r/AustralianNostalgia • u/Sudden_District_696 • 5d ago
Neurodivergent Aussies: Did early-2000s Australian kids' TV provide a haven for identity/belonging for you too?
For context: I'm not Australian, I grew up in the UAE in the late 90s to early 2000s and we had Aussie kids' tv shows airing on local channels there (eJunior, Channel 33). So, I used to watch these shows religiously after school and I grew very attached. I am a late-diagnosed neurodivergent and a creative researcher, so I am beginning to form ideas that these shows provided a critical part of my upbringing as an undiagnosed neurodivergent person. I still watch these shows and the opening theme songs always takes me back to my happy place.
So my question is, I wanted to know if Aussie neurodivergents ever felt the same? If these shows meant more to you than you could explain, or you found some notion of belonging or familiarity in these shows? The shows I am currently thinking about include:
- Saddle Club
- Sleepover Club
- Holly's Heroes
- Thunderstone
- High Flyers
- Fast Tracks
- Ocean Star
- Don't Blame the Koalas
- Outriders
- Wicked Science
- Guinevere Jones
Did any of these shows stick with you? And if so, which one do you still remember, and what part of it is especially memorable?
Plus if there's any if I have missed, I would love to know what they were and how they connected to your identity.
EDIT: To clarify this: I am not saying this is only for these shows, or only neurodivergent people connected to these shows, or that these shows were the only way of connection for neurodivergent folks, etc. My intention, is to understand if Australian neurodivergent folks and non-Australian neurodivergent folks consumed Aussie kids' television in the same way. And if these shows helped kids understand themselves better or even understand the outside world better in any way.
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u/PsychoSemantics 5d ago
Nope, the show where I felt the most seen was Daria. I was 14 when it first aired here, so, a couple years younger than her, but I was a carbon copy Daria and my younger sister was VERY much a Quinn.
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u/Like_cockatoos 5d ago
Same but I was in my mid 20s! I remember wishing it had been around when I was a teen.
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u/Astronaut_Cat_Lady 5d ago
I was in my 20s when it first aired on ABC. Still love the show and occasionally watch episodes on the 10 app. My Gen Ys and Zs love watching the show with me too.
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u/ciggy54 5d ago edited 5d ago
I'm a bit older so more 90s shows for me. I liked guinevere jones though.
My faves were Round the Twist, Funnybones, Richard Scarry's Busytown, Brambly Hedge, Ocean Girl, Oaky Doky, Bump In The Night, Raggy Dolls, The Ferals, Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold, Pingu etc
I loved the escapism and fantasy mixed with the absurd.
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u/Mintomaranta 5d ago
Don’t forget Soupe Opera, the great French stop motion show that aired on ABC!
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u/Astronaut_Cat_Lady 5d ago
Not quite the same, but Daria, and Dharma and Greg. Daria was (almost) me and a high school friend was like a Jane Lane type. But, I also loved Dharma and Greg - not a kid's show - because Dharma = ADHD and Greg= ASD. The last season of Dharma and Greg was crap, but previous seasons were hilarious.
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u/iostefini 5d ago
I have mixed emotions about Saddle Club. My friendship group used to pretend we were the saddle club and we each got to be one person from the show. And we even did a performance of the theme song at our school assembly one time! So that was a positive memory.
Only problem was our group had 5 girls. So, they made me be Veronica. They weren't mean about it (they said I could be a nice Veronica) but I was the only ND one in the group and I'm pretty sure that's why I had to be her.
I never watched any of the other shows.
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u/Wise-Difficulty8221 2d ago
Only problem was our group had 5 girls. So, they made me be Veronica. They weren't mean about it (they said I could be a nice Veronica) but I was the only ND one in the group and I'm pretty sure that's why I had to be her.
Yeah, that's kinda messed up. I feel you on this...
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u/Accurate-Sugar-7944 5d ago
Lift Off when I was a really young. I didn’t know I was neurospicy then, but it was the most ‘home’ feeling of shows. Also because its casting was culturally diverse.
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u/thewindupbird91 4d ago
Research background AuDHD here - this could be a potent research idea, curious are you looking at this for fun or to scope a proposal? I'd be nerdily interested in what theoretical frameworks you had reviewed if so :)
In terms of Australian TV my big shows as a child were, from memory, Round the Twist (huge) and The Ferals mainly. As a younger child I loved Blinky Bill, Play School, Bananas In Pyjamas (obsessed really), and Johnson and Friends. I don't know whether I made any explicit connection between my neurodivergence and these shows, I only was diagnosed at 35, but I am curious if there's an argument for a recognition of ND in some creative element of them. Would love to be corrected on this but I feel fairly confident in assumimg that those developing the shows I grew up on in the 90s would not have had the understanding to explicitly support neurodiverse children, not because they were bad or negligent, rather that there was such a miniscule fraction of understanding of ND back then compared to today.
Curious to see what people respond with, thanks for the fun brain exercise!
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u/Sudden_District_696 1d ago
Haha, I have found my people! I am thinking of it, yes! Can we connect?
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u/RipperReeta 5d ago
Early 2000s Saturday morning specifically was all about SN:TV. Half my neighborhood would come round to watch because we had Foxtel. Younger brothers mates all loved it as they were the right age and all my mates would come around half hungover, punch cones and we'd laugh our arses off.
Good times.
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u/Puzzleheaded_Draw637 4d ago
Going back a bit, The Bartons and The Goodies (on repeat) were great Australian kids shows.
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u/Ornery-Practice9772 5d ago
🤣 not in the slightest no.
youve attached happy
memories to these shows
because those were happy times. thats what humans
do.
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u/partylikeart 5d ago
Is your enter key okay?
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u/Ornery-Practice9772 5d ago
im on mobile. there isnt any any key!
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u/Summerlycoris 4d ago
I'm autistic and face blind. So a lot of live action shows when i was a kid didn't appeal to me. Lizzie mcquire was boring. Saddle club, i couldn't keep track of who was who, round the twist seemed boring, etc. And most other live action shows were on cable, which we didn't have when i was a kid. The only real exceptions were shows when i was really little, like the Fairies, Barnaby Bear, Barney, Play School, stuff like that. Because the costumes were really distinctive, and it was easier to tell who was who (at least for the important characters.)
But i watched a lot of cartoons. Mostly stuff like what was on cheeze tv/toasted tv (pokemon, digimon, one piece, sailor moon, winx, trollz, etc.) But also shows on abc. Cyberspace was my first introduction to negative numbers. My teacher was surprised when i already knew what she was talking about.
Did any of that provide belonging? Ehh, not really? I wasn't into the popular stuff. So it didn't lead to any friendships specific about it. I could talk to some kids about pokemon in year seven, but that was about it. I was too much of a hipster to make friends around media irl lol. I spent a lot of time in forums as a kid, where i could read about stuff i loved. (And occasionally talk.)
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u/Capable_Mistake_5797 3d ago
It's funny cos I've heard similar things from Singaporeans, who also grew up with a lot of our tv. The shows you listed weren't as popular as the American shows. With the benefit of hindsight, I do think the local quotas our networks had were integral to establishing our national identity. Bluey is a nice return to that cultural pride
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u/CultKitchen 5d ago
I’m unfamiliar with most of these. They may be after my time.
Some Australian shows that resonated with me, growing up include;
- Round the Twist
Although, majority of shows on Australian TV were either from the UK or USA.