WHO WE ARE: Gassy gamblers and boozy bodgies

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Who We Are

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 11/1/2009
"MY MUM used to talk about bodgies and widgies -- what are they?" This was a question sent in recently to the ABC TV series Can We Help. The show's producers phoned the author of this column in search of an answer, making me wonder if they were making an assumption about my age (since bodgies and widgies vanished from our land about the time we started buying Beatles records).

But the producers added some other questions which made me wonder if they considered me some sort of expert (and if so, on what?). The other questions went like this:
1. "How do we compare to other countries with our greenhouse gas emissions?"
2. "Where did AFL draw its origins from?"
3. "Compared to other nations, are Australians big gamblers?" and
4. "Do you think there is an upcoming change in the beerdrinking culture of Australians?"

Readers were kind enough to advise me on other questions in last week's column, so I'm looking forward to your input on these intended answers:

1. Greenhouse? We are shockers. Because we use coal for 80 per cent of our electricity, Australia produces about 1.5 per cent of the world's greenhouse gases. Per capita, we are the fourth highest emitter of nasty fumes in the developed world (behind Turkey, Spain, and Portugal).

2. AFL? It started in Melbourne in the 1850s as a way of keeping cricketers fit during the winter, and was an adaptation of English rugby. Until the 1870s, the rules kept changing and the first "official" game, between Scotch College and Melbourne Church of England Grammar School, had 40 players on each side and lasted three days.

3. Gambling? On average, every Australian loses $1,000 a year on poker machines, horse racing, lotteries, casinos and other bits of risky business. Finding comparable figures for other Western countries in difficult, but in 2004 it was estimated that American gamblers lose $US 73 billion a year, Britons lose $US 75 bn a year, and Australians lose $US 12 bn a year. Considering the relative populations, that makes us the biggest losers.

4. Beer? Consumption is declining while wine consumption is growing, but each Australian over the age of 15 still drinks 106 litres of beer a year (or about 8 glasses a week) compared with 29 litres of wine a year (5 glasses a week). Coffee consumption is growing fastest, and has reached 5 cups a week (compared with one cup of tea).

5. Bodgies and widgies? If you want to know what they looked like, visualise John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the final scene of Grease - only less glamorous.

The word "bodgie" originally meant "fake" or "dubious", and referred to the material in suits worn by young men trying to look like gangsters in the late 1940s. The term came to cover any boy following the latest US look, which by the late 1950s involved a leather jacket and hair Brylcreemed to resemble Elvis Presley (later, Bob Hawke's shiny bouffant earned him the nickname "The Silver Bodgie"). The widgie girlfriend wore Capri pants and tight sweaters and danced to the music of Bill Haley on the jukebox. But the bodgie and widgie style vanished around 1964. The boys threw away the grease and grew their hair long and the girls replaced the capri pants with mini skirts.

Am I somewhere near the truth in any of this? If you'd like to amplify or correct these impressions, go to Comments.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

COMMENTS

Umm David "AFL" is actually both the name of the governing body of Australian rules football and of the highest professional competition of Australian rules Football that began only in 1990 (Australian Football League) after the VFL (all Victorian based teams with the exception of the Sydney Swans) granted expensive expansion licences to franchises in Perth (West Coast) and Queensland (Brisbane Bears) and when the Adelaide Crows joined the comp.
You�re simply stating the origins of Australian Football which spurned a number of professional and semi-professional leagues in every state and territory in Australia (eg WAFL 1885 , SANFL 1877, QAFL in 1903)
The AFL is simply the highest profile and most lucrative of these Aussie rules competitions.
The AFL and Australian Rules football confusion stems from the games governing body using AFL to brand anything and everything involved in Aussie Rules wherever possible as simply �AFL�
Also some very interesting reading about Aussie rules history in NSW: "Rules" Almost Had Sydney's Paddock
http://www.rl1908.com/articles/aust-rules.htm

DD replies: Thanks for that detail. I was quoting the question as received by the ABC. Who knows what the viewer had in mind.

by Ryano on January 10, 2009 at 11:03 PM

Bodgies and Widgies
In 1950 in Sydney a clothing revolution occurred for men in particular. Seeing the handsome young Italian and Greek boys ( 17-30) who, were our newest Australians and were appearing on our city streets and looking so handsome and amazing in European clothing,so had a great effect on the youth of the day.
For a start, Pink shirts with lurex threads wound through, the first three or four buttons undone showing some gold chain, which shone in the evening light. Tight stovepipe pants with long pointed toe shoes, along with a carefully planned belt buckle, were on show everywhere.
The necessary black luxurious hair that had been square cut at the back and yet left thick and the top left long enough to flick both sides upwards yet forward, towards a central soft curling shape in the middle of the forehead ( almost a pom pom effect in fact) Of course none of this meant much unless you also had the psychedelic hot pink socks, or even green
Added to this was a cropped black leather jacket(not long-line)
The young Aussies didn't know what to.make of these fashions and at first tried to laugh at them and heckle the wearers But when they could see that the females were finding them very attractive, they soon relented and joined in on the look.
By the time Bill Haley and the Comets made their first trip to Australia, with the new Rock and Roll, from America,together with their supporting acts, ( They performed at White Bay, before it was pulled down.)
"Freddy Bell and the Bell boys" they were all dressed in their stovepipes and wild shirts and some came, with a modified American version of the Bodgie hair cut, which was a high crew cut with the front left longer so that it could turn over Also white sport coats and loafers
(slip-ons with tassels) This style suited the straighter hair of the Aussies and was widely accepted and the young guns with more luxurious growth went for the full bodgie curl
Half way to the later ivy league look

However.The leather jackets were in this country prior to the Rock era.
The credit should go where it is due to our European newcomers. They brought so much to our shores.
Our widgies
Widgies were also rather spectacular, by the time their skirts were on, given that their petticoats, probably two or three, were starched and had rope inserted to make them swirl higher while they danced. Some girls wore five or even six
Skirts were gathered or cut on the bias so that they swung.
double fronted blouses that were done up down the back and had a second midriff panel which was embroidered and floated free while the bottom part was tucked in to the skirt and a tight belt held the lot in. Hair was cut short and slicked back at the sides or worn in a high ponytail.
Shoes were mainly flat and pointed . many wore dangly rock and roll bracelets and all looked for their very own bodgie.
Shirts had three quarter sleeves, and were usually in pastel colours plain. and the collars was always left turned up.
Pierced ears came into fashion and circular hoops were part of the look
Sometimes Widgies wore a straight black skirt with a small slit up the back and it was then that they wore their Orlon.
The emphasis was not really on tight sweaters but it was at this time that Orlon cardigans first came in and they were an immediate hit and they came in sets of the jumper and cardigan and every one simply had to have one.
Three quarter pants came later, but widgies wore long black pants or jeans rolled up.
I hope this gives you a birds eye view into the past I knew
All my best
Barbara Adams

by Barbara Adams on January 11, 2009 at 11:02 PM

Hi David
Bodgies and Widgies, in the early 1950's went something like this:
Sydney's bodgies wore flash clothes, including longish coats and tight pants, over polished shoes. A tie was included, from memory. Leather jackets - I dunno about them?
Widgies, wore tight sweaters over tight, long-ish skirts, which produced a wiggle when they walked. Their makeup must have been distinctive, but I don't think it was too severe.
Both male and female wore hair styles that were short and brushed into a "duck-tail" at the back of the head. Brylcreem - yep! Bob Hawke had too much hair for a similar style.
They regarded themselves as the "cool dudes" of the day and stood out in a crowd. But bodgies and widgies seemed to cop their fair share of heckling from people they met on the street.
Perhaps I lived in the wrong part of Sydney.
Bodgies and widgies of that era in my opinion, weren't like the John and Olivia of Grease, who were more clean-cut.
Hoping these recollections of an oldie help.

by NOEL CARTER on January 12, 2009 at 07:37 AM

Aussie Rules,
All modern football and rugby are variations of Gaelic Football.
Google "gaelic football" or www.gaa.ie/page/all_about_football.html
There are videos on youtube on how to play, for local information www.gaelicfootball.com.au

by Michael Pauling on January 13, 2009 at 07:59 AM

#2 - I think the correct terminology is 'Rugby School' football; i recall whatshisname went there.
#3 - Last year I was $500 ahead.
#4 - From 2005-07 wine consumption went UP but, alcohol consumed (from wine) went DOWN. Does this mean were getting better wine? Bold flavours are passe.

by canoli on January 20, 2009 at 08:09 PM

Actually,the bodgie phenom was pre RNR ,it was the first yoof movement and as such has no roots,only a memory for those who were there-Clothing in the early days was'nt what it is now and just turning your trouser cuff up was enough to participate -a full length 'jacket' mean't you had income,but this was later-a good read -Bunch of Ratbags - -William Dick- Melbourne Bodgie and a perty good writer,late 50,s,now the secret here is if you've ever known anyone who was a Bodgie ? I can say I've met a few and there perty tough old guys who have never given up their bodgie creed-ask them what it was like-no money ,broke,can't get a bike,gotta steal it-no family-poverty

by Johnny Black on May 25, 2009 at 12:55 PM

The Sun-Herald

Who We Are

WHO WE ARE: Gassy gamblers and boozy bodgies

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