Australian beachscape: The pluralilty of an iconic site
The Australian beach is frequently positioned as an integral component
of international tourist campaigns as well as the featured exotic location
of exported television shows such as Home and Away (1988—) and
Bondi Rescue (2006—). The idea of ‘one’ iconic beach that fits and
covers all desires is promoted by these representative monolithic
images. The beach has come to stand in for the desirability of Australia
at large. Kathryn James goes as far as to suggest that the Australian
beach and coast have ‘displaced the Outback or the bush as a stock
image or theme’ (James 2000, p. 12). However, this stock image often
neglects the diversity and multiplicity of the beach as a site. There are
many different beaches in Australia and even on the one beach there
is a combination of different spaces. This article addresses the plurality
of the beach and drawing on Soja’s concept of Thirdspace (1996) and
Doreen Massey’s ‘simultaneity of stories so far’ (2005, p. 5) puts
forward the term beachspace to account for this complex, dynamic,
changing and plural site.
