Surf City, Sydney

Photo Gary Crockett

A well known collectable but a ripper just the same. General consensus locates this juicy wave at Fairy Bower, only reversed. The early 60s photo has also appeared on biscuit tins and a board game box. Thanks again to Matt Holle for spotting this in a Sydney market.

This shocker appeared in 1964, at the very tail end of Australia’s surf music craze. As Murray Walding writes in Surf-O-Rama: “Surfer Doll” was horrifyingly twee and should have sunk without a trace, but in the early 1980s [this] old clip of Helpmann surfaced…and created enough interest for Australia’s Raven Records to re-release it in 1982. If you appreciate the schlock side of surf collecting, this pressing will fascinate you.

advert taken from Surfabout Vol 2 No 12 1963, courtesy Australian National Maritime Museum

This great 1963 Surfabout ad for the Norm Casey V-Jet, tailored especially for discriminating Qantas staff, in transit at Waikiki, suggests that the surfer market was still an unformed and unknown entity, or at least far from the unruly, hooligan image emerging in the tabloid press. Interestingly, 70s Film-maker Steve Core just called to say Norm Casey supplied these boards exclusively for Qantas crew on stop-overs in Hawaii, who stayed at the Ilikai Hotel at Ala Moana, where a stash of boards and the odd Hobie Cat were readily on hand. More on Steve Core’s early years spent ushering for his dad’s surf movie screenings at Bondi and his own film-making to come…in the meantime check out his web site.

Phyllis O’Donnell and Midget Farrelly photo Gary Crockett

Former Manly locals and ’64 world champions Phyllis O’Donnell and Midget Farrelly unveil the National Surfing Reserve statue at South Steyne today at a great beach side ceremony. I was surprised at the large show of hands in response to the question of who was at the famous world championships in 1964. The ever jovial Barton Lynch, another local champ, did a good job describing the organic, unplanned and spontaneous quality of Manly’s surf history awareness. Even Dave Jackman, who made national headlines in 1961 when he cracked the Queenscliff Bombora, put in an appearance.

photo of Peter Francis’ mid 60s Barry Bennett Mal by Gary Crockett 2010

Sydney surfer Peter Francis told me about his great Barry Bennett mal, built no doubt in the mid 1960s, going by the 3 stringer signature model styling and overall build and glass quality. Already known in the early 50s for his plywood skis and toothpicks turned out on Sydney’s southside, Bennett shifted to his new Brookvale factory around 1956 to upscale production of finned malibus after Sydney went berserk for the new california-style boards. In the early 60s, thanks to contact with visiting US surfers and a stint working with Californian big hitters Hobie and Hansen surfboards, Bennett made the shift from balsa to high quality foam and fibreglass and established himself as a leading manufacturer with board sales spanning the country for decades to come. Interestingly, Bennetts have maintained close links with the lifesaving scene to this day. [info not surprisingly sourced from surfresearch]

photo sourced in contest booklet 1st World Surfboard Titles 1964 held by Manly Library

This great image of an EH wagon, parked in the thick of it, with a couple of boards getting pulled from the racks, appeared in a GMH ad in a booklet produced for the 1st World Surfboard Titles, held at Manly in May 1964 before a massive spectator crowd. Contest organiser and boardriding ambassador Bob Evans managed to snag a long list of top shelf supporters and sponsors including Qantas, Ampol, General Motors Holden, Nock and Kirby’s, TAA Travel, Farmers, Casben sports wear, the Sunday Telegraph and radio station 2GB, who even organised a special beach stomp. The keen interest shown by major motoring, airline, travel, fashion, retail and media players suggests the surf craze bonanza was just around the corner.

Jeff Carter’s stagey portrait of late 60s mod surfdom puts an oddly British spin on Sydney beach culture…in fact the roof racked mini deluxe made a few notable screen and print appearances around the time, most memorably in the opening bush bashing sequences to Bob Evan’s 1967 movie High on Cool Wave, alongside a mighty Morris 1100. Notice the bottom curve and deep raking, slenderous fins on this hip pair of late 60s pocket rockets. Photo sourced in National Library of Australia collection.

mid 6os Manly photo by Herman Kalkreuter in Manly: South Pacific Playground 1967 Manly Council publication

Manly 15 year old, Dorothy De Rooy, (sitting on left) won the NSW open class women’s surfboard riding championship in April 1964 although was beaten in the World Championships a month later by Phyllis O’Donnell (wearing shirt). That’s Dorothy’s best friend Marilyn Bennett sitting on the right and star Californian surfer Linda Benson holding up the striped mal.

Pearl Turton avoids eye contact with globe trotting surfer Rob August at Palm Beach in a grab from The Endless Summer, 1964.

According to her brother Ron, Pearl Turton’s reaction to seeing herself in The Endless Summer was to shrink ostrich-like under the cinema seats. All she did on screen was tumble around in the soup and disconcert the travellers. If Paul Witzig’s footage captured any good waves at all, they didn’t make the final cut.

photo of Pearl Turton, 1963 national titles at Avalon Sydney by Vic Joice, sourced at Surfit.com

Sixteen year old Sydney surfer Pearl Turton won the first ‘recognised’ national surf meet at Avalon in May 1963. Next thing she knew, Australian Women’s Weekly put her on their cover and even made a TV appearance wearing a bikini. Around the same time Jack Eden’s Surfabout mag got her to do the first surf column written by a woman.

Like everything now, and clearly then, this September 68 Surf International back cover ad, is absolutely bananas…