1993 flashback: what was hot and not in Melbourne 30 years ago

From the Charles-Camilla tape scandal to Warnie’s ball of the century, how well do you remember the highs and lows of 1993?

TV presenter Ray Martin won the Gold Logie in 1993. Picture: TV Week

In 1993, Paul Keating was PM, Melbourne held its first Big Day Out, Ray Martin was our most popular TV star, and only a lucky few owned a mobile phone.

Melburnians still only had five television channels to choose from, and Full Frontal debuted with a cast of future comedy stars, including Eric Bana.

Actors Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, pictured in 1993, wed in 1990 and split in 2001.

Nicole Kidman was still married to Tom Cruise, Steffi Graf won three grand slams, and the original Jurassic Park was the year’s highest grossing film in Australia.

The royal family lurched from one crisis to another as more transcripts of shockingly intimate calls between the future king and his future queen were published in January 1993, only weeks after it was announced Charles and Diana had split after years of turmoil.

Camilla Parker Bowles in 1993.

Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1993, the year after her separation from Charles was announced.

And while 1993 may seem like it was only yesterday, it’s scary to think it was also the year of birth of soccer star Sam Kerr, pop star Ariana Grande and cricket captain Pat Cummins.

What we were wearing

After the excesses of the 1980s and over-the-top fashions such as oversized shoulder pads, Aussies opted for more relaxed and comfortable fashions in the early ’90s.

Comfy clothes were in vogue in 1993.

Dressing down was favoured over dressing up, and individualism reigned as Melburnians rejected the fad-following ’80s and adopted their own style.

Sportswear and stretchy fabrics were popular, and matching tracksuits enjoyed a brief fashion moment.

Many gen Xers adopted the grunge look in the early 1990s.

A model in a belted jacket, silk vest and skirt suited to the office in 1993.

After Nirvana hit the big time in 1991, Gen Xers were increasingly adopting the grunge look, including Doc Martens or combat boots, torn jeans, chequered flannelette shirts, floral dresses, messy hair and beanies.

Songs you couldn’t get out of your head

Meat Loaf’s I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) was Australia’s biggest hit of 1993.

I Will Always Love You, by Whitney Houston, was also ruling the airwaves, and you still couldn’t escape the no. 1 single of the previous year, the love-it-or-hate-it Achy Breaky Heart, by Billy Ray Cyrus.

TV Week Gold Logie winner

Ray Martin (The Midday Show)

TV shows we were watching

The Simpsons

Sale of the Century

Beverly Hills, 90210

A Country Practice

Neighbours

Home and Away

Rhonda Burchmore with Ray Martin in the late ‘80s on The Midday Show, which he hosted from 1985–1993.

Bert Newton hosted Good Morning Australia from 1992 to 2005.

The Midday Show

Good Morning Australia

Family Feud

Wheel of Fortune

Hinch

Hey Dad!

Full Frontal

The Wonder Years

Healthy Wealthy And Wise

Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show

Hit films

Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum and Laura Dern in a scene from the original Jurassic Park, the biggest grossing film of 1993 in Australia.

Jurassic Park

The Bodyguard

Mrs Doubtfire

Indecent Proposal

The Fugitive

Sleepless in Seattle

Aladdin

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Actor Simon Baker, pictured with wife Rebecca Rigg, won the Silver Logie for Best New Talent for E Street in 1993.

Stars we loved

Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, Georgie Parker, Daryl Somers, Gary Sweet, Simon Baker, Cameron Daddo, Bert Newton, Jo Beth Taylor, Wesley Snipes, Tom Hanks, Jodie Foster, Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Steve Martin, Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg.

Australian Test cricketer Merv Hughes in 1993.

AFL Champs

Premiers: Essendon

Brownlow Medal winner: Gavin Wanganeen (Essendon)

Norm Smith Medal winner: Michael Long (Essendon)

Other Aussie sporting heroes

Pat Rafter, Shane Warne, Allan Border, David Boon, Merv Hughes, Ian Healy, Gary Ablett Sr, Kevin Sheedy, Tony Liberatore, Jason Dunstall, Jim Stynes, Wayne Carey, Garry Lyon, Garry Hocking, Greg Williams, Nathan Burke, Alastair Lynch, Greg Norman, Mick Doohan, Andrew Gaze, Luc Longley.

Essendon player Gavin Wanganeen won the 1993 Brownlow Medal.

Villains

Paul Denyer: The Frankston serial killer was sentenced to a non-parole period of 30 years in prison for the murders of three young women in 1993.

Christopher Skase became one of Australia’s most wanted fugitives after his business empire crashed and he fled to Majorca in Spain.

Front page of the Herald Sun on June 5, 1993, after cult leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne was arrested in the US.

Christopher Skase: Federal police continued their fight to have the bankrupt businessman extradited from Spain to face charges arising from the collapse of Qintex.

Anne Hamilton-Byrne: The head of notorious Victorian cult The Family was found hiding out near New York, and she was later extradited to face charges.

Top nightclubs

City and inner suburbs: The Warehouse, The Metro, Chevron, Chasers, Inflation, Checkpoint Charlie, The Hellfire Club, Redheads, The Carousel, Sugar Shack, Billboard, The Lounge, The Palace, Tok-H, Silvers.

Outer suburbs: Jooce, Transformers, 21st Century Dance Club, Blasers.

Politicians

Who was PM? Paul Keating

Victorian premier? Jeff Kennett

World leaders: Bill Clinton, John Major, Boris Yeltsin.

Big events

Australian cricketer Shane Warne bowls out England's Mike Gatting with his first ball on English turf during the First Test at Old Trafford, Manchester in 1993.

Shane Warne delivered what became known as “the ball of the century”, claiming the wicket of England’s Mike Gatting in the first Test of the 1993 Ashes series.

Aboriginal footballer Nicky Winmar made his stand against racism as opposition supporters hurled abuse at him in a match between St Kilda and Collingwood at Victoria Park.

Nicky Winmar lifts his jumper and points to the colour of his skin in front of Collingwood supporters at Victoria Park in 1993. Picture: John Feder

Islamic fundamentalists set off a bomb in a van under the World Trade Center in New York, foreshadowing the much bigger terrorist attack on the WTC in 2001.

The 51-day Waco siege at the compound of David Koresh’s Branch Davidians religious cult ended on April 19, culminating with a fire, and resulting in a total of 86 deaths.

A massive fireball erupts following an explosion during a fire that levelled the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco, Texas, in April, 1993.

Two former policemen were convicted and sent to jail over the vicious beating of African-American motorist Rodney King.

Vintage Crop became the first European horse to win the Melbourne Cup, putting the horse race on the international map.

Sydney was announced as the host of the 2000 Olympics.

IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch announcing Sydney's successful Olympic bid for the year 2000 via satellite in a 1993 photo.

And here’s one for the trivia buffs: 1993 was the year Victoria ditched the give-way rule for opposing traffic turning into the same side street that meant left turners had to give way to right turners, and finally fell into line with the other states.

Technology

Fewer than 4% of people in Australia had a mobile phone, and there were only 635,000 analogue mobiles across the country.

Telecom launched the country’s first digital mobile phone network.

A 1993 Fujitsu mobile phone.

Fax machines were still essential office equipment in 1993, with email, then called “electronic mail”, slowly emerging as an alternative form of communication in the business world.

The world wide web was made open and free to everyone.

Mosaic, the first general-use internet browser, was released.

The number of movies available for VCR owners to watch on video had skyrocketed from only two films in 1978 to 33,000 titles in 1993.

A performance in California by a band called Severe Tire Damage became the world’s first livestream (known as multicasting at the time), and was seen in Australia.