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Kōrero: Beach culture

A sun bath, 1920

Image
A sun bath, 1920

For much of the 20th century, a fashion for tanned skin and a belief in the benefits of sunshine encouraged New Zealanders to sit or lie on the beach in the sun, exposing much of their bodies. Here Nancy and Clyde Adkin, children of the photographer, George Leslie Adkin, sit naked on a blanket at Plimmerton Beach.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Reference: A.005711

by George Leslie Adkin

Permission of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Jock Phillips, Beach culture – Beach culture, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/photograph/9122/a-sun-bath-1920 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Jock Phillips, i tāngia i te 2 March 2009.