Hey Rock fans! Welcome back to Whispers from the Walls.
You know, we’ve been mixing things up a little lately… and tonight, we’re stepping into the story of the woman who quietly built one of the biggest rock families of all time.

Most people know AC/DC.
They know Angus — the wild schoolboy in the shorts.
They know Malcolm — the rhythmic backbone of hard rock.
But almost nobody knows the woman who raised them.

Her name was Margaret Young, and she lived a life as bold and determined as the music her sons would someday unleash on the world.

Margaret was born in Glasgow in 1914, raised in a working-class neighborhood where survival depended on grit. She married William Young, had eight children, and faced the harsh reality of post-war Scotland: fading jobs, rising poverty, and no real path forward for a big family.

Then she heard about the Ten Pound Poms — a government program offering British families the chance to immigrate to Australia for just £10. It was advertised like paradise, but for most, it meant starting over with nothing but hope and determination.

Margaret didn’t hesitate.
She packed up her children — including young Malcolm and Angus — and boarded a ship across the world in 1963. The trip was long, crowded, and uncomfortable, but she never wavered. She believed a better life was waiting on the other side.

When the Young family landed in Sydney, they had almost nothing. Margaret took whatever work she could find: cleaning houses, laundry, odd jobs that paid just enough to feed eight kids. The home was noisy, cramped, and chaotic — but it was filled with love, stubbornness, and music.

And Margaret encouraged every second of it.

Her older son George found early success with The Easy beats, proving to his younger brothers that music could be a real path. Soon Malcolm and Angus were practicing day and night, hammering out riffs in the tiny family home while Margaret kept everyone fed and in line.

And yes — she’s the one who bought Angus that now-iconic schoolboy uniform. She patched it, washed it, and made sure he had it for every early gig long before it became rock legend.

Margaret didn’t tell her boys to “be realistic.”
She didn’t complain about the noise.
She didn’t try to shrink their dreams to fit their circumstances.
She believed in them — fiercely, quietly, and without hesitation.

As AC/DC exploded into one of the loudest and most electrifying forces in rock history, Margaret remained their anchor. She was tough when they struggled, proud when they succeeded, and steady when fame threatened to shake the ground beneath them.

Behind the guitar solos, the amps, the chaos, and the global success… stood a mother who crossed an ocean to give her children a chance.

Tonight, we shine a light on Margaret Young —
the immigrant mother with the iron will,
the woman who survived poverty and upheaval,
and the quiet force who raised two of the greatest rock musicians of all time.

Without her, there would be no AC/DC.
No thunder.
No legacy.
No band that shook the world.

This is her story.