Australian History
Book Details

Sand in Our Souls

The Beach in Australian History

Leone Huntsman

In Sand in Our Souls Leone Huntsman describes the forces and pressures that encouraged or impeded Australians’ enjoyment of sand and surf.

Awards

Independent Scholars Assocation of Australia Book Prize 2002
Frank Broeze Memorial Maritime History Book Prize 2002

Opinion

“This marvellously thoroughly and thoughtful work sets a new high-tide mark in the debate about the centrality of the beach in Australian culture.” (The Age, 27 October 2001)

‘Sand in Our Souls is . . . consistently good fun.’ (Mark Thomas, Panorama, Canberra Times, 22 December 2001)

About this Title

Images of ‘the beach’ pervade Australian popular culture. However the deeper significance of the experience of ‘the beach’, and its influence on Australian culture generally, have not yet been seriously explored. How, why and when did the beach become part of the Australian way of life?

In Sand in Our Souls Leone Huntsman describes the forces and pressures that encouraged or impeded Australians’ enjoyment of sand and surf, from early enjoyment of bathing, through nearly a century of repressive restrictions, to freedom won in the face of drawn-out opposition. The ways in which artists, writers, film-makers and the advertising industry have depicted the beach are examined for the light they throw on the beach’s significance. She traces the development of a distinctively Australian way-of-being-at-the-beach, suggesting that the beach experience has been absorbed into our emerging culture and continues to shape it in subtle ways.

Huntsman’s provocative arguments will stimulate debate on the concept of ‘national identity’ appropriate for a new Australian century, and promote a deeper understanding of an aspect of life in Australia that is cherished by many of those who live here.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Part One: The Evolution of the Australian Beach
1 First Impressions
2 The Triumph of Respectability
3 Writers and Artists, the Bush and the Beach
4 Beginnings: A New Century, a New Nation and the Struggle for the Beach
5 The Achievement of Freedom on the Beach
6 The Australianising of the Beach
7 The Beach from the Mid-twentieth Century to the Present

Part Two: Representations of the Beach in the Twentieth Century
8 Early Representations and Emerging Themes
9 Childhood and the Beach
10 The Prominence of Nature: Diverse Connections
11 The Beach and Popular Culture
12 The Serene and the Sinister: Contrasting Aspects of the Beach
13 Reflections on Representations of the Beach and 'Immersion in Place'

Part Three: Influences of the Beach in Australian Culture
14 The Concept of 'National Identity'
15 Meanings of the Beach, and the Shaping of an Australian Culture
16 Balancing Acts
17 Present and Future Challenges
18 In Conclusion

Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Leone Huntsman is not a bodysurfer, a boardrider or a lifesaver. She is one of those millions of Australians who feel an emotional and spiritual attachment to the beaches with which this nation is so fortunately endowed. Until her retirement she was Senior Lecturer in Child Development at the Institute of Early Childhood at Macquarie University.

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978-0-522-84945-5