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Join us for a panel discussion about Nowhere Fast, Punk and Post-Punk Brisbane 1978-1982 with John Willsteed and Gavin Bannerman.ABOUT THE BOOK
Nowhere Fast: Brisbane’s Punk and Post-punk Scene 1978-1982 featuring the photographs of Paul O’Brien, is a dark, dazzling, wild night-time ride into the Brisbane underground of the late 70s. O’Brien captured more than 800 images of Brisbane’s DIY subculture, a scene underpinned by politics, frustration, opposition. And music.
In 1976 The Saints kicked the door open and then split, leaving a restless energy in their wake. The music that emerged from the suburbs of Brisbane in the mid-late 70s did so in spite of active efforts by the police force to eradicate it. Suburban halls and inner-city venues were routinely raided by the police; dances were deemed riots and arrests were made; political protest was banned.
This book of 85 selected black and white photographs includes essays by two musicians and members of the scene, Robert Forster and John Willsteed.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
John Willsteed is a musician and academic. He toured the world through the late 80s in The Go-Betweens, has recorded and performed with many bands and has been a member of award-winning Brisbane group Halfway since 2011. A composer and sound editor with over 90 film and television credits and 3 AFI/AACTA awards, he holds an adjunct position at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. He has presented papers nationally and internationally, and his academic interest is in cultural heritage, curatorial practice and storytelling.
He has produced work examining Brisbane’s punk and post-punk scene, has written numerous pieces for The Conversation and has contributed to academic journals and books as both writer and editor. He won the inaugural Letty Katts Award at the State Library of Queensland in 2016, and was recently awarded the 2024 John Oxley Library Fellowship for his project, Dive For Your Memory – Queensland music stories.
Gavin Bannerman is Director, Queensland Memory - State Library of Qld.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
193 Boundary Street, West End, West End, QLD, Australia, Queensland 4101
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