Tourism and Australian Beach Culture: Revealing Bodies

Authors

Christine Metusela, University of New South WalesFollow
Gordon R. Waitt, University of WollongongFollow

RIS ID

68354

Publication Details

Metusela, C. & Waitt, G. (2012). Tourism and Australian Beach Culture: Revealing Bodies. Bristol: Channel View Publications.

Abstract

This book explores the ever-changing relationships between bodies, oceans, beaches and tourism. The book contributes to the Tourism and Cultural Change series by taking a cultural geography approach to examine the emergence of sea bathing and sunbathing as a leisure and tourism activity. Our focus is the emergence of Australian beach cultures beyond metropolitan centres, where relatively little research has been conducted. We draw on a historical archive comprised of newspaper and magazine articles, bank records, rail records, council records, surf club records, tourist association records and guidebooks from 1830 to 1940 of the Illawarra, New South Wales, some 80 kilometres south of Sydney, to provide a snapshot of the shifting conceptions of beach tourism, bathing and the body.