Audio tour Rock 'n' Roll Perth's Fifties Flashback Tour

Hello and welcome to Rock ‘n’ Roll Perth’s Fifties Flashback Tour. This tour will take you on a journey across the Perth metropolitan area, to uncover and experience former rock ‘n’ roll music venues of the 1950s. On this tour we will be visiting five venues (some of which are still there, and others that have been replaced with new buildings). As this tour is self-guided – you can start and stop whenever you like. You may wish to experience this tour by walking, by car, or by taking public transport or simply by staying exactly where you are. But first – some context!

Rock ‘n’ roll exploded into the consciousness of many Western countries throughout the 1950’s, and resonated with younger audiences across the globe. In Perth, rock ‘n’ roll appreciation was initially linked to working class, ‘deviant’ tastes, before later being tolerated by a middle class palette. In the mid-fifties, it was difficult to find rock ‘n’ roll records locally, and only a select number of radio stations played this kind of music. This was a unique period in Perth’s history, in that rock ‘n’ roll music was not widely available, yet greatly sort after. Dance halls and music venues which played this distinct type of music began to draw crowds. As such, public spaces of shared consumption held significance for many young Western Australians. It is these sites that the Fifties Flashback tour shall explore.