Responses to Rock'n'Roll: Moral Panics in 1950s Brisbane

The 1950s in Brisbane saw the emergence of a distinct youth culture based around rock’n’roll. Scholars have often reflected on this through an implicitly nostalgic lens, utilising memoirs to portray the seemingly overwhelming antagonism that young people faced by the authorities. As a result, orthodox discourses such as medicine, social science and public policy are often blended to represent a homogenous unity. My thesis aims to complicate this picture by examining the differing viewpoints that existed on the issue of juvenile delinquency. It argues that the opposition to youth culture in Brisbane was not a unified voice, but rather a series of discourses which shaped a ‘moral code’ that young people were expected to follow.