The summer ritual of travelling from suburb to beach is one that has dominated the lives of many New Zealanders. Even those who resolutely remain at home have memories of unexpectedly quiet streets andsilent neighbouring homes with their lengthening lawns strewn with golden dandelions. Terry Moyle’s New Zealand At The Beach focuses on this seasonal migration. It is filled with many images, both those graphics created for the book and photographs of objects and reproductions of the advertisements that seem to contain the essence of the collective holiday experience.
Moyle’s history is very much a “people’s history”. The importance of Kiwi visits to the beach are not conveyed through the rarefied experiences of the famous – although there are one or two well-known names amongst his roster of commentators. Instead, Moyle goes to a wide array of individuals who provide a prismatic reflection of summer. They give descriptions of family holidays, travel to and from the coast, caravan parks, fibrolite baches, surfing, idling on lilos, picnicking in the shade of beach umbrellas, and the all-important summer menus.
It is a world that is frequently glimpsed through things. Moyle’s intriguingly vast personal collection of mid-20th century beach towels features heavily in the book, functioning both as page-decoration, as well as feature images. “Towel is to beach as beach is to towel,” he writes of their importance. Their colours alone grant New Zealand At The Beach its salty seasonal tang.
Waikanae beach. Illustration / Terry Moyle
Moyle’s gathering of the Dri-Glo beach towel brand, for instance, is a journey back into social memory. The designs slide from era to era, from subtly coloured stripes to the bold cartoons and astrological symbols of the 1960s. There are fluorescent green hibiscus flowers on a fringed purple and black Frank Carpay towel that owes much to Matisse. An object that is almost ignored historically is demonstrated to hold an entire cultural experience in its origin, design, and evolution.
This points to one of the outstanding features of Moyle’s book. It is a true “social history”. It is a story of the tribe and a time, often resonant with nostalgia – including iceberg lettuce and the ‘Economy Salad Dressing’ with Highlander Condensed Milk, malt vinegar, and dry mustard. There are Crusader caravans, surfing holidays at the Mount, chilly-bins, Raro, and a recipe for bacon and egg pie. The book provides a reflection of an era of post-war prosperity and the controlled economy, with anecdotes to support and intrigue.
Leigh beach. Illustration / Terry Moyle
Moyle ranges widely without losing focus, moving from the detail to overall experience. New Zealand At The Beach also interweaves the recollections of many New Zealanders into its narrative – Michael Fowler, Dick Frizzell, Laila Harré, Paul Moon and Emma Neale included. They back Moyle’s research into the physical objects, recipes, advertisements, and the trends of the time with their own particular stories.
New Zealand At The Beach, by Terry Moyle
Copiously illustrated with advertisements, postcards, and snapshots, New Zealand At The Beach exhibits the same devotion that Moyle has put into his books on the first aircraft flights in Edwardian New Zealand and Kiwi electrical appliances. It is knowledge worn lightly and very happily shared.
