THE post-war years saw the rise of a new youth sub-culture that the Brisbane establishment perceived as a worrying threat to its way of life.

THE evolution of the word "bodgie'' is a journey through fashion, fighting, dancing, hairstyles and horrified parents and authorities: "Noun, colloquial, especially in the 1950s, one of a group of young men usually dressed in an extreme fashion, with tight trousers and slicked-back hair, and given to wild, delinquent behaviour'' (Macquarie Dictionary).



After World War II, a bodgie job was something worthless or done badly. Young men who didn't conform were similarly dismissed as worthless.



As jive morphed into rock 'n' roll, a reporter for The Sunday Mail in 1952 warily explored the migrant influence in Brisbane: "The New Australian and his Australian girlfriend (above) were dancing on Friday to one of the snappiest seven-piece swing bands at the Continental Club in Elizabeth St.



"I saw 200 bodgies and widgies jumping and jiving in the approved fashion.



"Members of the club include Italian, Latvian, Hungarian, Estonian, Polish and Czechoslovakian migrants.

``Some Australian widgies are also members.''



The origin of "widgies'' the girlfriends of the bodgies is obscure: perhaps from "widgeon'', a bird, or a meld of the words "women'' and "bodgie''.



Broadly, the bodgies' music - swing, then later rock - came from the US, as did their quiff haircuts; their fashions came from the Teddy (Edwardian) Boys styles in Britain, with drape coats and stovepipe trousers.



It wasn't long before this emergence of a rebellious sub-culture and the formation of teen gangs had the Queensland establishment in a spin.



"Consorting squad detectives in Brisbane yesterday questioned about 100 bodgies and widgies in a day and night drive to learn their activities and means of livelihood,'' The Courier-Mail reported in June, 1956.



"Several detectives visited City stores holding sales and mingled with large crowds. They warned off groups of teenagers moving through the stores.



"Detectives visited Brisbane dance halls, wine saloons and the Stadium. Several youths with bodgie haircuts were charged with drunkenness.''



It was a time of cultural explosion. "Rock 'n' roll will come to Brisbane officially next Monday night,'' The Courier-Mail shrieked in October 1956.



"The Rock-its, led by Brisbane's Mr Bop, drummer Tommy O'Connor, will open officially at St Francis Hall, Elizabeth St. The dance will be a prelude to the film Rock Around the Clock at the Tivoli Theatre next Thursday.''



The same day at Coolangatta: "Point Danger swimming pool proprietor Jack Evans has mounted a gun guard to keep out holidaying bodgies. Evans, 42, who has meshed 877 sharks along the South Coast, says the man-eaters are tame compared with bodgies.''



The following year: "Brisbane cinema managers have begun a get-tough campaign against trouble-making bodgies and widgies. Some have already drawn up a blacklist of youths and girls with past records of creating a nuisance in theatres.''



The worst confrontation between police and teen gangs was at the Showground in 1959. "Car loads of police were rushed to the Exhibition Ground last night when a crowd of 200 bodgies threatened to riot,'' The Courier-Mail reported.



"Three policemen fought a 20-minute battle as they were hemmed into a circle by scores of leather-coated and jeans-clad youths.



"Bogies and widgies who gathered in force on Machinery Hill to watch speedcar racing began a mass brawl among themselves, and with police.



"Police admitted that the ringleaders of the bodgies who started the trouble got away. The brawl started when four youth started an argument over two girls.''



The teen phenomenon was a staple of the newspaper letters pages throughout the late 1950s: "As a taxpayer, I object to the police having to keep in order irresponsible children of irresponsible parents. I would suggest the reintroduction of the birch rod for delinquents and a garnishee of the parents' income''



wiseman.neil@gmail.com



See Neil Wiseman's video

Originally published as The bodgie threat to civilisation