Sailing traditions: a cultural history of sailing and yachting in Australian waters, 1888-1945

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Copyright: De Montfort, Carlin
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Abstract
This thesis documents the rich meanings of recreational sailing and yachting in Australian waters between 1888 and 1945. It approaches sailing and yachting through two functional categories of maritime history, the use of the sea for leisure and the inspiration of the sea in culture, and considers how meanings are created through myth, legend, and ritual. By consulting newspaper articles, magazines, yachting histories and books, poetry, race programs, images and the design of boats, this thesis considers the way that sailing and yachting developed in Australian waters. By consulting secondary literature, it locates this development of sailing and yachting in the broader themes of Australian history. This thesis has found a strong tradition of sailing and yachting in Australian waters in events such as the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and Anniversary Regattas; the rituals and traditions of sailing clubs and yacht clubs, such as the open boat clubs in Sydney, and the Royal Yacht clubs throughout the capital port cities of Australia; legends created around sailing and yachting, such as the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, open boats, and ocean cruising; and the practices of sailing and yachting throughout the period covered. It has found that sailing and yachting developed in Australian waters between 1888 and 1945 within the broad context of modernisation. Old seafaring traditions were maintained in the context of technological changes in shipping and recreational sailing. Yachting and sailing was democratised as boats became more affordable, exclusive social boundaries weakened, and the pastimes were commodified. Local traditions and Britishness remained constant refrains in sailing and yachting culture during the period covered. However, in the twentieth century, local traditions have taken on national significance. This thesis had found that contemporary myths, legends, and rituals surrounding sailing and yachting, including the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race and America’s Cup, are based on a long tradition of sailing and yachting in Australian waters.
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De Montfort, Carlin
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Publication Year
2011
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Thesis
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PhD Doctorate
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