This archive is a documentation of the dreams of a teenage girl from a broken home, living with her mother in a one bedroom, high-rise, Housing Commission flat in Redfern. Deb Doyle created a series of original graphic illustrations that are evidence of her cultural interests, her passions and her devotion to pop idols in the late 1960s. These hand-painted, poster-style images were inspired by pop groups, singers or songs, and designed in the bold colours and swirling shapes typical of the psychedelic style. It is rare to find such a rich record of a young fan's response to pop music. As Debbie Baer, she attended Sydney Girls High School, where she studied art and enjoyed English. In this archive we trace her subsequent development as a graphic illustrator and music journalist, showing how her teenage interests blossomed into a productive career. It includes articles and illustrations about music performances and other student events created by Deb in her role at the University of Sydney between 1977 and 1982 as Assistant to the Union Activities Officer. In addition the handbills and other works she created as a freelance illustrator in the late 1970s and early 1980s are a graphic record of the flourishing Sydney pub-rock scene at that time, containing valuable information about the variety of bands playing at venues around Sydney and the nature of pub-rock youth culture during the 'new wave' period. Other graphics in this archive have relevance to a variety of subjects and contexts.
It is interesting to note that Deb Doyle formed her own pop-rock band the Proteens, which played consistently in 1980 and 1981. She pursued music journalism, writing for the rock magazines 'Roadrunner' and 'RAM'. She now works in book editing and editorial-training services.
Archive compiled by Deb Doyle comprising original artworks she created, printed handbills she designed and articles she wrote between 1966 and 1986, under her original name, Debbie Baer.
Black portfolio
The earliest works in the archive are colour paintings Deb created in 1966, when she was 11 years old. At the age of 12, she began to frequent the Op Pop disco in Castlereagh Street, at which pop artists and groups performed Sunday-lunchtime shows. The venue's manager, Ivan Dayman, commissioned her to paint two front-door posters to advertise two of the bands - the Twilights and Phil Jones & the Unknown Blues - as well as a foyer mural featuring band names and pop slogans.
Croxley sketchbook
Eventually banned by her mother from attending the disco, Deb found solace in creating these posters, which were 'born of love and pain, because I loved the pop culture of the day but was struggling to cope with the many changes occurring in my life . . . Without my poster art, who knows how I would have coped? . . . I was crazy for local and overseas pop singers and songs, and wanted to make everything nice' (correspondence with Powerhouse Museum, 31 July 2007).
First orange scrapbook
Deb studied Arts-Law at Sydney University but dropped Law after three years. In a subsequent job as Assistant to the Union Activities Officer (1977-82), she had the opportunity to create publicity material for concerts and other events. She conducted interviews, and wrote a column and reviews, for the 'Union Recorder' under the nom de plume Tanya Hyde.
Green scrapbook
Deb also worked as a freelance illustrator, creating handbills and posters for rock-music venues between 1978 and 1981. She first designed the handbills in 1978 for the music promoter Bob Yates, to advertise gigs at the Rex Hotel, in Kings Cross, and the Civic Hotel, in Pitt Street. In 1999, Mr Yates donated to the Powerhouse a remarkable scrapbook of Deb's Civic Hotel handbills (Powerhouse Museum object number 99/113/34). In Deb's words, the Civic Hotel 'was no palace, but for many live-music fans it was a beacon of the Sydney pub-rock scene . . . Back then, it was a long way to the top, and the Civic was on a low rung, but it was a venue for the times' (Deb Doyle, correspondence with Powerhouse Museum, 31 July 2007). Between 1978 and 1981, she designed more handbills for gigs that Bob Yates promoted at various venues, and for Mi-Sex, a band he managed. The handbills are a valuable record of the flourishing Sydney pub-rock scene at the time, at venues such as the Royal Antler Hotel at Narrabeen, the Bondi Lifesaver and the Family Hotel at Rydalmere.
Second orange scrapbook
The second orange scrapbook contains articles Deb wrote and illustrations she created between 1978 and 1981. The first 11 articles are examples of her column 'Permanent Waves' in 'The Sydney Shout', a local Sydney newspaper. In reading the articles, we gain an insight into the variety of bands playing around Sydney and the nature of the pub-rock culture during the 'new wave' period.
Administrative history
Deb Doyle, née Deborah (Debbie) Eva Baer, was born on the first day of 1955, at the King George V Memorial Hospital, in Camperdown, Sydney. From age two and a half to twelve, she lived with her grandparents in Eastwood, Sydney and attended Kent Road Public School, also in Eastwood. During these early years, her parents sought to reconcile their marriage but eventually divorced in 1963, when their daughter was eight. Deb's interest in the world of popular music developed at about this time. 'Ever since the Beatles tour in June 1964, when I was nine, I'd found solace and balance in making picture books, writing poems, drawing, painting, and later, playing the recorder and listening to DJ Ward Austin's programs on Radio 2UW ("Even granny tunes her tranny to the New 'UW!").'
Just after Christmas 1966, Deb and her mother moved across Sydney to a one-bedroom basement flat in Morehead Street, Redfern. After one term at Randwick Girls High School, Deb transferred to Sydney Girls High. When she was thirteen, she and her mother moved again, across the street to another one-bedroom flat in the Housing Commission's 'Kendall' block. She created the archive's earliest paintings and posters of pop artists and groups at about this time.
In October 1967, Deb and her friend Cheryl went to Hyde Park to attend the Waratah Festival, where they saw the Masters' Apprentices perform their hit song 'Living in a Child's Dream'. Deb remembers swooning at the sight of singer Jim Keays in his red-velvet suit. They also attended pop concerts at the Trocadero Ballroom, in George Street. 'I proudly wore my orange and pink short-cullotte suit and love beads, and aimed for the perfect fringe-and-bob cut a la Dinah Lee.'
Towards the end of 1967, Deb and Cheryl began attending Sunday-lunchtime shows at the Op Pop Disco, a basement venue in Castlereagh Street, Sydney. They met the manager, Ivan Dayman, and Deb showed him some of her psychedelic-style posters. Dayman commissioned Deb to paint two posters to advertise the Twilights, and Phil Jones and the Unknown Blues, as well as a foyer mural featuring band names and pop slogans. Thereafter, Dayman gave the two girls free admission to the lunchtime shows.
Throughout 1968, Deb and Cheryl attended the Op Pop on most Sundays, 'sporting pale-pink lipstick and a couple of coats of mascara to make us look older. We were thrilled to meet local and interstate performers such as Normie Rowe (my idol), Ronnie Burns, Jonne Sands, Bon and Vince from the Valentines, Phil Jones, the Barrington Davis Power Pact, and Reverend Black and the Rockin' Vicars. We also fraternised with the in-house photographer, Peter Carrette. "Uncle Ivan" was somewhat of a father figure and even drove us to Wollongong and back one Sunday to check out a venue. Before the lunchtime shows, we danced the Skate under the mirrorball, and the resident DJ let us play records in his booth, up the back, between the toilets and near the pinball machines. Heaven on a stick!'
Eventually, Deb's parents banned her from attending the Op Pop, so once again she found solace in creating her pop posters. As she describes it, she created the posters at a time of great change in her life, both emotionally and physically, and they were 'born of love and pain'. 'I looked forward to sitting down at our small laminex dining table and getting to work with my Croxley sketchbook and art materials. Each time, I conjured an image of a pop group, singer or song and "realised" it in the myriad colours and shapes that characterised the psychedelic era. I had to make the colours as big, bold and bright as the larger-than-life images that resided in my internal landscape. My heart throbbed with anticipation every time I started pencilling in the lettering spaces and figurative elements for each new poster.'
After high school, in 1973, Deb began studying Arts-Law at Sydney University but discontinued Law in late 1975. When she was nineteen and halfway through the Arts degree, she and her mother moved yet again, this time, finally but not for long, to a two-bedroom flat in the 'Gilmore' block of high-rise flats in Morehead Street, Redfern. From age sixteen to nineteen, she lavished her affections on a boyfriend rather than her artwork and music. From mid-1974 to the end of 1975, she worked on Thursday nights and Saturday mornings as a sales assistant at Nicholson's music store, in George Street, and during 1976, she took a year's break from university to work at the store full time.
In 1977, Deb returned to study at Sydney University and ultimately graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. In April 1977, she also began work as the assistant to the late Gaille Jang, the Union Activities Officer at the University of Sydney Union. 'My job was to create publicity for our concerts, dances, dinners, tuition classes and competitions. It was the perfect job for me because I loved drawing, I loved writing, I loved pop music, and I loved being productive.' In the early days of the job, she wrote a column and reviews for the Union Recorder under the nom de plume Tanya Hyde. She remained in the position of Union Activities Assistant until November 1982.
Between 1978 and 1981, Deb also worked as a freelance illustrator, creating handbills and posters for rock-music venues. Her first designs were for the music promoter Bob Yates, to advertise gigs at the Rex Hotel, in Kings Cross, and the Civic Hotel, in Pitt Street. She also designed handbills for Yates's other live-music venues, including the Royal Antler Hotel, in Narrabeen, and the Family Hotel, in Rydalmere, as well as for Mi-Sex, a New Zealand band that Yates was managing, and other groups or concerts he was promoting. In addition, she pursued music journalism, in the form of a column called 'Permanent Waves' in local Sydney newspaper The Sydney Shout, about the live-music scene, and articles for the rock magazines RAM and Roadrunner.
In 1979, Deb formed a pop-rock group, the Proteens, which played consistently in Sydney and sometimes in regional New South Wales throughout 1980 and '81. 'Writing songs, choosing "covers" and performing in a pop group were the culmination of a lifelong dream: to actually make the kind of music that had inspired me to create artworks and write articles in previous years.' After the Proteens, in 1983, she co-formed and sang in another band, Café Society.
Deb's later career has involved freelance book editing, editorial training and freelance illustrating. In 1986, she moved to Melbourne and worked as a publications co-ordinator for a six-month Community Employment Project at Fringe Network in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. The following year, she was appointed in-house editor at the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board. In 1989, she created Living Proof - Book Editing to provide editing services for book-publishing companies, government departments, corporations and self-publishing authors. She began another business, Editorial Training Services, in 1995, as a consultancy for corporations, government departments, educational institutions and professional associations. In 2004, as a freelance illustrator, Deb created a business called Draw On. In 2003, she self-published a book, 'Grey Areas and Gremlins: A grammar and punctuation refresher', and she continues to publish subsequent editions of this popular title. She has written the "Language FAQs" column for 'Government News'; the "Editor's Corner" column for 'Newswrite'; the "Minnie and Me" short story in 'Cat Tales: The Meaning of Cats in Women's Lives'; and animal-rights articles such as "Talking Turkey", published in 'Vegan Voice'.
Deb is married to Chris Doyle, and they have three children. The family has lived in Miranda, in Sydney's Sutherland Shire, since January 2004.
Edited by Deb Doyle, 23 July 2008
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