(narrator) This is the story of Australia transformed into color for the first time.

From the early 20th century, as the moving image is born, Australia unifies as a nation.

A unique social experiment is captured as never before.

In vivid moving archive, a new generation of pioneers puts Australia on the world map.

A land home to ancient cultures swiftly becomes a colonial outpost.

I don't think at all that they should allow colored races into Australia.

(narrator) That soon transforms into a multicultural melting pot.

(announcer) Great Britain has declared war.

Australia is also at war.

(narrator) There are hardships and triumphs as the country finds its feat, establishing its own unique identity.

(woman) The eyes of the world are on Australia.

(narrator) But behind the celebrations, there's a hidden story of a fledging nation whitewashing its past.

Land rights isn't a word, it's a living!

(sweeping music) (narrator) Modern Australia's history, once only black and white, can now be seen for the first time in glorious color.

(orchestral music) (cheering) ♪ (harmonica music) '60's Australia and the times are a changing as the post-war baby boomers are coming of age.

♪ Protests over racism, war, sexual equality, and Indigenous rights will divide and transform the nation in a turbulent decade of change.

(chanting) (soft music) ♪ It begins in the summer of 1961 when university students rally against the White Australia Policy.

♪ For 60 years, the nation's immigration laws have restricted the entry of non-white people.

♪ Asian students can now study in Australia but are denied the right to stay permanently.

(woman) Well, first of all, I think it's just plain unfair that people should be discriminated against just because of their skin color.

(man) We've worked with Asian students.

We know what they're like and also because we feel there's a grave injustice being done to certain individuals.

(woman #2) It's morally wrong and also I think it's politically suicidal.

(narrator) As a new generation finds its voice, Australia will strengthen its identity as an independent nation in a rapidly changing world.

♪ But despite the push for change, many Australians are still clinging to the vision of a whites-only nation that dates back to federation.

(woman #3) I don't think at all that they should allow -colored races into Australia.

-Keep them out.

Keep all the _______ out, Japs, and everybody.

-Why?

-Well, we don't want them.

(narrator) In 1960, Australia has a population of just over ten million.

Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are not yet counted in the census.

(mellow music) It's a peaceful, prosperous nation with high employment and a largely male workforce supporting wives and children at home.

♪ But seismic shifts around the horizon and one of the early battles is fought on the beaches by women.

(surf rock music) ♪ (news reporter) A question, should bikinis be banned?

(narrator) Through the '40s and '50s, women have risked fines and arrest for wearing bikinis.

♪ But in October, 1961, on Bondi Beach, scores of women draw a line in the sand and defy the ban.

(woman #4) Well, I think most Australians like sunshine and the more sunshine you can get on your body all the better -as far as I'm concerned.

-Before the summer is out, the ban is lifted and women win the bikini war.

♪ But the catalyst for real change for women is the pill.

Australia, hot on the heels of America, is the second country in the world to release the oral contraceptive.

(Doctor) The purpose of the pills is to inhibit ovarian function.

In other words, no egg, no pregnancy.

(narrator) But it's expensive and technically only available at first to married women.

(soft, energetic music) Some still oppose it on moral and religious grounds, but despite the cost, many women jump at the chance to take control of their fertility.

(announcer) Australian women take more contraceptive pills per head of population than any other group in the world.

By 1965, they were tossing down a millions pills a year.

(narrator) With the arrival of the pill, the birthrate inevitably drops.

More women enter the workplace, pushing for better pay and job opportunities.

♪ They also begin enrolling in university in greater numbers than ever before.

The balance of power between men and women begins to shift.

♪ And so too does the dynamic between Australia and the mother country.

(regal music) In 1963, Queen Elizabeth arrives for celebrations marking Canberra's Golden Jubilee.

(Queen Elizabeth) I find it difficult to realize that all of this has grown up in 50 short years.

It is a wonderful achievement and an inspiring sight to see a great and gracious city taking shape almost before one's eyes.

(narrator) In Sydney, the Queen and Prince Phillip are presented with a pageant of nationhood, commemorating 175 years of white settlement.

♪ The highlight is a so-called Aboriginal ballet depicting pre-colonial life called Dreamtime for the Queen.

(announcer) Come back with us now back through the centuries, back to the dreamtime.

(sprightly music) (narrator) Astonishingly, none of the dancers are Indigenous.

(lively music) The production reflects society's prevailing attitude towards the first Australians in this era.

(announcer) The everyday poetry of the Aborigines is soon to become, in fact, only a dreamtime.

Out from the endless sea, out from the mists of the world appeared a new spirit image, the white man.

Metal and (indistinct) and the shouts of men shattered the dreaming of the dark people, at the anchor of his majesty's brig supply broke to the floor of the sea and a small cove on the great harbor became the birthplace of Australia.

(narrator) The Queen's reception on this tour is restrained compared to her first visit nine years ago when three-quarters of the population jostled to catch a glimpse.

With the post-war decline in the British empire, ardor for the monarchy is waning, leaving Australians divided about their identity.

(news reporter) Do you prefer to be called British or Australian?

-Australian all the time.

-That's very strong, -why do you say that?

-'Cause I'm a (indistinct).

(man) Well, I belong--part of the European stock.

If I called myself Australian, I might be lowering myself down -to those Aboriginals.

-Ugh, British'll do me and Australian second, but I'd say they'd be on the par.

(narrator) For Australia's youth, British influence is making a comeback and reaches a crescendo when the Fab Four tour in June 1964.

Beatlemania grips the nation.

(crowd cheering) (announcer) Four AM, three and a half hours before The Beatles arrive, and it's one of the wettest days in one of the wettest weeks in Sydney's history.

(narrator) Australian television, just eight years old, broadcasts their arrival live.

(shouting) (announcer) It must be pretty uncomfortable out there but if hundreds of youngsters can wait in the wet, The Beatles don't mind getting damp too.

(narrator) The band's visit connects far flung Australia with the best of British cool while their wit instantly charms the nation.

(announcer) Have you been practicing up your Australian accents?

(John) Not, not at all.

(laughter, indistinct chatter) (announcer) If there were only three things you could do in Australia, -what would they be?

-First of all, I think I'd like to "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport."

-Yeah, then-- -Waltzing Matilda?

-Yeah.

-For Australian teens, it's a chance to join the youth revolution that The Beatles embody.

(announcer) Let's go into the Sydney Stadium for exclusive scenes of The Beatles' performance.

(cheering) (narrator) Amid the screaming, fans barely hear their music but no one seems to care.

(rock music, screaming) (announcer) Meanwhile, Adelaide prepares for a reception such as it's never given anyone else before.

(narrator) In a welcome befitting of royalty, 300,000 people, half of Adelaide's population, line the route from the airport to the city.

It's The Beatles' biggest reception anywhere in the world seen here in color for the first time.

(announcer) There they are, the Liverpool lads -have taken Australia by storm.

-In Melbourne, the army is called in to help police as hysteria grips the city.

(fans) ♪ Oh Liverpool, we love you (narrator) The Beatles turn the country upside down and bring the swinging '60s to Australia's shores.

Their music and beatnik style inspires a new generation of musicians, including one of Australia's first rock exports, The Easybeats.

(mellow music) ♪ Within a year, the band tops the local charts and heads to London in search of fame.

♪ The five musicians are all migrants, English, Scottish and, Dutch, -yet identify as Australian.

-There you go, I know who The Easybeats are.

They are from Australia.

(laughs) And they are the ones that sound like The Beatles.

♪ And as I stood there on the corner of the street ♪ (vocalizing) ♪ And then before me passed this lovely...♪ (narrator) In seeking success in Britain, The Easybeats follow a long line of Australian artists and intellectuals who make the pilgrimage abroad.

Among them, opera star Joan Southerland, who returns to Australian in 1965.

(announcer) She's wearing a heavy gray chinchilla coat and looks happy to be back home after 14 years.

In that time, she's established herself as one of the greatest sopranos of all time.

(narrator) He reception reflects the excitement this isolated nation feels when one of its own achieves success overseas.

(soft music) In the 1960s, many of Australia's cultural cues still come from Britain.

Many Australian cities and towns attempt to mirror England rather than embrace the local climate and landscape.

♪ But one building taking shape at Bennelong Point on Sydney Harbor triggers a significant shift in the way Australians see themselves.

♪ The Sydney Opera House indicates a growing sense of confidence in Australia's unique identity.

(orchestral music) Its bold design, chosen from 233 international entries, is contentious right from the start.

(announcer) The first prize of 5,000 pounds is won by Danish-born Jørn Utzon, a storm of controversy follows.

(narrator) Construction of the Opera House is expected to take four years, but instead, it takes 14 and is rife with problems.

(soft, tense music) As the budget and schedule blow out, the building becomes a battle ground for politics, pragmatism, and a quest for perfection, culminating in Utzon's resignation in 1966.

♪ (jet engines humming) ♪ But when the Opera House finally opens in 1973, all the troubles are forgotten as the nation celebrates.

(uplifting music) Its visionary design and remarkable setting redefines Australia's image to itself and the world.

♪ The Opera House becomes an icon of 20th century architecture, but the architect himself, Jørn Utzon, never returns to see his masterpiece completed.

Joan Southerland does many times over, ushering in a golden era of Australian opera in the following decades.

But despite this growing sense of a distinct Australian cultural identity, the lack of interest in Indigenous culture remains stark.

(soft wind) (soft music) (announcer) In Australia today, there are about 100,000 Aborigines and part Aborigines.

They are all Australian citizens.

(narrator) This government-produced documentary reflects the paternalistic attitudes of the time.

(announcer) At places like the (indistinct), training has begun to equip the Aborigines for the modern world.

The Commonwealth and State governments have agreed that the only future for the Aborigines is assimilation, while retaining some of their tribal life.

All right, stand up properly.

Put your hands behind your back, attention.

Right turn.

-quick march.

-They are being assisted to take their place fully and equally in the Australian community.

(bright music) (narrator) The film documents Indigenous life across the country from urban areas like Darwin and Moree to the settlements and missions in the North and Interior where tribal beliefs and practices remain little changed.

But in the early '60s in Northeast Arnhem Land, traditional ways are facing a new threat with a discovery of bauxite.

(announcer) He's handling one of the most wanted minerals of the modern world, bauxite is essential to the production of aluminum, and aluminum is essential to the huge contemporary style metal and glass buildings of today.

(narrator) The government allows economic ambition to trump Aboriginal rights when it approves a mining lease near Yirrkala.

The traditional owners, including Yolngu elder Wandjuk Marika, are not consulted.

(Wandjuk Marika) Yes, we thought on this place first before Captain Cook arrived, and then he put the flag and make a grand land for the government.

(narrator) Yolngu leaders send a unique protest to federal parliament in 1963.

The Bark Petition in both English and Gumatj seeks recognition of their rights to the land.

(somber music) But the mine goes ahead, and a town is built with a pub, introducing white culture and alcohol into the community with devastating consequences.

Escalating Indigenous anger and resentment finds a voice in university student Charles Perkins.

(Charles) I think some program, some education program should be begun here in Australia to educate the white man.

The white person in Australia must be educated to be able to understand the Aboriginal person to be more tolerant towards him.

(narrator) Inspired by American Civil Rights activists who protested against segregation on buses, Perkins stages his own freedom ride protest in 1965.

He wants to expose widespread racial discrimination in country New South Wales.

With cameras rolling, the student activists demand local Aboriginal people be allowed into the swimming pools and clubs they're usually barred from.

Footage of the freedom ride screens nationally, significantly raising awareness of the everyday racism in small town Australia.

Six months later, Perkins uses his profile to take a stand against the White Australia policy.

Six-year-old Nancy Prasad is about to be deported to Fiji despite having lived in Australia for most of her life.

I feel very strongly about it personally because it is a color question, Nancy is being deported on a basis of one criteria alone -and that's color.

-She is living with her older sister, Sandy, who has married an Australian and can therefore stay in the country but young Nancy cannot and is booked to leave that night.

(Charles) We have to demonstrate in our usual manner, astute action manner, and that's in a passive way, non-violent of course, you know.

(narrator) Perkins has a daring plan.

As Nancy arrives at the airport, he moves in and with big sister Sandy's blessing grabs Nancy and whisks her away.

Incredibly, this dramatic moment is captured on news film and will have far reaching consequences.

(soft music) In 1965, in a media stunt that shocks the nation, Charles Perkins has just foiled the deportation of Nancy Prasad.

Young Nancy is now in a secret location, and the media, having been tipped off, are there too.

(news reporter) You've got a big smile, are you happy about staying here?

-Yes.

-Weren't you looking forward -to the flight on the airplane?

-No.

(narrator) Two hours later, Nancy is returned to her sister, and despite Perkins' efforts, is deported the next day, but his ploy pays off, embarrassing the government.

The White Australia policy is beginning to unravel.

(cannon fire) (bombs whistling) In March, 1965, America sends combat troops to Vietnam to fight the spread of communism.

Within months, Australia also sends troops in support of its ally, fearing the domino effect will bring communism to its own shores.

(trumpet music) (announcer) The troop carrier HMAS Sydney is ready to sail for Vietnam.

On her decks are trucks and other equipment.

Below decks are 800 members of the 1st Battalion Royal Australian Regiment, battle-trained troops ready to fight alongside the Americans in the war in Vietnam.

(narrator) To bolster troop numbers, Prime Minister Robert Menzies introduces conscription.

The National Servicemen are selected at age 20 by their birthdate in a bizarre lottery style ballot.

(ballot box spins) Most Australians support the war in Vietnam, but when the government announces it will send the conscripts overseas and into battle, fractures appear.

(drumming music) (announcer) The first group of National Servicemen arrive at (indistinct) Depot.

There are a few demonstrators protesting a possible overseas service for the trainees.

(narrator) Save Our Sons is just one of many protest groups -that spring up.

-There are more demonstrators at Central Station as the troop trains are ready to leave -for the training camps.

-After their call-up, conscripts must spend two years in active service.

(announcer) Today is the start of a new life.

Uniforms are issued, there are official photographs to be taken, and then they get the soldier's best friend, his rifle.

♪ It's strange at first but give them a week or two and they'll be well on the way to parade ground precision.

-National Service starts again.

-But the National Service scheme and the war itself will cause the greatest social and political unrest in Australia since the conscription referendums of the First World War.

(soft music) (camera shutters clicking) As Australia ramps up its commitment in Vietnam, Robert Menzies, the country's longest serving Prime Minister retires in 1966.

He's been 16 years in office.

(Robert) I am now 71, as you all know.

I couldn't see myself saying to the people of Australia, "I want you to give me another term."

(narrator) It's a turning point in Australian politics.

Menzies' successor, Harold Holt, has been Deputy Prime Minister for ten years.

(Robert) Succession to the prime ministership for Harold Holt marks the pinnacle of a political career lasting almost as long as Sir Robert's.

(narrator) With a modern casual style, he's considered an apt choice for the swinging '60s.

(soft music) His first job as prime minister is to usher in a major reform that serves as a symbolic link with Britain.

(character) ♪ In come the dollars, in come the cents ♪ ♪ To replace the pounds and the shillings and the pence ♪ (narrator) Going decimal means losing the pound.

It's a chance for Australia to mint its own identity.

The government originally wanted to call the new money the Royal.

But dollars and cents win out.

The new coins feature Australia's unique fauna and the new notes only white pioneers.

♪ To prepare for Changeover Day in February 1966, for the first time since the Depression, banks close their doors for two full days.

(announcer) Tens of thousands of accounts are converted from pounds to dollars, and as the changeover gets underway, the old notes are bundled up and earmarked for destruction.

(narrator) It's a logistical triumph and shows the way for Britain's conversion to decimal currency five years later.

(helicopter whirring) ♪ In March 1966, Australia's first conscripts are deployed to Vietnam.

♪ A 21-year-old from Adelaide is the first to die in action.

(solemn music) On May the 24th, Errol Noack has been in Vietnam for just ten days when he's killed by friendly fire.

♪ His death becomes a focus for the growing anti-conscription movement.

♪ But support for the war itself remains strong, and five months later, Australians greet the man who has led them into Vietnam.

(trumpet music) ♪ (announcer) At Kingsford Smith Airport, a big crowd is all set to welcome President Johnson to Sydney.

♪ (narrator) It's the first ever visit by an American president, and he's greeted like a rock star, seen here in color for the first time.

♪ Lyndon Baines Johnson is here to thank Australians -for their support in the war.

-And I would like for every Aussie that stands there in the rice paddies, on this warm summer day, to know that every American and LBJ is with Australia all the way.

(applauding) (narrator) Sydney siders are urged to make the city gay for LBJ, and nearly a million people line the streets for the presidential motorcade.

♪ (announcer) The Sydney welcome is the biggest of his Australian tour and at times the most boisterous.

(narrator) Anti-war protestors grab the attention, throwing flour bombs at the president's car and later hijacking an official reception.

♪ (announcer) When LBJ arrives, the demonstration begins and police move in quickly.

There are 13 arrests and a lot more -are carried off to cool down.

-LBJ's visit, a month before the 1966 federal election, fuels the growing anti-war movement.

(soft music) ♪ Australian school teacher Bill White takes his protest one step further, becoming the first conscript to publicly defy his call-up.

I do not intend to to present myself to the military nor to obey any orders of a military nature.

(narrator) This dramatic news footage of his arrest screens across the country days before the election.

(soft, tense music) It is one of the most turbulent election campaigns in the nation's history.

(chanting "Release Bill White") ♪ Holt is dogged by anti-war protests, and at this rally in Melbourne, he struggles to finish his speech.

(speech drowned out by shouting) ♪ (cheering) (narrator) Holt's pro-war stance is in sharp contrast to his labor opponent Arthur Calwell, who promises to bring the troops home.

(Arthur) I ask you to make conscription the issue.

Because a vote for conscription, a vote conscription on Saturday is a blood vote.

(narrator) Voters will deliver a decisive verdict at the polls.

(orchestral music) (soft music) Conscription is the main issue in the 1966 federal election.

Almost six million people cast their vote in the biggest turnout in the nation's history.

(announcer) In the tally room as the votes go up, labor member after labor member fights for his political existence.

The government wins at least six seats and could win another half dozen.

(majestic music) The government's majority is a record and newspapers have no hesitation in calling it a landslide victory.

(narrator) The swing is a huge sign of support for Holt and conscription is here to stay for now.

(soft music) Less clear-cut in 1960s Australia is support for gender equality.

-Are men superior to women?

-Yes, they are.

Only just though.

I'm, uh, quite prepared to let men remain -the superior being.

-You know, I think women, as for being the weaker sex, have tremendous stamina and if they want to do something they can really do it.

(narrator) Women are still banned from drinking in Queensland's public bars, but they are allowed in ladies lounges and beer gardens where drinks cost more.

That is until Merle Thornton and Rosalie Bogner chain themselves to the bar of an iconic Brisbane hotel.

(announcer) It wasn't a very expensive protest, but whatever the cost the women felt, it was the principle of the thing that mattered.

Something we thought we could make a quick impact on and we do think it's an important -and significant issue.

-But not everyone agrees.

Bars, I think, were originally intended -for men to drink at.

-It would spoil the whole idea of the public bar because men up in here they're used to telling dirty jokes and things like that.

I don't think it makes what a women should be.

I think it makes a woman a bit on the low side, -drinking in a public bar.

-The protest pays off, and women in Queensland win the right to drink at the bar.

Across the country, women have their sights set on a bigger target, the workplace.

(announcer) The emergence of women from the sugar and spice image to a more participating role in society has been a slow process.

Slower in this country than many other parts of the world.

(narrator) By the late 1960s, almost one in three Australian women are working.

But their average weekly wage is 37 dollars compared to 52 for men.

Women have been campaigning for equal pays for equal work since the early 1900s, but now their voices are growing louder.

We do equal amount of work.

We work as hard as men.

I believe that they've been exploited too long now and they do equal work, why shouldn't they get -equal pay.

-When the matter goes before federal arbitration in 1969, women are granted equal pay in principle.

Despite the ruling, it takes years to implement and still to this day the gender pay gap continues.

(soft music) On Australia's vast northern cattle stations, some Indigenous workers have never been paid, while most are paid less than their white co-workers.

In August 1966, Gurindji elder Vincent Lingiari leads a walk-off at Wave Hill Station in the northern territory.

The property is one of the largest in the world and run by British beef barons, the Vestey family.

Aboriginal workers are the backbone of the station, but are only paid in rations and have no running water.

(solemn music) What begins as a strike for wages and better living conditions turns into a test case for land rights.

(news reporter) Would you be prepared to fight for this land?

-Oh yes.

-Would you fight for this land?

-Yes, this my land.

-The Gurindji demand 500 square miles of their land and set up camp at nearby Wattie Creek where they quietly wait.

♪ (man) They wanted Wattie Creek, they said, because it was a sacred dreaming place.

Seal Gorge above Wattie Creek is said to be the burial place for Natives shot by early land owners.

♪ (narrator) Protestors in the cities rally to their cause.

♪ The Gurindji struggle marks a turning point in white Australia's understanding of Indigenous connection to country.

♪ (announcer) The idea that the Aborigine might own some of the land he discovered a hundred thousand years ago is one of the rude awakenings for Australians in the 1960s.

♪ (narrator) In a seminal moment, after nine long years, their land is returned by Prime Minister Gough Whitlam with a symbolic handful of dirt.

♪ The Gurindjis' tireless fight coincides with another milestone: The right to be counted, literally.

(singer) ♪ Vote yes for Aborigines ♪ They want to be Australians too ♪ ♪ Vote yes and give them rights and freedoms ♪ ♪ Just like me and you ♪ Vote yes for Aborigines ♪ (narrator) By 1967, all Indigenous Australians have had the right to vote in state and federal elections.

But since federation, the constitution has excluded them from the National Census.

(soft music) After a decade of lobbying, progressive Prime Minister Harold Holt agrees to hold a referendum.

Activist Faith Bandler is the face of the campaign -to change the constitution.

-The eyes of the world are on Australia.

They are waiting to see whether or not the white Australian will take with him as one people the dark Australian.

(narrator) On May the 27th, 1967, nearly 91 percent of Australians vote a resounding yes.

It's the highest vote ever recorded in a federal referendum.

An affirmation at long last of the nation's acceptance of Indigenous Australians.

But progress on Indigenous affairs is suddenly stalled by an unexpected tragedy six months later.

On a hot and windy Sunday, Prime Minister Harold Holt is swimming near his holiday home on Victoria's Mornington peninsula when he disappears.

A desperate search and rescue operation is mounted.

(soft music) His wife Zara is flown in from Canberra and joins others as they anxiously wait for news.

A week before Christmas, 1967, and the nation is is shock.

The Prime Minister is missing and a massive search is underway on Victoria's Mornington peninsula.

I think clearly all of us close to the PM are still hanging on to a shred of hope, but as time goes on, it's clearly diminishing.

(narrator) Harold Holt was last seen swimming in rough surf at Cheviot Beach, notorious for its dangerous conditions.

(news reporter) The currents are so strong and so varied here that a body could be swept several miles away in any direction in the shortest place of time.

(narrator) The Prime Minister, age 59, a keen swimmer and spear fisherman simply disappeared, according to close friend, Marjorie Gillespie.

(Marjorie) He never seemed to be in distress.

He didn't ever seem to, in any way, call out or put up a hand or-- I could see the danger perhaps more than he could.

This colossal boiling mess of water came and then there was nothing.

There was nothing anyone could've done.

(narrator) Holt's disappearance makes international headlines.

A week-long search fails to find any trace of him.

♪ Two thousand official guests attend Holt's memorial, -broadcast to the nation.

-Never before has Australia seen so many world leaders gathered.

(narrator) Among them, his good friend, U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

♪ (President Johnson) The gathering together here in Australia of leaders from north and east and west tells much of the kind of man that Harold Holt was.

He was steady, he was courageous.

He embodied the resoluteness of the people that he led.

(soft chatter) (narrator) By now, widespread support for America's war in Vietnam is beginning to fade.

(soft, tense music) ♪ The Civil Liberties March is Brisbane in September 1967, seen here in color for the first time, is a tipping point for many Australians.

When students are refused a permit to march against the war, 4,000 walk from their campus to the city demanding the right to protest.

As police move in, the protestors stage a peaceful defiance.

(indistinct chanting) In the ensuring scuffles, over a hundred demonstrators are arrested and the police publicly condemned when this footage screens on the nightly news.

♪ The march galvanizes many more into action across the nation, as does coverage of the conflict.

♪ Vietnam is the first television war, beaming images from the frontline directly into Australian lounge rooms.

♪ The nightly carnage and rising death toll further turns the tide of public opinion against Australia's role in the conflict.

♪ In the early 1970s, hundreds of thousands from all walks of life take part in the Vietnam moratoriums, a series of peaceful protests inspired by a similar campaign in the United States.

Protesters demand an end to conscription and the immediate withdrawal of Australian troops.

-Australian troops!

-Out now!

-Australian troops!

-Out now!

(announcer) A really big crowd, Brian, it's a very colorful side actually.

I don't think I've seen as many different types of hippie gear in one place.

-Fearless troops!

-Out now!

(narrator) Amid mounting public pressure, America and its allies begin to withdraw from the unwinnable war, with the last Australian troops coming home in December 1972.

(soft music) 60,000 Australians served in Vietnam.

521 were killed, among them, 200 conscripts.

Families welcome servicemen home with open arms, but many face a hostile reception from a nation that's turned against the war.

Shamed, some don't march on Anzac Day.

Others are shunned by veterans of older conflicts and the Returned Services League.

♪ It will be another 15 years before Vietnam veterans are given an official welcome home parade.

♪ As the nation struggles with social fracture and change, sport becomes the platform for one Australian who reaches the pinnacle of success in 1971.

(announcer) Finals day at Wimbledon, opening with the women's single class between Australian Evonne Goolagong and Margaret Court.

(narrator) Evonne Goolagong is the first Indigenous female to achieve -international sporting fame.

-The 19-year-old part Aborigine from Australia's outback has already captured the hearts of the Wimbledon crowd with her cool, confident victory over American ace Billie Jean King.

(narrator) Thrust into the limelight at an early age, the young Wiradjuri woman is forced to publicly grapple -with her racial identity.

-When I was younger, people used to put out in the paper Aboriginal Evonne Goolagong, and I used to think they were most interested in what race I was than what I was as a tennis player, I just wanted to be a tennis player.

Only when I'm overseas I always think of what sort of race I am because I know I'm the only Aboriginal overseas playing tennis.

You know, and you feel really great about it.

It's a great feeling to know that you're the only real Australian that's there.

(applauding) (announcer) A double (indistinct) from Margaret Court.

It's match point and an easy six four, six one victory.

♪ (narrator) Goolagong wins both the French Open and Wimbledon titles in the same year.

♪ She returns home a national hero and is named Australian of the Year.

♪ On Australia Day one year later, Indigenous activists erect a tent embassy on the lawns of Parliament House to protest against the government's rejection -of Aboriginal land rights.

-Land rights!

Land rights!

Land rights!

Land rights!

Land rights!

(narrator) Police move in and forcibly dismantle the tents, but they're re-erected several times over in the years to come.

(rock music) The tent embassy becomes the focus and powerful symbol for the growing national Indigenous movement.

♪ Land rights isn't a word, it's a living!

(narrator) It inspires the first Australian chapter of America's Black Panther Party led by Dennis Walker.

When Black people stand up and say, "Get off, I'm a human being and you're not going to keep oppressing me," they get really uptight because they're not used to seeing Black people say we are asserting our human rights to this land and to hell with you, you know, if you don't like that.

(narrator) Walker becomes a major figure in the civil and land rights movements of the '70s.

(Dennis) We've gotta smash the system by whatever means necessary.

(narrator) As the Indigenous Rights Campaign gathers momentum, demonstrations against South African Apartheid reach a crescendo.

It's a global movement and particularly vigorous in Australia.

♪ When the South African Springboks tour in 1971, their team excludes Black players.

In an unprecedented sporting stand, six Australian Wallabies refuse to play against the Springboks.

♪ At matches across the country, protesters disrupt play.

♪ (announcer) Despite smoke bombs and jeers from the sidelines, the South Africans hold their concentration -and keep the pressure on.

-The potent demonstrations end further tours by South Africans during the apartheid era but also draw attention to the ongoing struggle against racism at home.

♪ (rocket rumbling) ♪ As the decade draws to a close, the nation will play a pivotal role in one of the defining moments of the 20th century.

(soft music) (announcer) 200 miles west of Sydney near the town of Parkes, a symbol of the space age is being brought into being.

An instrument to explore the depths of space and time.

(narrator) Built by the Australian government with backing from American research foundations, the Parkes radio telescope is uniquely positioned to observe space with minimal radio interference.

(announcer) It's completion has been of great significance to scientific circles throughout the world.

Through a maze of dials and instruments, radio astronomy observations can proceed by day as well as night in any weather.

(narrator) On the eve on the moon landing, the dish is perfectly placed to receive images from Apollo 11 putting this small town in Australia at this heart of this historic moment.

(dramatic music) ♪ (Neil Armstrong) It's one small step for man.

♪ One giant leap for mankind.

(soft music) (narrator) Over half a billion people around the world watch the two and a half hour broadcast transmitted via the Parkes radio telescope.

♪ (man) They're setting up the flag now.

I guess about you're about the only person around that doesn't have TV coverage of the scene.

(man) That's fine, I don't mind a bit.

♪ (narrator) Australia helps capture the remarkable moment as its ally America arguably wins the space race.

(man) They've got the flag up now.

You can see the stars and stripes.

(beeping) (narrator) The moon landing will be one of the last major international events to be broadcast in black and white.

The switch to color television transmission in 1975 heralds a new era in broadcast technology.

(sweeping music) ♪ (announcer) Since 1956, Australians have watched television only in black and white, but C-Day, C for Color Day, is fast approaching, the day of the first regular color TV transmission.

No longer will television be black and white.

The world will come to life in natural color.

(narrator) From the turn of the 20th century, the miracle of the moving image has captured Australia's evolution from an isolated British outpost to a complex, multicultural country with its own unique identity.

And from now on, Australians will watch their stories unfold in full and glorious color.

(energetic music) ♪