A graphic image for Back To The Eighties Game Show featuring iconic items such as Rubik's cube, gumball machine, classic rollerskates and more.
WA Maritime Museum

Back To The 80s Quiz Show: School Season

Dates

Weekdays Term 4 Monday 9 October - Friday 15 December 

Primary/Secondary
Primary

Curriculum

Humanities and Social Sciences

Duration
40 minutes
Cost

$240 per session for 2 class capacity

Bookings

Please contact reception@museum.wa.gov.au to book

Join us for a fun-filled journey in the Back to the 80’s Quiz Show … back to the days when hair was big, when shoulder-pads ruled fashion, and when phones had rotary dials and cords.  With multiple choice, interactive games and video, we will take students back forty years to a time before mobile phones, home computers and the internet existed. This is when VHS video was new technology, and when TV, , radio and cassette tapes, and teen magazines were how the kids found their trends and inspiration. Aussie kids went mad for yo-yos and Rubik’s cubes, Cabbage Patch dolls and Countdown, and blew out candles on birthday cakes inspired by Women’s Weekly.

This fun quiz show will complement a class exhibition visit to Australia II: 40 Years On as our educators reframe the era through popular culture references that young people can understand and enjoy.

 

INSPIRATION FROM ARCHIVE

Take a look at some game show inspiration from the era, courtesy of the National Film & Sound Archive’s online resources.

It's A Knockout Celebrity Special: Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue and more (1987)    [To view this, select the clip]

It's a Knockout (1985–87) was a hugely popular show on Australian television in the 1980s. It was hosted by Fiona MacDonald and Billy J Smith, and featured teams made up from local sports clubs and community groups competing for cash prizes. 

This clip from the fourth and final It's a Knockout Celebrity Special introduces the teams and their captains. The stars in this episode include Guy Pearce, Kylie Minogue and Tina Arena. The first game challenge shows team members dressed in bee costumes battling their way through an obstacle course with very funny results.

This footage was recorded on 15 August 1986, but not broadcast until the following year in 1987. Look out for several mentions of the America’s Cup Defence in Perth, as preliminary races had commenced at the time of filming. The game winner Andy Cannon is also briefly featured, a yachtsman who was sailing on Australia III (one of several Australian yachting teams who were mounting a bid to defend the America’s Cup at the time).