Hangovers and skullets: welcome to Schoolies week 2025

The rite of passage for many Australian teenagers at Surfers Paradise has changed since the first party on Broadbeach in the 1970s

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It’s 9pm on Friday at Surfers Paradise and a DJ on the main beach is playing a club mix of Reel 2 Real’s I Like to Move It as teenage boys wearing sunglasses shuffle enthusiastically on the sand.

This is the last night of schoolies, and it’s going to be large. The evening’s official costume theme is “good, evil, iconic”, which is open to wide interpretation. Someone is dressed as The Lorax, another as a Christmas tree.