From Niche Sport to Mass Tourism: Transnational Lives in Australia’s Thredbo Resort

Strobl, Philipp

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-92025-2_9

From Niche Sport to Mass Tourism: Transnational Lives in Australia’s Thredbo Resort

Philipp Strobl⁵

Chapter
First Online: 12 September 2018

428 Accesses

Part of the book series: Global Culture and Sport Series ((GCS))

Abstract

Philipp Strobl explores the translation and diffusion processes of skiing culture and practices and the knowledge of how to operate and maintain ski resorts in Thredbo, Australia’s “most international ski resort” located in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales. Strobl uses a biographical approach analysing the resort’s initial years in the late 1950s and early 1960s against the backdrop of an intensified global diffusion of skiing and the emergence of transcultural ski cultures. This chapter shows how ideas introduced from different parts of the skiable world and local entrepreneurial knowledge intermingled when skiing as a mass-leisure practice was introduced to Australia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 69.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Softcover Book: USD 89.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Hardcover Book: USD 119.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
Peter Southwell-Keely, Out on the Tops. The Centenary of the Kosciuszko Alpine Club (Gordon: NSW Perisher Historical Society, 2009), 125.
2.
Ursula Apschitz and Irini Siouti, “Transnational Biographies,” Zeitschrift für Qualitative Forschung 15 (2014): 11–23, 20; Irini Siouti, Transnationale Biographien. Eine Biographische Analyse über Transmigrationsprozesse bei der Nachfolgegeneration griechischer Arbeitsmigranten (Bielefeld: Transcript, 2013), 34.
3.
Volker Depkat, “The Challenges of Biography and Migration History,” in: Günter Bischof, ed., Quiet Invaders? Austrian Immigrant Biographies to the United States in the Twentieth Century, Innsbruck 2017, 299–309, 305.
4.
Jan Logemann, “Transatlantische Karrieren und Internationale Leben: Zum Verhältnis von Migrantenbiographien und transnationaler Geschichte,” BIOS – Zeitschrift für Biographieforschung, Oral History und Lebensverlaufsanalysen 26 (2015): 81; The International Organisation for Migration defines a transmigrant as someone who had established and maintained socio-cultural connections across geopolitical borders: International Organisation for Migration, ed., World Migration Report 2008: Managing Labour Mobility in the Evolving Global Economy (Geneva, 2008): 500.
5.
Logemann, “transnationale Karrieren,” 85.
6.
Peter Burke, “Translatio Studii: The Contribution of Exiles to the Establishment of Sociology and Art History in Britain, 1933–1960,” Arbor Clencia, Pensamiento y Cultura 739 (2009): 903.
7.
Pierre Bourdieu, “The Forms of Capital,” in Handbook of Theory of Research for the Sociology of Education, ed., J.E. Richardson (Westport: Greenwood, 1986): 412–458.
8.
Umut Erel, “Migrating Cultural Capital: Bourdieu in Migration Studies,” Sociology 44 (2010): 649.
9.
Bourdieu, “Capital”, 47.
10.
Philipp Strobl, “‘But the Main Thing is I had the Knowledge…’ – Gertrude Langer, Cultural Transformation and the Emerging Art Sector in Postwar Queensland (Australia),” The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art 1 (2018).
11.
Everett Rogers, Diffusion of Innovation (London, The Free Press, 1983), 82.
12.
Geoffrey Hughes, Starting Thredbo (Hong Kong: Printciple Source, 2008), 4.
13.
Interviews have been conducted in 2016 and 2017 with Mr. Leon Smith and Mr. Warren Peck during a research project about Austrian refugee migrants in Australia. Smith and Peck are both passionate skiers and former presidents of the Australian Alpine Club and were actively involved in the development of Australian post-war skiing. Both have agreed to be interviewed and expressed their intention of being identified in this publication.
14.
The probably most acknowledged is E. John B. Allen, who offers a broad international approach: E. John B. Allen, The Culture and Sport of Skiing: From Antiquity to World War II (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2007); E. John B. Allen, Historical Dictionary of Skiing (Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2012); Andrew Denning provides a multinational overview of certain aspects of skiing such as cultural or environmental changes: Andrew Denning, Skiing into Modernity: A Cultural and Environmental History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2015); A special issue of The International Journal of the History of Sport published in 2013 deals with a wide range of case studies showing the diversity of skiing in Europe: Annette R. Hofmann, “Introduction”, The International Journal of the History of Sport 30:6 (2013): 561–562; in his 2011 dissertation, Dylan Jim Esson offers a comparative overview about the development of ski resorts in Europe and the United States: Dylan Jim Esson, Selling the Alpine Frontier: The Development of Winter Resorts, Sports, and Tourism in Europe and America, 1865–1941 (PhD diss., University of California, 2011); My paper about the ski pioneer Charles William Anton analyses how one cultural broker made use of transferred ideas and knowledge to form Australia’s largest ski club: Philipp Strobl, “Migration, Knowledge Transfer, and the Emergence of Australian Post-War Skiing: The Story of Charles William Anton,” The International Journal of the History of Sport, 3 (2016): 2006–2025, https://doi.org/10.1080/09523367.2017.1313234
15.
Johannes Paulmann, “Internationaler Vergleich und Interkultureller Transfer. Zwei Forschungsansätze zur europäischen Geschichte des 18. Und 19. Jahrhunderts,” Historische Zeitschrift 267 (1998): 674.
16.
Chas Keys, Thredbo: Pioneers, Legends, Community (Canberra: Halstead, 2017); Peter Southwell-Keely, Highway to Heaven. A History of Perisher and the Ski Resorts Along the Kosciuszko Road (Gordon: NSW Perisher Historical Society, 2013); Peter Southwell-Keely, Out on the Tops. The Centenary of the Kosciuszko Alpine Club (Gordon: NSW Perisher Historical Society, 2009); Janis M Lloyd, Skiing Into History, 1924–1984 (Toorak: Ski Club of Victoria, 1986); Lynette Sheridan, University Ski Club: 1929–1979 (North Carlton: University Ski Club, 1988).
17.
Wendy Cross, Australian Skiing: The First 100 Years (Sydney: Walla Walla Press, 2012).
18.
Cross, Skiing, 3.
19.
Cross, Skiing, 17.
20.
Some of the manufacturers were also migrants such as French Peter Garran who became the most successful producer of skis in Australia during the 1950s, see: Cross, Skiing, 129.
21.
Cross, Skiing, 142.
22.
Strobl, “Anton,” 5; Hughes, Thredbo, 8.
23.
Jim Darby, Thredbo 50: 1957 to 2007 (Mt Macedon: TSM Publishing, 2006): 10.
24.
Geoffrey Sherrington, Australia’s Immigrants (Crow’s Nest: Allen and Unwin, 1990), 133.
25.
Southwell-Keely, Out on the Tops, 105.
26.
Southwell-Keely, Out on the Tops, 105.
27.
Cross, Skiing, 149; Leon Smith, interview with author, Sydney, March 2016.
28.
Jill MacDonald, “Our Backward state,” Australian Ski Year Book (1950): 44; “We Have Neglected Our Snowfields,” Sunday Herald, September 28, 1952, 7.
29.
“We Have Neglected Our Snowfields,” Sydney Morning Herald, September 28, 1952, 7.
30.
Hughes, Thredbo, 10.
31.
Strobl, “Anton,” 9.
32.
Lindie Clark, Finding a Common Interest: The Story of Dick Dusseldorp and Lend Lease (Cambridge: University Press, 2007), 198.
33.
See: Strobl, “Anton,” 7; Southwell-Keely, Out on the Tops, 101.
34.
Tony Sponar, Snow in Australia? – That’s News to Me (Palmerston: Tabletop Press, 1995), 43, 1.
35.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 11, 1.
36.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 10, 1.
37.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 32, 4.
38.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 22, 1.
39.
Allen, Dictionary of Skiing, 12.
40.
Esson, “Selling the Alpine Frontier,” 158.
41.
Keys, Thredbo, 17.
42.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 33, 5.
43.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 4, 1.
44.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 25.
45.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 4, 1.
46.
For more information on the different forms of capital, see: Bourdieu, Capital.
47.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 4, 2.
48.
Cross, Australian Skiing, 53.
49.
Cross, Australian Skiing, 72.
50.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 11, 1.
51.
Cross, Australian Skiing, 72.
52.
Richard White et al., On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia (London: Pluto Press, 2005), 121.
53.
Paul Hogben and Judith O’Callaghan, “Leisure Capital: Sydney and the Post-war Leisure Boom,” Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand (2013): 125–137, 129.
54.
Hughes, Thredbo, 17.
55.
William Hudson, “The Snowy Mountains Scheme,” Nature 195 (1962): 16.
56.
Darby, Thredbo, 12.
57.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 24.
58.
Keys, Thredbo, 27.
59.
Darby, Thredbo, 13.
60.
Hughes, Thredbo, 15.
61.
Sponar, Snow, 37, 2.
62.
See: Strobl.
63.
Sponar, Snow, 21.
64.
Strobl, “Anton,” 2013.
65.
Paola Favaro “White Gold: The European’s Dream of Thredbo,” In Proceedings of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand: 33, Gold, eds. AnnMarie Brennan and Philip Goad (Melbourne: SAHANZ, 2016): 178–189, 181.
66.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 24.
67.
Denning, ‘Alpine Skiing’, 434.
68.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 37, 2.
69.
Denning, Into Modernity, 158.
70.
Charles Anton, Brief History and Aims of the Australian Alpine Club (Incorporating Ski Tourer’s Association of Australia), Brochure, February 1963.
71.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 37, 2.
72.
Keys, Thredbo, 34.
73.
Hughes, Thredbo, 15.
74.
The company was named after Kosciuszko, the tallest mountain in Australia and Thredbo, the valley where they wanted to build the resort.
75.
Darby, Thredbo, 13.
76.
Leon Smith, interview with author, November 15, 2017.
77.
Esson, “Alpine Frontier”, 75.
78.
Hughes, Thredbo, 17.
79.
Strobl, “Anton,” 9.
80.
Hughes, Thredbo, 17.
81.
Keys, Thredbo, 31.
82.
Helen Swinbourne, Accordions in the Snow Gums. Thredbo’s Early Years (Pambula 2006), 9.
83.
Morten Lund, “The Austrian Instructor,” Skiing Heritage 17 (2005): 29–34, 32f.
84.
Hughes, Thredbo, 17.
85.
Darby, Thredbo, 14.
86.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 39, 2.
87.
“New Hotel and Ski Lift Possible for Kosciusko,” Canberra Times, January 30 1957, 3.
88.
Strobl, “Anton,” 10.
89.
Clark, Common Interest, 198.
90.
Esson, “Alpine Frontier,” xi.
91.
Huntford, Skiing, 376.
92.
Esson, “Alpine Frontier,” xi.
93.
Strobl, “Anton,” 10; Sponar, Snow in Australia, 143; Hughes, Thredbo, 22.
94.
State Library of New South Wales, 796/0.93/0994, Kosciusko Thredbo Limited, Prospectus of an issue at part of 100,000 ordinary shares of Pound 1 each, 3 March 1958.
95.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 41, 2.
96.
Hughes, Thredbo, 27.
97.
State Library of New South Wales, 796/0.93/0994, Kosciusko Thredbo Limited, Prospectus of an issue at par of 100,000 ordinary shares of Pound 1 each, 3 March 1958.
98.
Hughes, Thredbo, 25.
99.
Karen D. Lorentz, “Two Resorts That Led The Way,” in Ski Heritage 06 (2006): 14.
100.
State Library of New South Wales, 796/0.93/0994, Kosciusko Thredbo Limited, Prospectus of an issue at par of 100,000 ordinary shares of Pound 1 each, 3 March 1958.
101.
Cross, Skiing, 74.
102.
Cross, Skiing, 75.
103.
Hughes, Thredbo, 40.
104.
Cross, Skiing 76.
105.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 42, 2.
106.
Denning, Into Modernity, 132.
107.
Philipp Strobl, Innsbrucker Wirtschaftsgeschichte (Economic History of the City of Innsbruck) (Innsbruck: Studienverlag, 2013), 169.
108.
Favaro, “White Gold,” 181.
109.
Sponar, Snow in Australia, 43, 2.
110.
See: Bischof, in this book.
111.
Robert Groß, “Uphill and Downhill Histories. How Winter Tourism Transformed Alpine Regions in Vorarlberg, Austria – 1930 to 1970,” Zeitschrift für Tourismuswissenschaft 9 (2017), 115–139, 120.
112.
Cross, Snow, 74.
113.
Cross, Skiing, 74.
114.
Keys, Thredbo, 34.
115.
Cross, Skiing, 74.
116.
“Helicopter in Use for Building Snow Chairlift,” Canberra Times, March 28, 1958, 16; “Public Announcements for Skiers and Tourists,” Canberra Times, June 25 1958, 1.
117.
Cross, Skiing, 75.
118.
Cross, Skiing, 75.
119.
Keys, Thredbo, 161.
120.
Swinbourne, Accordions, 45.
121.
Robert Groß, Wie das 1950er Syndrom in die Täler kam: Umwelthistorische Überlegungen zur Konstruktion von Wintersportlandschaften am Beispiel Damüls in Vorarlberg (Regensburg: Roderer, 2012), 82.
122.
Strobl, “Anton,” 2011.
123.
Darby, Thredbo, 84.
124.
Leon Smith, interview with author, November 15, 2017.
125.
“Expert Australians May Instruct Skiers,” Canberra Times, August 5, 1964, 14.
126.
Keys, Thredbo, 57.
127.
Keys, Thredbo, 59.
128.
Swinbourne, Accordions, 36.
129.
Strobl, “Anton,” 12f.
130.
“Lifesavers in the Snow,” The Australian Women’s Weekly, August 23, 19,961, 5.
131.
Swinbourne, Accordions, 22.
132.
Leon Smith, interview with author, November 15, 2017.
133.
“Boom in our Alpine Sport,” Good Neighbour, October 1, 1960, 5.
134.
“The Snowy Country,” Good Neighbour, October 1, 1967, 4.
135.
Hogben and O’Callaghan, “Leisure Capital,” 128.
136.
Hughes, Thredbo, 41.
137.
Rodney Maddock, “The Long Boom 1940–1970,” in The Australian Economy in the Long Run, eds. Rodney Maddock and Ian W. McLean (Cambridge: University Press, 1987): 79–108.
138.
Hogben and O’Callaghan, “Leisure Capital,” 126, 130.
139.
“Offer for Thredbo Company Accepted,” Canberra Times, November 10, 1961, 26.
140.
“Offer for Thredbo Company Accepted,” Canberra Times, November 10, 1961, 26.
141.
Hughes, Thredbo, 41.
142.
Mary Murphy, Challenges of Change: The Lend Lease Story (Sydney: Lend Lease, 1984), 103.
143.
Hughes, Thredbo, 41.
144.
“Offer for Thredbo Company Accepted,” Canberra Times, November 10, 1961, 26.
145.
Sponar, “Snow in Australia,” 41, 4.
146.
State Library of New South Wales, 796/0.93/0994, Kosciusko Thredbo Limited, Prospectus of an issue at par of 100,000 ordinary shares of Pound 1 each, 3 March 1958.
147.
Sponar, “Snow in Australia,” 43, 8.
148.
Swinbourne, Accordions, 27.
149.
Murphy, Challenges, 103.
150.
Darby, Thredbo, 17.
151.
Murphy, Challenges, 103.
152.
“The Snow Sport Boom,” The Australian Women’s Weekly, August 22, 1962, 7.
153.
Darby, Thredbo, 20.
154.
Keys, Thredbo, 147.
155.
“Big Boom in Our Snowfields,” The Australian Women’s Weekly, August 15, 1962, 4.
156.
“The Snow Sport Boom,” The Australian Women’s Weekly, August 22, 1962, 3.
157.
“Top Skiers in Thredbo Cup International,” Canberra Times, July 15, 1965, 26.
158.
“Ski Medallist for Thredbo,” Canberra Times, September 5, 1968, 30.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the Austrian Science Fund, FWF (Project Number: J-3744) and the Austrian Zukunftsfonfs (Project Number: P16-2403) for generously supporting my research on this article.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Institute of Contemporary History, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Philipp Strobl

Authors

Philipp Strobl
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philipp Strobl .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Institute of Contemporary History, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
Philipp Strobl
School of Media, Film and Journalism, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Aneta Podkalicka

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Strobl, P. (2019). From Niche Sport to Mass Tourism: Transnational Lives in Australia’s Thredbo Resort. In: Strobl, P., Podkalicka, A. (eds) Leisure Cultures and the Making of Modern Ski Resorts. Global Culture and Sport Series. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92025-2_9

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-92025-2_9
Published: 12 September 2018
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-92024-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-92025-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics