‘Four security guards’: How the first-ever Schoolies compares with today

For nearly five decades, Schoolies has become one of the most hotly anticipated weeks for high school students.

Forcing its way onto the scene in the ’70s, Schoolies has become a major artery in Australian culture, a rite of passage for tens of thousands of young Australians.

It may come as no surprise to learn that Schoolies began in a Queensland pub; the year was 1976, and a celebration for Australian high schoolers was about to be born.

It was also the year Geoff Lewis, former general manager of the now-defunct Broadbeach International Hotel on the Gold Coast, was winding down as the year came to a close.

The pub was almost always barren towards the end of the year; the early-to-mid ’70s looked very different than it would five decades later.

Let’s take a little step back in time, shall we?

Ground zero. The foreshore

“There just weren’t a lot of large celebrations for kids leaving school,” Mr Lewis recalled to VICE almost a decade ago. Encouraged to visit Fort Lauderdale in Florida during Spring Break, Mr Lewis packed his bags and travelled halfway around the world to see how American university students celebrated the end of the semester.

He recalled seeing teenagers “throwing pool parties” and getting involved in some less-than-PG activities, such as “wet T-shirt contests” and “egg-throwing competitions”.

He was sold, convinced the same thing had to happen Down Under.

“The whole experience left a massive impression on me,” he said. “Ground zero. The foreshore.”

Flyers advertising the event were scattered around university campuses, “but mostly news travelled through word-of-mouth”. Word got out quickly, and in 1976, the first-ever Schoolies took place at the hotel, albeit at a much smaller scale than what was to come.

There were about 500 attendees the first year, and while the event was mostly a bunch of university students getting drunk and singing The Angels and Don McLean, there were underage revellers there, too.

Unsurprisingly, that hasn't changed, and we now dub those under-18 attendees “Foolies”.

Sadly, we also added “Toolies” to the mix – AKA attendees who have long graduated high school but want to party with teenagers anyway.

The attendees: 1976 vs 2024

Fast forward almost five decades to 2024, and Schoolies has certainly earnt its reputation. Last year, tens of thousands of high school graduates marked the end of their high school schedule with a week-long party, more than 20,000 of them hitting Surfers Paradise alone.

It’s certainly a far cry from the 500 people partying on the beach outside the Queensland pub in 1976.

The party has expanded outside the state, too. Now, high school students are spilling their beverages across the country’s coasts, including Noosa and Rye, and some have taken their celebrations overseas in countries like Bali and Fiji.

‘It was full on’

It’s not only the attendance that’s skyrocketed in the last five decades – so has the love for teenage partying.

A 2017 report found that three-quarters of attendees got drunk at Schoolies, one-quarter injured themselves, and one in five people passed out at one point during the week.

Seven years later, we can only wonder how much these stats have changed.

It should come as no surprise that there was plenty of booze to pass around in 1976 when Schoolies first began. However, with only eight security guards on the payroll, things appeared a little more under control.

“Initially, we had four security guys, but we ended up doubling that,” Mr Lewis said in 2015. “It was different to control than today.”

And he’s right – today, eight security guards wouldn’t get you very far in controlling the masses. Since 1997, more than 1400 Red Frog volunteers have made their way to Schoolies every year with the aim of acting as “the eyes and ears” in venues and on the streets, helping drunk teens as they stumble home (or go to the next party).

Bringing in the big bucks

Schoolies isn’t just the perfect time to get drunk without your parents watching, it’s lucrative, too.

The first-ever Schoolies in 1976 helped double the pub’s profits, making it the “biggest bulk beer outlet in Australia in those days”.

According to Mr Lewis, it was “full on”, with the business’s success peaking in the ’80s.

Things have only grown since. Every year, graduates bring in about $100m in revenue across Australia during Schoolies, with almost half ($48m) spent exclusively on the Gold Coast. That’s certainly nothing to sneeze at.

What about drugs?

Surprisingly, drugs weren’t a big issue for Mr Lewis and the crew at the first-ever Schoolies in ’76, but the grog consumed by attendees made up for it.

“There were no drugs that we knew of at the event,” he recalled. “But yes, there was an issue with people getting drunk.”

These days, Schoolies attendees aren’t shy about throwing drugs into the mix, and while alcohol remains the most popular substance for partygoers, illicit drugs can sometimes have fatal consequences.

As a Schoolies-first, pill testing will be available for attendees this year on the Gold Coast.

“It gives them an opportunity to present voluntarily, confidentially to a free service to get their illicit substance tested,” AMA Queensland president Nick Yim said on Sunrise this week. Initial results look promising, with 16 per cent of people throwing pills away after testing.

“We do have evidence out there backing the use of pill testing,” Dr Yim said. “It does create a safer environment for people who do choose to use drugs.”

A reflection:

Back in 1976, “celebrations started at 12pm and ended at 12am”. Today, some parties don’t end for days.

After five decades, millions of young Australians have celebrated their end of high school the best way they know how, by partying their way around the country and overseas.

But no matter how far or wide the end-of-year celebrations roam, the Gold Coast will always be the place year 12 students call Schoolies “home”.