Roads, Tourism and Cultural History : : On the Road in Australia / / Rosemary Kerr.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter CVP eBook-Package Contemporary 2016-2020
• VerfasserIn: Kerr, Rosemary,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol, UK;, Blue Ridge Summit, PA : : Channel View Publications, , [2018]; ©2019
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Tourism and Cultural Change ; 53
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)

Roads and road tourism loom large in the Australian imagination as distance and mobility have shaped the nation's history and culture, but roads are more than simply transport routes; they embody multiple layers of history, mythology and symbolism. Drawing on Australian travel writing, diaries and manuscripts, tourism literature, fiction, poetry and feature films, this book explores how Australians have experienced and imagined roads and road touring beyond urban settings: from Aboriginal 'songlines' to modern-day road trips. It also tells the stories of iconic roads, including the Birdsville Track, Stuart Highway and Great Ocean Road, and suggests alternative approaches to heritage and tourism interpretation of these important routes. The ongoing impact of the colonial past on Indigenous peoples and contemporary Australian society and culture - including representations of the road and road travel - is explored throughout the book. The volume offers a new way of thinking about roads and road tourism as important strands in a nation's cultural fabric.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Abbreviations and Metric Conversions -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Imagining the Road -- 1. Making Tracks -- 2. The Call of the Open Road -- 3. 'Discovering' Australia -- 4. Travelling North -- 5. 'Going Around': On the Road to Nowhere? -- 6. Freedom on the Wallaby? -- 7. What Goes on Tour... .: Communities and Rituals of the Road -- 8. Blood on the Bitumen: The Dark Side of the Road -- 9. Politics and Protest on the Road -- 10. Romancing the Road: Constructing Australian Icons -- Are We There Yet? Conclusions on the Road -- Select Bibliography -- Index