I was lucky enough to see the Tim Ross exhibition – Motels, when we were in Longreach, Queensland and if you enjoy funny and nostalgic reminders of the way things were, it’s a brilliant example of Australian holiday life from the 1950s to the late 1980s.

The exhibition came about from the book ‘Motel – Images of Australia on Holidays’, which was put together by Tim Ross, from photos and memories held at the National Archives. The book of 80 pages captures the Australian dream of loading up the car, unfolding the road maps and hitting the road. Staying in a motel as a rest stop on the way to the destination was usually part of the journey.

I remember as a child, the novelty of having the car parked right out the front of your motel room, which was usually a dark brown, double brick, flat roofed hot box with a noisy air conditioner.  The family rooms would have a double bed for parents and bunks for the kids, all in one large room which included a TV on a built in desk and a small table where you could eat breakfast the next morning.

There was the novelty of an ensuite, but the best part was the onsite ‘restaurant’, which meant you just had to wander across a central courtyard surrounded by the motel rooms, to have dinner. Was there anything more fancy than chicken in a basket? I still have fond memories of the fancy crumbed chicken and chips served in a small wicker basket.

Back to the exhibition though, the man behind the book and exhibition is Tim Ross, an Australian comedian, radio and TV presenter, who has always had a passion for architecture and design. His social media channels are under the name Modernister, a nod to his love for the mid-century modern era of building and design.

The touring exhibition is called ‘Reception This Way: Motels, a sentimental journey with Tim Ross’ and it includes photos with humorous captions of the way we see them today, as well as anecdotes from people and their memories of the way we used to holiday.

The caption accompanying this photo had me laughing out loud. It was labelled ‘High-tech mansplaining’ and showed a woman operating a Telex machine in a motel reception area while the ‘boss’ stands next to her looking like he knows how the technology works.

The photo was from 1986 and the caption goes on to explain that the telex machine ‘was slightly larger than you average typewriter and enabled instant inexpensive word communication with the convenience of in-built memory and a dot matrix printer’.

I confess I’m old enough to have used one of these machines in my first job and I don’t think I knew a single ‘boss’ who would have known how to operate one.

As well as nostalgic photos there are story boards with more insights into the time, for instance…’The motel revolutionized the Australian road trip for families and business travellers. Being able to drive right up to your room’s front door and have your breakfast magically appear through a hatch in the morning, was an absolute revelation’.

The exhibition also pays homage to Australia’s Big Things! Spotting the big banana or big pineapple was a highlight of any road trip back then and as the story board says, ‘These oversized landmarks (which began appearing in location from the mid -60s) have become iconic Australian tourist attractions in their own right’.

Then there are the series of state road maps you could buy, featuring the state floral emblems on the front. The Shell petrol company produced these fold out maps in the 1960s to capture the holiday motoring market and as an extra incentive, trading cards were given to customers with every petrol purchase.

Another advertising tool used back then were the complimentary book matches with the motel’s branding on them.  A few examples of them have been framed for the exhibition.

The collection is a fun look at the way we used to holiday and is a good one to catch if it comes to an area near you. The tour schedule for where you can see the exhibition is currently as follows:

Until 12^th December – The Workshops Rail Museum, North Ipswich Queensland

From 26th January to 17 March 2024 – Caloundra Regional Gallery, Caloundra Queensland

From 23^rd March to 14 July 2024 – Newcastle Museum, Newcastle NSW

Enjoy

Glenys