Where "Schoolies" Comes From
Began on Queensland's Gold Coast in the 1970s, with the first organised event in 1976 at the Broadbeach International Hotel, inspired by hotel manager Geoff Lewis's 1975 visit to Fort Lauderdale's Spring Break scene. It has since spread into a nationwide (and international, with destinations like Fiji and Bali) rite of passage.
Sources: Schoolies week (Wikipedia) · A Chat to the Guy Who Invented Schoolies (VICE, 2015)
“My cousin finishes exams next week and then it's straight to schoolies.”
“Half the units in the building are booked out for schoolies.”
"The whole crew's booked an apartment on the Goldy for schoolies."
How Aussies Actually Use It
Almost always said as a plural event name ("going to schoolies," "schoolies week"), never singular. Locals in host towns sometimes distinguish "schoolies" (the graduates) from "toolies" (older gatecrashers) and "foolies" (underage gatecrashers).
Schoolies works as both an event and a group of people. 'I'm going to schoolies' means the trip; 'the schoolies are everywhere' means the school-leavers themselves. Because it's tied to finishing Year 12, it's really a topic for late in the year, when families are planning, booking and worrying, and when news stories about it usually appear.
The tone depends on who's speaking. School-leavers say it with excitement, parents often with a mix of pride and nerves, and residents of popular towns sometimes with weary humour. It is casual and always plural in use. A learner tip: it isn't a general word for schoolchildren, and you wouldn't call a primary student a schoolie. It refers specifically to the end-of-school celebration, so use it only for that context. If someone asks 'are you doing schoolies?', they mean the post-exam trip.
See also: Stoked (how school-leavers might feel).
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