Chronological Progression of Australian Censorship
An article from The Age on May 12, 1999
Sourced from Internet Archive Wayback Machine [CACHR-1].
November, 1915
Under the regulation of 28A, newspaper editors were forced by the Government of Mr Billy Hughes to submit articles for clearance to the censor before publication as a war-time measure.
1919
A film, Ulysses (Strick J., 1967, British Lion Films) and its novel by James Joyce was banned in Australia as the censor board considered its content to be obscene and indecent. The Minister for Customs did not lift the ban despite protest in Parliament in 1967.
1920
A film's last scene was edited out and put forward as its first due to the last scene showing the marriage of a couple who had been "living in sin".
April 27th, 1965
Copies of the book, The Trial of Lady Chatterley (Lawrence D. H., 1928) were seized by the police due to its content being obscene. The fallout from this event eventually led to the easing of censorship of books in the country.
1968
A satirical cartoon book called, The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie by Australian Barry Humphries was banned. In addition, the Uniform State-Commonwealth censorship laws came into force.
1969
Fines were imposed on the cast of the play, Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley at Playbox Theatre for the use of obscene language during their performance.
The book, Oh! Calcutta was also banned by the Minister for Customs, Mr Donald Chipp and the production of its play in Melbourne in 1970.
April, 1970
Mr Denis Altmann a private citizen successfully challenges a ministerial decision to ban an American novel, Totem Pole (Friedman S., 1965) for the first time. The book tells the story of a man's gradual acceptance of his homosexuality.
1971
Fanny Hill : The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, an erotic 18th century novel by John Cleland, was allowed in Australia after it was expurgated. The ban remains on the unexpurgated version. In addition, Film classification come into force and it is an offence for anyone under the age of 18 to be in a theatre featuring an R film. The classifications were G, NRC, M and R. McCabe and Mrs Miller (Altman R., 1971, United States of America) is the first R-rated film to be featured.
August, 1972
Skyjecked (Guillermin J., 1972, United States of America) a film that depicts methods of hijacking and holding crew hostage was refused permission to exhibit.
February, 1977
A policy was made to limit the types of R-rated films screened at drive-ins by the Censorship Board due to complaints made by the Festival of Light about children watching from the roadside. This policy was supported the Federal and State ministers.
April, 1982
A curator of an art gallery in Melbourne set up an R-rated section for the organisers of the Sydney Biennale to display a sexually explicit painting that was seized by the New South Wales vice squad.
April, 1983
An announcement made by the Attorney-General Senator, Gareth Evans, claims that films featured at festivals no longer need the approval of the Film Censorship Board.
May, 1984
As part of the Victorian Films Act initiative, X-rating were given to sexually explicit, non-violent videos and they were legally approved for sale in video stores but not for exhibit in public spaces.
October 16th, 1987
The 24-year ban for the international version of Playboy magazine in Australia was lifted by the Queensland Literature Board of Review.
May, 1991
The first mainstream work of literature, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis was given a restricted classification and category one publication by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.
1993
A foreign film, Salo (Pasomini, P. P., 1975, Italy), that was originally ban in Australia in 1975 was lifted, due to an appeal made by the executive director of Level Four Films, Michael Walsh. In addition, a new classification, Mature Adult (MA) is introduced to the film classification in Australia to divide movies into age and taste groupings. The MA classification prohibits children under the age of 15 from watching the film unless they are supervised by a parent or guardian.
1994
The book, E for Ecstasy, is banned due to its ability to "promote or incite the misuse of a drug". The ban is lifted in 1995.
1995
Restrictions are placed for violently explicit rap music known as "gangster rap" by the Minister for Primary Industry, Senator Bob Collins. All CDs and tapes containing offensive lyrics are also made to carry a standard warning label under a proposed voluntary code of conduct. In addition, the Office of Film and Literature Classification ban the video game, Phantasmagoria.
1997
Nightmoves, a television channel that allows people to subscribe R-rated movies off the air was forcefully taken over by Galaxy due to an amended pay TV legislation made by Federal Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston. In addition, Censors banned the modified version of Postal, a computer game whose hero is a mass murderer for excessive violence although some games containing sexual violence have been outlawed. Furthermore, materials containing offensive language, violence and sex are considered by Chief Censor Mr John Dickie impossible to ban despite stringent codes for offensive material such as child pornography.
1999
The Office of Film and Literature Classification released Lolita (Nabokov V., 1955), a novel about a man sexually obsessed by his 12-year-old stepdaughter, was released in Australia with the severest rating, R18. In addition, the Federal Government legislates to control access to explicit material on the Internet.
Sourced from Internet Archive Wayback Machine [CACHR-1].
November, 1915
Under the regulation of 28A, newspaper editors were forced by the Government of Mr Billy Hughes to submit articles for clearance to the censor before publication as a war-time measure.
1919
A film, Ulysses (Strick J., 1967, British Lion Films) and its novel by James Joyce was banned in Australia as the censor board considered its content to be obscene and indecent. The Minister for Customs did not lift the ban despite protest in Parliament in 1967.
1920
A film's last scene was edited out and put forward as its first due to the last scene showing the marriage of a couple who had been "living in sin".
April 27th, 1965
Copies of the book, The Trial of Lady Chatterley (Lawrence D. H., 1928) were seized by the police due to its content being obscene. The fallout from this event eventually led to the easing of censorship of books in the country.
1968
A satirical cartoon book called, The Wonderful World of Barry McKenzie by Australian Barry Humphries was banned. In addition, the Uniform State-Commonwealth censorship laws came into force.
1969
Fines were imposed on the cast of the play, Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley at Playbox Theatre for the use of obscene language during their performance.
The book, Oh! Calcutta was also banned by the Minister for Customs, Mr Donald Chipp and the production of its play in Melbourne in 1970.
April, 1970
Mr Denis Altmann a private citizen successfully challenges a ministerial decision to ban an American novel, Totem Pole (Friedman S., 1965) for the first time. The book tells the story of a man's gradual acceptance of his homosexuality.
1971
Fanny Hill : The Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, an erotic 18th century novel by John Cleland, was allowed in Australia after it was expurgated. The ban remains on the unexpurgated version. In addition, Film classification come into force and it is an offence for anyone under the age of 18 to be in a theatre featuring an R film. The classifications were G, NRC, M and R. McCabe and Mrs Miller (Altman R., 1971, United States of America) is the first R-rated film to be featured.
August, 1972
Skyjecked (Guillermin J., 1972, United States of America) a film that depicts methods of hijacking and holding crew hostage was refused permission to exhibit.
February, 1977
A policy was made to limit the types of R-rated films screened at drive-ins by the Censorship Board due to complaints made by the Festival of Light about children watching from the roadside. This policy was supported the Federal and State ministers.
April, 1982
A curator of an art gallery in Melbourne set up an R-rated section for the organisers of the Sydney Biennale to display a sexually explicit painting that was seized by the New South Wales vice squad.
April, 1983
An announcement made by the Attorney-General Senator, Gareth Evans, claims that films featured at festivals no longer need the approval of the Film Censorship Board.
May, 1984
As part of the Victorian Films Act initiative, X-rating were given to sexually explicit, non-violent videos and they were legally approved for sale in video stores but not for exhibit in public spaces.
October 16th, 1987
The 24-year ban for the international version of Playboy magazine in Australia was lifted by the Queensland Literature Board of Review.
May, 1991
The first mainstream work of literature, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis was given a restricted classification and category one publication by the Office of Film and Literature Classification.
1993
A foreign film, Salo (Pasomini, P. P., 1975, Italy), that was originally ban in Australia in 1975 was lifted, due to an appeal made by the executive director of Level Four Films, Michael Walsh. In addition, a new classification, Mature Adult (MA) is introduced to the film classification in Australia to divide movies into age and taste groupings. The MA classification prohibits children under the age of 15 from watching the film unless they are supervised by a parent or guardian.
1994
The book, E for Ecstasy, is banned due to its ability to "promote or incite the misuse of a drug". The ban is lifted in 1995.
1995
Restrictions are placed for violently explicit rap music known as "gangster rap" by the Minister for Primary Industry, Senator Bob Collins. All CDs and tapes containing offensive lyrics are also made to carry a standard warning label under a proposed voluntary code of conduct. In addition, the Office of Film and Literature Classification ban the video game, Phantasmagoria.
1997
Nightmoves, a television channel that allows people to subscribe R-rated movies off the air was forcefully taken over by Galaxy due to an amended pay TV legislation made by Federal Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston. In addition, Censors banned the modified version of Postal, a computer game whose hero is a mass murderer for excessive violence although some games containing sexual violence have been outlawed. Furthermore, materials containing offensive language, violence and sex are considered by Chief Censor Mr John Dickie impossible to ban despite stringent codes for offensive material such as child pornography.
1999
The Office of Film and Literature Classification released Lolita (Nabokov V., 1955), a novel about a man sexually obsessed by his 12-year-old stepdaughter, was released in Australia with the severest rating, R18. In addition, the Federal Government legislates to control access to explicit material on the Internet.
