Mild-mannered bistro by day, eclectic freak-land at night: memories of an Australian music venue

Authors

Ben Gallan, University of WollongongFollow
Chris Gibson, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

78248

Publication Details

Gallan, B. & Gibson, C. (2013). Mild-mannered bistro by day, eclectic freak-land at night: memories of an Australian music venue. Journal of Australian Studies, 37 (2), 174-193.

Abstract

This article is about a pub that is also a live music venue: the Oxford Tavern in Wollongong. It tells the story of the alternative live music scene that existed there for twenty years before the venue closed in 2010. More than this, it makes an argument for vernacular cultural histories of subcultural places within Australian cities, taking seriously the forgotten venues where marginal social groups find meaning and community. Resonating are more universal themes in Australian cultural life: accommodating difference, a space for expression of otherness, and the importance of music and of a venue in shaping a time and place of life transition from youth to adulthood. We explore the peculiar character of the live music pub as quintessential Australian cultural