Surf City, Sydney

Ron Stoner’s photo of Joyce Hoffman at the 1966 World Contest in San Diego, California, from Surfer May 1967

The ‘nose ride’ came under a bit of flak during the 1966 board riding champs at San Diego as an obsolete bit of fluff, which stirred up the Californians no end. Here’s the womens winner Joyce Hoffman from Capistrano, California, in a hip pair of boardies, unfluffing the nose ride with a pretty soulful hang.

Advert in The Surfing World November 1964, courtesy Steve Abbott

In 1963, the hip new sport of surfing had a PR problem. There was plenty of talk about the behaviour of surfers, the future of the sport and the potential for business to get in on the action, leading to the set up of the Australian Surfriders Association and, not long after, convening the first ‘official’ World Surfboard Championships, here in Sydney. The ASA worked hard at getting kids heard and, most importantly, overturn ‘oldie’ prejudice against surfers. “Gee, thanks for the cool cuffs Mum and Dad” says the scruffy kid, “now all I need is a shirt, trousers,…and a job.”

Article in Everyboby’s Magazine November 1964, private collection

Beach fashionistas instruct surfers of 1964 to “come as you please, as long as its colourful”… Boardshorts and matching stripe singlet will cost 2 pounds (last years long shorts are out), while a “way in” sand parka cost 3 pounds. A wetsuit will cost about 12 pounds and if your bellyboarding (on a “chest board”), your flippers will cost around 2 pounds. You’ll also need suntan oil, a huge Hawaiian towel, a beach bag, sunglasses and board wax, nailing your budget for another 7 pounds. Add the cost of a Kombi and racks…

Look out for the death defying ‘el switcho’ on a wall of liquid death at Malibu in the mid 60s. Hats off totally to Miki and his bad boy cool – we can all share his pain in some way – but its so obvious what was coming just around the corner, that’d make this all look folksy, flippy and pointless.

Sydney’s Wanda carpark, 1962, photo Bob Weeks

Cars and boards itching to travel as board riding takes hold of Sydney. Southside surfer/photographer Bob Weeks was behind the lens, on the beach and in the water during Sydney’s first decade of modern surfing. His collection of 1960s photos capture cars, carparks, milkbars, contests, coastal life, known and unknown surfers, mostly around Cronulla although breaks and places further afield didn’t escape his perceptive eyes.

Bondi footage generously supplied by Marilyn Moseley

A brief cut-and-pasting from a box load of 1960s 16mm footage shot by local artist and photographer Charles “Bill” Moseley at Bondi Beach, Sydney, along with a minute or two of footage shot inside the harbour at Neilson Park, courtesy of his daughter Marilyn Moseley.

Micheal Holden’s Plywood Ockanui c1960s, photo Michael Holden

Northern beaches surfer Michael Holden built this ‘finned’ hollow surfboard, known locally as an ockanui, in the early 1960s. What’s interesting is that styrene foam had pretty much made balsa and hollow boards antique by then, with local board makers churning out smart new fibreglass ‘pigs’ and hot-doggers in their thousands as each summer rolled around. It suggests that thrifty kids, armed with cheap plywood and their dad’s shed tools, persisted with home-made hollow boards for several years after Gidget and the foam explosion of 1959. According to Michael… 3 of us made 3  boards end 1961.  We went to Bilgola with pen, tape measure and paper and drew up the dimensions of a board on the beach.  The old fasioned plywood board with stringers etc.  I understand the others no longer exist.  The first try was in the surf at Whale Beach with no wax, so a real problem…

Board rego sticker on the tail of a beautiful Gordon Woods 1957 balsa ‘pig’, private collection, photo Gary Crockett

By 1960, the explosive appeal of board riding, the fast-growing number of new boards hitting the beaches and the rowdy behaviour of surfers had given Sydney lifesavers enough headaches to mount retaliatory action. For surfers, it was maddening enough to have to pay the council to surf but even more infuriating was that fines for riding an unregistered board went straight to the lifesaving club. Anger turned to action in 1963 with the establishment of the Australian Surfriders Association, led by Sydney surfing ambassador Bob Evans and backed by several rising stars and movers. Their aim was to promote surfing as a responsible, positive lifestyle and, more importantly, to restore unhindered access to Sydney beaches. Despite the tireless efforts of the ASA and its role in staging the World Surfing Championships at Manly in 1964, it wasn’t until 1967 that the system was abandoned.

photo Gary Crockett

I’ve received a few digs over my ‘ill-treatment’ of this cool little trinket – I admit the stirrer/tarnished metaphor of Manly is a bit oblique but I reckon it stands up. This is one spunky spoon, from its scooped and scalloped shell-like bowl to its brightly enamelled, foam-filled crest.

[old caption: Not much to add…stirrer, sweetener, mixed up, confused, tarnished, shiny, lopsided, vain, ambivalent Manly… Difficult to date, probably mid 60s, full of spunk so who cares?]

Scrapbook page image courtesy Bruce Usher

Several people have asked about the blog’s banner image. Here’s where we borrowed it from – one of the salt encrusted mid 60s photo albums of Bruce Usher, a northern beaches surfer, still clicking and switch-footing today, who’s been a big supporter of the exhibition so far. Find out more about Bruce and his great work at bruceusher.com.au.