These beautiful class pictures feature Gen X in New Zealand between 1976-79. They reveal some popular trends from the Gen X childhood era. The pictures are from Plateau School in Te Marua near the Wellington Region. While the styles are not a mirror image of what American kids were wearing around the same time, there are more similarities than differences.
The pictures are stunning in their clarity and composition. Look closely you as you scroll through them as many of the cultural touchstones were the same. For example, you’ll see young New Zealand Gen-Xers wearing T-shirts with pictures of ABBA, Star Wars, King Kong and Kermit the Frog. Also, the pictures from 1976 reflect the same Bicentennial-era clothing that Gen X girls in America wore including long dresses with colonial and pioneer themes. Also, patchwork and/or patriotic plaids.
Gen X in New Zealand
Although New Zealand has its own political, social and economic structure, Gen-Xers from New Zealand largely share a collective persona with their Gen-X counterparts in the United States, Australia, England, Ireland and other European countries. In all these places, Gen-Xers value self-reliance and distrust large institutions. This began during the Recession of the early 1980s.
There is a website called If It Were My Home where you can compare different countries to the United States. Using this tool, I discovered that I would make nearly 50 percent less money if I lived in New Zealand, but would be more than 70 times less likely to be murdered. Finally, politically, New Zealand is part of Oceania, a geopolitical region that consists of Australia, New Zealand and the tropical Pacific Islands.
The following photos reprinted with permission from Classarama, a local history website. Many thanks to the archivist for making them available.
School Pictures from 1976

1976 Room 1

1976 Room 2

1976 Room 3

1976 Room 4

1976 Room 5

1976 Room 6
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