Under a Modern Sun: Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s

64 Under a Modern Sun: Art in Queensland 1930s–1950s The cover of Triumph in the Tropics: An Historical Sketch of Queensland (1959) Joy Roggenkamp , Church at Sandgate (detail) c.1949 modern styling, quickly spread to both the Gold and Sunshine coasts, their butterfly-design roofs and large plate-glass windows creating a light and airy feel. New purpose-built restaurants, including the Hawaiian‑styled Boolarong at Alexandra Headland and El Rancho at Surfers Paradise, provided additional opportunities for architectural flamboyance. The Gold Coast literally took off in the 1950s. The two airlines that dominated domestic travel, Ansett ANA and the government-owned Trans Australia Airlines (TAA), marketed the motels, beaches and short-term rental flats to Melbourne and Sydney holiday-makers. Southerners were lured by the modern architecture of Dr Karl Langer’s Lennon’s Broadbeach Hotel, and Melbourne entrepreneur Stanley Korman’s Chevron Hotel, with its lavish floor shows. The Gold Coast projected itself as clean, vibrant and sexy. Meanwhile, much of Brisbane’s stormwater runoff still went into Moreton Bay, a much murkier swimming option than the pristine surf beaches from Southport to Coolangatta, or the equally pristine beaches from Caloundra to Noosa, long before canal developments compromised their coastal ecology. In 1959, to celebrate the centenary of Queensland becoming a self‑governing colony, the state government commissioned a 470-page volume entitled Triumph in the Tropics: An Historical Sketch of Queensland . Edited by Sir Raphael Cilento (father of artist Margaret Cilento), who was president of the Royal Historical Society of Queensland and an expert on tropical diseases, and Clem Lack, the Government Publicity Officer,