Bodgies and widgies
Bodgies and widgies refer to a youth subculture that existed in Australia and New Zealand since the mid 1940s to the late 1950s, similar to the rocker culture in the UK or greaser culture in the United States. Most bodgies rode motorbikes but some had cars, many of which were embellished with accessories such as mag wheels and hot dog mufflers. Bodgies engaged in violence, but there was never any motive behind these acts. Males were called bodgies and females were called widgies.
Australian Rockers stemmed from the bodgies and widgies subculture that came into prominence in the mid 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, whilst in Melbourne and Victorian towns like Mildura it was the 1960s until the mid 1970s. During the 1980s in South Australia, and possibly other Australian regions, Australian rockers were typically working class and fairly reactionary. Typical interests were alcohol, girls, music and cars. They were known as troublemakers and street fighters, and there were several rocker groups. It was not uncommon for rockers to fight members of other subcultures, such as surfies, mods, sharpies and skinheads. Those groups mostly liked hard rock and heavy metal music, by bands such as AC/DC, Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls, Rose Tattoo, The Angels, Midnight Oil, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple. Australian Rockers of the 1970s enjoyed the music of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, but identified heavily with the look, style and rock n roll style of music and movie greats such as Elvis Presley and James Dean.
Style and clothing
Australian rockers commonly wore black mesh shirts; black or white T-shirts; 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 and Black leather studded belts, worn hung loose around the lower waist with the belt buckle set to the side. Studded wristbands were also common. 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.
Schism and the splintering off from Melbourne Rocker gangs
During 1963, a rocker gang, called the Collingwood Boys, which originated from Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs of Collingwood and Fitzroy, became tired of the early 1960s rocker look and chose to differentiate in style from other rocker gangs. Their haircuts changed to a slightly longer form of short hair, called a crew cut, while their clothes changed to brown and blue three buttoned suits, tight fitting plain cardigans and chiseled toed custom shoes that was inconsistent with the rocker’s pointy winklepickers. Later on in 1963, another stylistic change occurred when the gang decided to wear cable-stitched jumpers and cardigans. Other gangs from surrounding suburbs began to adopt this new style. One of these other gangs, called the ’64 Rockers, also tired of the rocker look joined with the Collingwood Boys and by late 1965, the new Sharpies sub-cultural movement in Melbourne began. Both Melbourne Sharpie gangs and rocker gangs had an intense rivalry and mutual dislike for each other which lasted well into the 1970s. By the mid 1970s, the Sharpies had become the dominant form of gang In Melbourne.
Actor and comedian Grahame Bond 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.
