A summer fling: the rise and fall of aquariums and fun parks on Sydney's ocean coast 1885–1920

Abstract

‘A summer fling’ examines the brief period in which Sydney's most popular beaches were occupied by aquariums, merry-go-rounds, fun parks, giant slides and other sites of paid amusement. It seeks to understand the role amusement structures played in the formation of a beach culture in Sydney, which by the early twentieth century was developing independently of European and American influences. This paper therefore provides new insight into the history of Australian beach culture, exploring a previously unstudied yet highly formative element of Sydney's early beach culture. It argues that the failure of private entertainment enterprises to take hold on Sydney's coast reflected a beach culture which was firmly centred on the sand and surf, a culture which ensured the creation of a coastal landscape which for most of the twentieth century was unmarked by artificial entertainment sites. It argues that this was not an inevitable outcome, but was the result of ongoing and shifting debates between government authorities, coastal residents and beach users about what constituted ‘appropriate’ ways to use the beach space.