
, using Brylcreem
Brylcreem
Brylcreem is a brand of hair styling products for men. The first Brylcreem product was a pomade created in 1928 by County Chemicals at the Chemico Works in Bradford Street, Birmingham, England. The pomade is an emulsion of water and mineral oil stabilised with beeswax.Beecham was the longtime...
or another hair cream. Some styled their hair into what were known as racks, hair curled into two waves meeting at a point at the forehead, but always slicked back on the sides. A few rockers had shaved heads. Headgear, if worn, was typically a black knitted beanie
Beanie
A beanie is a head-hugging brimless cap with or without a visor that was once popular among school boys.-Description:In the United States of America, beanies are made by triangular sections of cloth joined by a button at the crown and seamed together around the sides.They can also be made from...
(US name: watch cap, Canadian name: touque).
Tattoos, including bum tatts (amateur tattoos), were common among Australian rockers. Harder rockers often had small red stars with black/blue outlines tattooed on their faces (usually cheeks) and ears. These tattooed stars were known as rocker stars.
In media
Actor and comedian Grahame BondGrahame Bond (actor)
Grahame Bond is an Australian actor, writer, director, musician and composer who began his career in entertainment at University of Sydney in the 1960s as a founding student member of the Sydney University Architecture Revue, which included his university friends Geoffrey Atherden , Peter Weir...
created a character named Kev Kavanagh for the 1972 sketch comedy series The Aunty Jack Show
The Aunty Jack Show
The Aunty Jack Show was a Logie Award–winning Australian television comedy series that ran from 1972 to 1973. Produced by and broadcast on ABC-TV, the series attained an instant cult status that persists to the present day....
and the spinoff series Wollongong the Brave
Wollongong the Brave
Aunty Jack's Wollongong the Brave is a collection of four comedy specials derived from the Australian television series, The Aunty Jack Show. The fourth and final episode was the precursor to The Norman Gunston Show. The episodes were filmed in 1974 and were aired during 1975...
. A more exaggerated version of the character was revived as the "last living bodgie" in the 1985 comedy series News Free Zone.
Former Prime Minister of Australia
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
was nicknamed the Silver Bodgie by the Australian media for his thick silver-grey hair worn in the bodgie style and loutish behaviour before entering politics.
See also
- Beatniks
- BoganBoganThe term bogan is Australian slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background....
- Sharpies
- SkinheadSkinheadA skinhead is a member of a subculture that originated among working class youths in the United Kingdom in the 1960s, and then spread to other parts of the world. Named for their close-cropped or shaven heads, the first skinheads were greatly influenced by West Indian rude boys and British mods,...
External links
- Scarborough Beach once again comes alive to revive the infamous Snake Pit days, when the bodgies and the widgies danced to rock ”n‘ roll music
- Scarborough Beach History Site - The Snake Pit showing a picture of bodgies and widgees dancing in the 1950s
- George Negus Tonight :: people :: Transcripts :: Gang History
- Bodgies, widgies and moral panic in Australia 1955 – 1959, Paper presented to the Social Change in the 21st Century Conference