Local Colour: Ethnicity and Difference in Australian Tourism Imagery

Abstract

This study examines the construction of an ethnic dichotomy between Australian Anglos and Aborigines by exploring their images in tourism brochures. A semiotic approach is used to interpret the meanings of text and photos in 43 Australian travel brochures available in New Zealand, and content analysis demonstrates significant differences between the two images. It is argued that ethnic difference is emphasised in many spheres, including tourism, due to various benefits such as simple classification, identity-affirmation, and the perpetuation of power relations. The creation and emphasis of difference is demonstrated in a number of themes: monuments, geography, culture, nature, and the past. These tourism representations are then compared with other sources, such as census data, to assess the extent of distortion. In order to gauge how widespread the tourism imagery is, other sources and sites of ethnic imagery are examined. These range from general ideas about the Other, to nationalism, art, fiction, and academia. Finally, reasons for the stress on the Anglo/Aboriginal opposition are put forward. This involves dealing with the phenomenon in the realms of thought processes, tourism and advertising, Self and Other, and politics. The content and use of symbols is related to the distribution of power within Australian society, specifically the greater prerogative of Anglos to define themselves and other Australians.