Youth
A Precious Resource
Boomers loved their children and grandchildren. Because like real-estate, livestock, ore deposits or lumber… young people were our future assets.
Topic Images
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There are currently 25 photographs in this section.
Moments to midnight
Even children realised we were running out of time
![#6016 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201711_pathdial.jpg)
Footpath chalk drawings on Water Street, Dunedin NZ [Nov-2017 653KB]
Crossing over
The slow fade to the other side wasn't as terrifying as many imagined
![#6027 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201905_airpbridge.jpg)
Nigel Love bridge, Mascot [May-2019 152KB]
No safe place
Fretting parents who left things too late; anxious grandparents far out of their depth; abstruse pedagogical theorists run amok. Harm mitigation. Risk amortisation. Hypervigilance and a discourse of unquantifiable danger lurking within every home, classroom, church or playground
![#6009 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200504_atholgate.jpg)
An ironic end to a day at Taronga Zoo [Apr-2005 281KB]
Bo–ho chic
Mainstream/ Indie/ Alternative/ Bohemian/ Underground… a celebration of quirky dressers who spent a little more time than most on carefully curating their own look and style
![#6008 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200501_parasol.jpg)
Nightcluber on the Cronulla–Bundeena ferry, in Sydney's south [Jan-2005 196KB]
Remarks
Preparing for the past
We laboured comprehensively to ensure things were much better for those who followed (ABS, 2022)
![#6004 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200303_coogeebath.jpg)
Laps at the Coogee beach tidal pool, in Sydney's east [Mar-2003 470KB]
Baby on board
A political system that leads to [young] people having so few resources that they do not have opportunities to pursue lives that they have reason to value
(Grattan Institute, 2014)
![#6011 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201310_postbaby.jpg)
Public ashtray on a monorail pole (since dismantled), at Sydney World Square [Oct-2013 465KB]
Keep us from harm
Every potential hazard was fastidiously identified and negated
![#6018 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201908_bubbring.jpg)
Drink bubbler at Erskineville Public School, Sydney [Aug-2019 314KB]
Remarks
On this harvest moon
The peace dividend gave our young a chance at a more normal life
![#6017 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201804_peacediv.jpg)
Yininmadyemi sculpture, Hyde Park Sydney [Apr-2018 337KB]
Purposeful activity
We created a retail industry filled with meaning and purpose
![#6020 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200306_katvariety.jpg)
Discount variety store at Katoomba [Jun-2003 411KB]
The last summer
For a brief moment at the beginning of the 21st century, it was still possible to let children be themselves
![#6010 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200504_balmoralboys.jpg)
At the steps of the swimming enclosure at Balmoral Beach, in Sydney's north [Apr-2005 194KB]
GPS service
Every year independent schools made such an outstanding contribution to the formal ANZAC Day march that there was no need for public schools to participate
![#6026 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/202304_hydedrums.jpg)
Student drummers, Hyde Park Sydney [Apr-2023 495KB]
The Big Schlep
Reschedule the twins for their NDIS Autism & Anxiety Support Appeal, pick up Indigo from GAHT and take Cooper to the Young Adults Learning Differences Centre. Then drive the twins to the child psychologist, Indigo for a bowl–cut mullet and Cooper to the ODD Therapy Session. Finally, get the twins across town for the last bit of netball practice, Indigo to the Harmony Day dress–rehearsal, then try to reschedule a meeting with the principal about a woodwork teacher who called Cooper a “vicious retard” for throwing a hammer. Also need to email the school's Student Welfare Officer to remind her about Indigo's updated psychology report. Then have a break and check the feeds, and then make sure Indigo, Cooper and the twins are back home and have taken their ADHD meds by 11PM
![#6012 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/199206_wavedeck.jpg)
Darling Harbour playground [Jun-1992 529KB]
Burnout gender reveal
Parents loved to modestly announce their great news
![#6022 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/202011_kirribskymsg.jpg)
Sky writing above Kirribilli, Sydney [Nov-2020 237KB]
Some hope for the future
The desire to have children didn't diminish, only the actual proportion of live births (Macrorends, 2024)
![#6021 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/202001_pwhmprams.jpg)
Wiggles exhibition, Powerhouse Museum Sydney [Jan-2020 139KB]
Prevalent brandonomics
A globally homogeneous culture made it easier to sell you things
![#6007 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200501_carsk8r.jpg)
A skateboarder at a vintage car display, Hyde Park in Sydney [Jan-2005 282KB]
Preparing for the hereafter
Early retirement had many aspects but only one outcome
![#6024 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/202106_yandhaifog.jpg)
Yandhai Nepean Crossing, near Emu Plains [Jun-2021 109KB]
Weeks, maybe months
The slow–motion horror of watching your parents die from belatedly diagnosed illness, with the understanding that medical review boards will do their utmost to protect the anonymity and status of everyone involved
![#6023 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/202012_patient21.jpg)
North Bradfield Park, Milsons Point [Dec-2020 197KB]
Perfecting childhood
Hands–on parents expected their children to grow into Mozarts, Rembrandts or Doctor Doug Ross
![#6002 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/199901_quayviolin.jpg)
Busking at Circular Quay, near the Sydney Opera House [Jan-1999 157KB]
Tween marketing trends
The role of glossy magazines was to teach young girls the vital importance of how they look
![#6005 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200312_voguegirl.jpg)
Perusing fashion magazines in the defunct Angus & Robertson book–store beneath Centerpoint tower [Dec-2003 280KB]
Filial maze
Raising a family in a world where the future was so bright
![#6025 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/202207_centfam.jpg)
Masked family, Central station northern concourse [Jul-2022 225KB]
For one brief shining moment
EKG; Catecholamines urine 24 hour; Faeces pathogen PCR; Renal ultrasound; Renal Doppler ultrasound; Fasting glucose; Spot glucose; Glucose Tolerance Test; HbA1c; Urine protein test; Dilated Eye Retinal Scans; PCR tests; Pathogen throat swabs…
![#6014 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201707_blackwbay.jpg)
Blackwattle bay jetty [Jul-2017 422KB]
Grandfathering wealth
As part of the compact between generations, the young can look forward to a utopia of free education, affordable housing and lifelong secure employment as domestic & corporate servants
![#6006 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200407_teddyman.jpg)
Pedestrians in the Sydney financial district [Jul-2004 229KB]
Structured play
To fully prepare for successful careers, every activity had to be goal and team oriented
![#6003 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/200303_bondigirls.jpg)
At the waterline at Bondi Beach [Mar-2003 478KB]
Tight lines
Fishing as a recreational pursuit became more challenging after the hydrosphere was systematically poisoned
![#6019 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201908_bundfish.jpg)
Bundeena Ferry passenger, Cronulla [Aug-2019 270KB]
Lifelong entanglement
We would have followed you anywhere
![#6015 IMG thumb](../mybinz/pimgs/201710_bethesdam.jpg)
Bethesda Terrace, Central Park NYC [Oct-2017 559KB]
Remarks
Baby Boom 2.0?
There was a mistaken belief that Australia underwent another baby-boom 2001-8 (eg. McCrindle, 2013).
Admittedly the total number of registered births grew to record levels after 2007. Despite the decade-long reversal in the 1970s, the overall trend in total registered births since 1935 has indeed been upward:
![image thumbnail](../mybinz/pimgs/tbs19212019.jpg)
Yet a more interesting trend can be observed in the total fertility rate and the number of births per capita (ie. the total number of births divided by the total population):
![image thumbnail](../mybinz/pimgs/tfrbpc19212019.jpg)
Aside from a small reversal peaking in 2008, along with a post-COVID bump in 2021, these charts show a relentless decline in the proportion of children born in the last fifty years.
Fewer women were having fewer children. Fewer children were being born as a proportion of the overall population. Clearly the 1949—64 “boom” remains a one-off and we have been in gradual demographic decline since 1980.
Graph data is derived from: ABS Historical Population
(ABS, 2019).