Brighton’s rainbow huts

Rameshinder Singh Sandhu

Heading to Brighton beach? Then ensure your camera has enough memory as it’s globally famed ‘bathing boxes’ are daily known to eat away all the memory of almost every camera that comes to capture their charm.” These are stolen words from a poster at one of Melbourne’s tourist information centres that rightly advises the visitors, and the moment you are there –you just can’t agree more!

Scooping inspiration from their colourful and creative designs, they are known by many other names such as ‘rainbow huts’, ‘colourful huts’ and even ‘art houses’ that are mainly made of wood with corrugated iron roofs, making it one of Australia’s most rare and picturesque beaches. Not to forget, these are also listed in state Victoria’s heritage register to underline their vitality.

82 in total and all lined up like a parade on the beach, they are more than a century old that were actually built for beach visitors for changing clothes in privacy. Since then, remaining faithful to its original Victorian style architecture — these are owned by the Bayside city council and are given on a lease to the local families through auctions where prices are known to be highly exorbitant. According to a news report, in the latest auction held last summer, one such hut was sold for $3,37,000(Aus) and once bought, most buyers keep passing the ropes of ownership to their next generation, considering the pride and usefulness they feel in owning these.

Ask any visitor busy exploring them and none of them will forget to term their presence as an enticing open ‘art exhibition’. And, so it is where colours, designs followed by imagination and creativity behind them have beautifully mingled brimful of zest and zeal.

With colours putting their best foot forward distinctively on each one of them, so are the various drawings that pull the best out of Australia. From national animal Kangaroo to sea animals such as crabs, fish and whales — all have been proudly presented. Then with beaches everywhere, how could beach activities be left behind? The one with a large van parked on a beachside with a saying –‘life is a beach’ captivates many and same goes for the hut with Australia’s national flag. If you are lucky enough, you could also come across live painting scene of one of these huts, a window to note the dedication that stands behind.

Landing on their photography fame, these huts have appeared since several decades on covers of various travel magazines across the globe and often there are also long queues of tourists, desperately waiting for their turn for a solo shot with one of their favourite huts. The photography sessions also take away great time, since diversity and rare creativity running in all of them galvanises one to go on.

During weekends, it turns out be much more engaging affair as majority of the owners with their family and friends can be seen sitting in and around them and with mountains of friendliness also give tourists an opportunity to explore them from inside. 

It’s fascinating to note that like their unique colourful designs, their usage also dances in many creative hues. While many use these to store beach essentials, there are also many who have brought in their passion which is why same huts are also being used as beach kitchens, a library, a yoga room, and even an art room. Owners of these are also the ones who are interviewed the most by tourists and the air gets filled with many of their engrossing answers: ‘they are the best living rooms of the world’, ‘our favourite place for socialisation’, ‘our famous little properties,’ and it continues zealously. By the way, Port Phillip Bay in front from this beach looks spectacular and so is the case with Melbourne’s distant skyline on the right.