Dark Skinned and Bikinied: The Australian Beach as Third Space for Young Migrants

Australia is surrounded by water from the Pacific, Indian and Southern oceans, and its coastline is made up of various types of beaches from different climatic regions. The alluring nature of the beach is evident through the ways in which it continues to entice many of all ages to hang out, swim and surf. The appeal of the Australian beach has shifted over time, from changing laws regarding the types of clothing worn by beachgoers, time allocations for swimming, and the rise of surf lifesaving clubs; but the beach has also been recognised as a space of disturbance and tension, for example during the Cronulla riots in 2005. The question of ‘who really belongs at the beach?’ (or better yet: ‘how does one define their own sense of belonging while at the beach?') will be interrogated in this presentation through overviewing recent research of young migrants’ experiences while visiting the beach. The Australian beach (as third space) is a space where the young migrants in this research find themselves negotiating new meanings associated with their identities based on their practices of ‘showing flesh’ and ‘getting darker’.