17-06-2025
Perth photographer Rob Baxter publishes book of city's early punk, new wave scene
It was 1976 and Rob Baxter was a photography student at Central TAFE when he began combining his love of music with his camera.
"My photos really are me walking around as a teenager and then in my early 20s … just documenting what I was into," Baxter told Mark Gibson on ABC Radio Perth.
"I was transfixed by New Wave and punk, which happened — really started — about '76," he said.
"Living in Perth and growing up in Perth, I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be in England. I wanted to be in America.
"It was, and it always is, isolated. So, I think that a lot of the inspiration came from those bands."
He has now delved into his archives and self-published a book full of his photographs and memories of that time.
Some of the band members became famous, others are now distant memories.
"In the book, it's a cross-section, a snapshot in time. It really is a snapshot of that period," Baxter said.
"It's biased. It is very much my favourites.
In one set of images, a very young Dave Faulkner, later of Hoodoo Gurus fame, performs with his band The Victims at their final gig in 1979 at a venue called Hernando's Hideaway.
"The Victims were certainly one of my favourite punk bands. Probably the most famous punk band really ever to come out of Perth," he said.
"The very mention of Hernando's Hideaway will conjure up memories for people.
"That was a fantastic punk venue.
"[The Dave Faulkner image] is one of my favourite photos.
Putting the book together, Baxter said he tried to focus on Perth and the story of the city's music history in the '70s and '80s, warts and all.
"It's not necessarily the most famous bands. It's the bands that wrote their own songs," he said.
"Independent bands who were inspired by the Sex Pistols in the UK and the American bands like Talking Heads and Blondie.
"This is very exciting for me because I finally got these photos in a book."
