Sixty years ago, an American anthropologist named Ralph Linton published a delightful response to the smug parochialism of his countrymen. "One Hundred Per Cent American" follows the morning activities of a typical American who wants to preserve the integrity of his national heritage by shunning dangerous foreign ideas.
Linton noted the origin of all the things this hypothetical chauvinist might use and do, from the time he woke in the morning till the time he caught a train for work. He described the clothes the American might wear, the food he would eat, and the objects he would come into contact with. Apart from the radiator in the bathroom, everything had been discovered or invented elsewhere; in Asia, Europe, Africa or Central America.
An updated version of Linton's essay would need to acknowledge a few more items originating in America, given the contemporary importance of plastics and microelectronics. But the basic point remains. As is the case with all countries, the subsistence of Americans and their comforts and pleasures are overwhelmingly the outcome of foreign influences; the creative achievements of usually unknown individuals coming from cultures that many contemporary Americans would regard as inferior.
Australians are more willing than Americans to admit dependence on foreign things and ideas, although this may only be because our much smaller size and economy make it harder to pretend we are the centre of the world. Nevertheless, we also tend to be unmindful of the debt we owe to people from other cultures.
For instance, it is only in recent years that white Australians have begun to appreciate and acknowledge the important role that Aborigines played in the European exploration and development of the Australian interior. And there is little realisation of the part played by another once-despised people, the Melanesian islanders, in the early development of two of our most popular recreations, swimming and body surfing, even though the Polynesian origin of surfboard riding is well known.
The Melanesians were brought to Australia as indentured labourers to work in the cane fields from the 1860s on. Most came voluntarily, although this is often denied by those who like to speak of Australia's own "slave trade". (The really shameful aspects of Australia's treatment of the Melanesians were the forcible repatriation in the early years of this century of many thousands who wanted to stay here, and the discriminatory legislation directed against the few who were permitted to remain).
The Melanesian islanders usually came from cultures with longstanding maritime traditions and an easy familiarity with the sea. In the 1890s a lad from Roviana Lagoon in the Solomon Islands named Alick Wickham was working as a "house-boy" in Sydney, and swimming in the sea-baths at Bronte Beach, using a stroke that was widespread in many parts of the Pacific.
One day a leading swimming coach of the day, George Farmer, saw Wickham swimming, and is said to have called out in excitement, "look at that kid crawling over the water". Other swimmers quickly took up the stroke and developed it, but the "Australian crawl" is clearly a misnomer. However, in those days of racist nationalism, the "Melanesian" or "Pacific Islands crawl" would have had rather less appeal.
Alick Wickham went on to become a champion swimmer, and he held a couple of world freestyle records in the years before the First World War. He may also have played a role in the development of body surfing, as he was one of a group of powerful swimmers who congregated around Manly beach in Sydney and who were keen to foster skills and techniques in the early days of surfing. Certainly, it would be a lot harder to catch waves using strokes other than the "Australian crawl".
But the honour of introducing body surfing to Australians belongs to another Melanesian, Tommy Tanna, a gardener's assistant who was working at Manly around the turn of the century. Tanna, whose surname almost certainly identifies him as coming from the island of that name in present-day Vanuatu, spent much of his spare time at Manly beach, where he amazed locals with his ability to catch waves which carried him at great speed into shore.
Tommy Tanna was soon befriended by a young Australian, Freddie Williams. Through a combination of Tanna's instructions and his own experimentation, Williams learnt to body surf himself, and then taught his mates to "shoot the waves". From Manly, the new sport quickly spread to other Sydney beaches, and then further afield.
This exciting new way of harnessing the ocean's power attracted greater numbers of people to the surf beaches. The popularity of surfing increased after Victorian era restrictions on public swimming during daylight hours were abandoned in the early 1900s. But unfamiliar with the dangers, many people drowned. At Manly alone, seventeen people had lost their lives by the end of 1902.
At this point, Australians began to make their own innovative contribution to surfing. Men like Lyster Ormsby devoted their attention to developing rescue equipment and techniques that would be suitable for surf conditions, such as the now superseded reel and line. In 1906 Australia's first surf life-saving club was formed at Bondi, and similar volunteer clubs were soon set up at other beaches, at least partly stimulated by the unwillingness of local authorities to fund professional lifeguards.
Australia's volunteer surf-life saving movement has now spread to many other countries, and has been nurtured and further developed by the efforts of people from a very wide range of backgrounds. With 350,000 rescues to its credit in Australia alone, it is a great social achievement, one which exemplifies some of the finest features of our nation's character.
Most of the really worthwhile aspects of any culture have diverse and foreign roots. So while swimming in the surf, pay some homage to Alick Wickham, Tommy Tanna, and their island ancestors. Without the creative way they found to express their love of the sea, our own lives wouldn't be quite as much fun.
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