Schoolies week

What it is

Schoolies week is a break that Australian teenagers take together once their final school exams are over. It falls in late November and early December and usually lasts about a week. Those who go are called schoolies, or leavers in Western Australia, where the week is also known as leavers' week; in the Australian Capital Territory the word coasties is used. The tradition is a holiday rather than a ceremony, but many families and schools treat it as the moment when school life ends and adult life begins. Older revellers who join in are nicknamed toolies, and younger teenagers who have not yet finished school are called foolies.

How it began

School leavers were already heading to the Gold Coast in Queensland for a holiday after their exams by the 1970s. The name Schoolies Week came later, as did events arranged specially for them. It is claimed that the first organised event was held in 1976, when Geoff Lewis, who managed Lennon's Broadbeach International Hotel, acted on what he had seen at Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale and encouraged students at Queensland's universities to join in. After that the Gold Coast drew school leavers from all over Australia, and the practice spread to other holiday towns around the country.

Where schoolies go

The Gold Coast, and Surfers Paradise in particular, remains the biggest gathering place, drawing tens of thousands of young people, most of them from Queensland and northern New South Wales. In 2011 the city braced for about 40,000 school leavers; roughly 16,000 came in 2021. Other Australian destinations include the Sunshine Coast, Magnetic Island near Townsville, Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays, Port Macquarie and Byron Bay. Victor Harbor is the usual choice in South Australia, and Victorians often head for Lorne, Torquay or Phillip Island. In Western Australia, Rottnest Island off Perth, Dunsborough and Busselton are popular. Many Western Australians fly to Bali, and Fiji and Vanuatu also draw schoolies; in Tasmania there is no established site.

Keeping it safer

Public bodies and charities run events meant to lower the risks of the week. In South Australia the charity Encounter Youth organises the Schoolies Festival at Victor Harbor, with support from the state government and the police, and arranges free buses from a dozen places so that young people do not have to drive. Its Green Team of volunteers started in 1998. Queensland's Safer Schoolies program, begun in 2003, provides a fenced hub on the beach at Surfers Paradise where registered school leavers can go for alcohol-free and drug-free entertainment. Western Australia's Leavers WA hands out wristbands and runs buses and a similar zone at Dunsborough. The Christian Red Frogs network sends volunteers who walk teenagers home, clean and cook.

Criticism and change

Media coverage has long painted the week as unruly, and residents in some towns have objected to heavy drinking and to behaviour they call reckless. Police are often needed. On Rottnest Island the event was cut from a week to three days from 2006, a decision some young people criticised. Arrests on the Gold Coast were at their worst in 2009, when 217 school leavers faced 244 charges across eight days, and there was talk of banning the week altogether. The pandemic closed down the 2020 season, and travel between states was still restricted the following year.

How Schoolies week is kept

School leavers finish their last exams, then travel in groups to a chosen destination and stay for about a week. On the Gold Coast they collect wristbands that identify them as graduates, which lets them into organised parties and concerts. Councils, charities and private companies put on events; in some places entry is limited to those who have left school. Police patrol the main strips, and volunteers from the Red Frogs network walk young people home, cook for them and clean up. Free bus services run in several destinations so that revellers are not driving. Some teenagers celebrate without any organised event at all.

When and where

The week follows the end of the school year in Australia, running from late November into early December, once final examinations are finished. Its timing comes from the school calendar rather than a religious date, so the exact days shift a little from year to year.

It is kept in Australia, above all on the Gold Coast in Queensland, and in a string of coastal towns: the Sunshine Coast, Byron Bay, Port Macquarie, Airlie Beach, Magnetic Island, Victor Harbor, Lorne, Torquay, Phillip Island, Rottnest Island, Dunsborough and Busselton. Young Australians also travel to Bali, Fiji and Vanuatu. No established Schoolies site exists in Tasmania.

What Schoolies week means

Many Australians treat the week as a rite of passage. It is the last party with schoolmates before everyone goes their separate ways, and it stands for the shift from childhood towards adult life. The Gold Coast has been described as a liminal space, meaning a between-place away from home where a change of stage becomes possible. Parents often see the same week differently, as a time of worry, which is part of why so much of it is organised around keeping young people safe.

Questions people ask about Schoolies week

See also

Tribal youth dormitoryA communal house where a tribe's unmarried young people sleep, learn and serveLine-crossing ceremonyA naval initiation rite marking a sailor's first voyage across the equatorWalkaboutA rite of passage involving travel through the Australian landscape to learn ancestral lore.Tooth ablationA global custom of deliberately removing healthy teeth for social, ritual, or aesthetic reasons.

Good reading and sources

• AM ArchiveABC News Australia, Article
• AM ArchiveABC News Australia, Article

• Schoolies week on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• Wikidata recordOpen data

It may contain mistakes. Traditions differ from one family, village and community to the next, and the people who keep them know them best. If something is wrong, tell us. Last refreshed 2026-10-12.