Robert Forster On Brisbane's Punk Scene: 'It Was A New, Fresh, Musical Revolution'
Robert Forster mused on the impact of Brisbane music during the opening of the new photography exhibition, 'Nowhere Fast'.
Robert Forster at the 'Nowhere Fast' exhibition (Credit: Stephen Green)
Last Friday (5 April) saw the launch of Nowhere Fast at the Woolloongabba Art Gallery in Queensland.
The exhibition hosts a selection of images from the book Nowhere Fast: Brisbane’s Punk and Post-punk Scene 1978-1982, with photographs by Paul O’Brien and the collection curated by The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster and John Wilsteed—both of whom penned essays for the book, which you can pre-order here.
O’Brien captured over 800 photographs of Brisbane’s subculture that reigned between 1978 and 1982. With Nowhere Fast, the exhibition at Woolloongabba Art Gallery captures the music, politics, fashion, and art blossoming despite the state police force’s efforts to eradicate it while the Joh Bjelke-Petersen government was in power.
While Nowhere Fast will host two panel discussions—Punk, Politics & The Police on Friday, 12 April, and Creativity, Culture & DIY on Friday, 26 April—The Music’s Stephen Green caught up with Robert Forster for a quick chat about what the exhibition represents.
“I can't think of any period of Brisbane music that's been as well documented as through these photographs. It's really extraordinary,” Forster said.
“It wasn't well documented at the time; it was very much a do-it-yourself underground thing. There was nothing like Q Music—there was no infrastructure. It was very much a if you wanted something to happen, you had to do it yourself type of thing. That was the ethos.”
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He continued, “I think it's a really strong collection of work. That's why I got involved with him [John Willsteed]. When I saw the photographs, I just thought that [they were] incredible. I was up for it from the start.”
Detailing the “new, fresh, musical revolution” taking over Brisbane at the time, Forster recalled, “There were people that gravitated to that and people that were horrified. It was at the time that the Joh Bjelke-Peterson government, so it was cracked down on, it was in no way understood, and it was seen as a threat to the government.
“There was just no tolerance for culture. The Queensland government and the powers that be had no comprehension of what it was, but we're aggressive against it at the same time, you know?”
If an underground music scene currently exists in Brisbane, Forster believes it’s “always bubbling,” even if today’s subculture looks “completely different” from the one that took over in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.
“I think there's always something—not only in music, but in video, computer art, whatever,” Forster said. “[There will] always be a niche for something that's just developing, that hasn't really come out into something that can be easily marketed. That sort of ebbs and flows.”
Nowhere Fast is showing at the Woolloongabba Art Gallery until Saturday, 27 April. Details and ticketing information on the Punk, Politics & The Police panel discussion and Creativity, Culture & DIY are available here and here.
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