The two little boys who left Scotland to rock the world
Angus Young has vivid memories of the big freeze of 1962, the worst winter on record in Scotland where snow was 8ft deep.
It was the catalyst for his parents, William and Margaret, to make the decision that would change their family’s lives forever…to emigrate to Australia.
The guitar legend was brought up in a tenement flat in Skerryvore Road, in the Cranhill housing scheme in Glasgow, attending Milncroft Primary School.
Angus has fond memories of his childhood. “It was a happy time for me. As kids, we’d all play football in the street…kick around a soccer ball,” he said. “I remember us playing in a little farm area where there were cows. It was a lot of fun stuff.
“We lived just across from the big water tower, which is still there today. That was the view from our house.”
When the family took the momentous decision to sign up to the Australian Government’s £10 immigration package, they were each given a one-way ticket to a new life Down Under.
“My father wasn’t working. He wanted to but there was a lot of unemployment and he couldn’t get a job,” said Angus, who was eight at the time. “Because of his age he thought: ‘They only want to hire young people.’ So it was a hard thing to do. But he thought more of his younger children – George, Malcolm and myself – that we’d get a better opportunity in Australia.”
In June 1963, the Young family made the 9,000-mile trip to Sydney and, on arrival, lived in a migrant hostel. It was tough but slowly they found their feet.
“What did I know about Australia? Not a lot,” Angus admitted. “What little you might have seen was on TV or information from the Australian Embassy. I first thought: ‘Do we have to go to school on ponies?’ or ‘Are there really kangaroos running around?’”
Ten years later, Malcolm and Angus formed AC/DC, whose famous “electric bolt” logo was taken from a voltage label on their sister’s sewing machine.
“She always thought I looked really cute when I came home from school wearing my uniform and would sit and play guitar in my bedroom,” said Angus.
“She said: ‘I’ve got a great idea… you’ve got to put him in his school uniform. It would be a great gimmick.’
“Now, I’d feel strange if I had to play without it. When I’ve got the school uniform on I feel complete. If you see Spider-man in a movie he’s GOT to have his spider suit on. Well, I’m the same.”