Australian Tourists and Britain's Past Journals

Time travel: Australian tourists and Britain's past Journals

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Time Travel: Australian Tourists and Britain's Past

Richard White

ABSTRACT

Across the twentieth century, Britain drew more Australian tourists for longer and more intense experiences than anywhere else, though as early as the 1970s Asia was attracting more Australians than Europe. They found much to admire and to deprecate in Britain but above all they were seduced by Britain’s past, or what they imagined it to be. This paper examines the Australian experience of history in Britain, their admiration for notions of tradition, for an unchanging village life, for fading imperial glory, for sheer antiquity. Some looked for their own ancestors and family but most were satisfied to have their school lessons and imaginative reading validated by being there. The response they had to British history was an intensely emotional one: this article argues that it was a result not of imperial sentiment but of a desire for a deep and meaningful past.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5130/portal.v10i1.2402

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UTS: Library Contact Comprehensive Information about tourism and travel in Australia with many tips for the traveller. Australia has become one of the most attract ive countries for tourism in the world and the reasons are simple: for a long time traditional tourist destinations such as Europe, USA, England, Mediterranean and many others, used to attract tourists for their history, architecture, shopping, beauty, beaches and development. Meanwhile Australia was considered too far and expensive to go, except for Asia residents. With the world changing significantly and cities growing in an astonishing pace, a few place were left untouched and pristine as Australia today. The size of the country and the surprises Britain – Workshop or Service Centre to the World? The British Hotel and Catering Industry The Business of Hotels (with H. Ingram) Europeans on Holiday. Higher Education and Research in Tourism in Western Europe Historical Development of Tourism (with A.J. Burkart) Holiday Surveys Examined The Management of Tourism (with A.J. Burkart eds) Managing Tourism (ed.) Profile of the Hotel and Catering Industry (with D.W. Airey) Tourism and Hospitality in the 21st Century (with A. Lockwood eds). Tourism and Productivity Tourism Council of the South Pacific Corporate Plan. Tourism Employment in Wales Tourism: Past, Present and Future (with A.J. Burkart) Trends in Tourism: World Experience and England’s Prospects.