Schoolies week

Schoolies or schoolies week (also known as leavers' or leavers' week in Queensland Surfers Paradise and Western Australia and coasties in the Australian Capital Territory) refers to the Australian tradition of high-school graduates (also known as "schoolies" or "leavers") having week-long holidays following the end of their final exams in late November and early December.

"Toolies" refers to older revellers who participate in Schoolies week but are not high-school graduates. "Foolies" refers to younger adolescents, who participate in Schoolies week but have not yet graduated from high school. Schoolies week is seen as a final party with schoolmates before they head their separate ways.

Schoolies week first began on the Gold Coast, Queensland in the 1970s, in the week following final exams for private single-sex schools. The Broadbeach Hotel was the main meeting place. Schoolies Week events began to be organised for 1980, and from then on the Gold Coast attracted schoolies from all over Australia for celebrations. Since then, the tradition has spread, and Australian high-school graduates celebrate their graduation with a week-long party at many popular tourist destinations around the country.

Schoolies week is considered by many teenagers in Australia as a cultural rite of passage. Schoolies week is seen as transitional period from youth to adulthood, marking a change of state from the imposition of school discipline to the chosen freedom to have a body which is out of control. According to the Official National Schoolies Week Website, "The most-enduring Schoolies-week tradition is the first run down the beach and dive into the ocean after school is finished forever. That plunge of freedom is the essence of freedom which Schoolies symbolises."

Queensland's Gold Coast, particularly Surfers Paradise, maintains its status as the largest single venue for this revelry, attracting tens of thousands of schoolies. The Gold Coast is viewed as a liminal space, somewhere to get away, a city of theme parks and leisure by the sea where transitions are possible. Research carried out in 2003 found schoolies boosted the Gold Coast economy by $59 million. In 2011, up to 40,000 students were expected to visit the Gold Coast.

Schoolies are also present on the Sunshine Coast; this is an alternative for the graduates who fear the negative media attention attracted on the Gold Coast. According to the Sunshine Coast Region council the Sunshine Coast had about 500 schoolies visit in 2009. The local council on the Sunshine Coast stopped providing events for schoolies in 2007.

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Wikipedia