Abstract

Going to the beach in Australia is a way of getting to the borders of nowhere in the sense that no-one lives on the beach. It is under limited circumstances that one can say 'Come to the beach'; it is somewhere only to 'go'. Like death, one only goes. But unlike death, one comes back, repeatedly (cf Derrida 1979). The repetition and pleasure of death are at the centre of the beach experience. Once you step onto the sand you are in a space away from life, set away from the city, set away from normal civilisation. Yet the everyday follows you, for though this is the beach, it is still the world. It is a place of being and becoming. Whether you will come back would depend on how you 'hold acquaintance with the waves' (Twelfth Night I ii).

How to Cite:

Mooney, A., (2005) “Keeping on the windy side of the law: the law of the beach”, Law Text Culture 9(1).