Australian Identity in Bondi Beach

The short story, Bondi Beach, by J.A.C Dunn has been written to position the reader to view Australia’s identity in the 1970s in a stereotypical way. There are many examples of the ‘everyday lifestyle’ of Australians that have been represented in this timetabled story of a typical day at Bondi Beach. Firstly, the timetabled outline suggest that Australian’s repeat the same activities everyday that include going to the beach for a surf, then ending the day with a beer. Secondly, Bondi Beach has represented Australians as having a strong surfing culture as dedicated surfers at 5:30am, ‘pass in vans, stop, look at surf, drive on; checking beaches’. This representation is continued in the story later in the day as, ‘non surfies watch surfies, admiring, curious incredulous’ while the nympheteenies who appear half naked are hoping for a tan rather then surf. It seems as though Australia is becoming more acceptable about half-nakedness, as it is not only acceptable to wear a bikini at the beach, but also at Sydney’s First Beach Bar And Bistro, ‘two savvy-looking gumdrops…’ can be seen behind the bar. As this is Sydney’s first beach bar and bistro, it suggests that these activities have just started occurring. It could be seen as Australia changing their beliefs in the 70s. Bondi Beach also suggests that in Australia, it is easy to spot out foreign people as ‘walking across beach littered with fair-skinned turning pink and dark skinned turning Polynesian makes you feel like an intruder’. If walking at the beach makes you feel like an intruder, there must not be many foreign people out, which implies that Australia is not a multicultural country. From Bondi Beach, the author has positioned the reader to view Australia as a beach driven society where people of all ages gather at the beach in a daily routine.

What ideas about Australia do a couple in "Away" represent? Roy And Coral.

• appreciate the high standard of living
• she realises that some people take living in Australia and its lifestyle for granted
• represent the loss from the war
• represent fragile marriages, might have to do with the war, and represents the disagreements from the loss of loved ones at war
• shows how Australians do not know how to react to people who they think aren't normal