Surf City, Sydney

Photo courtesy Ron Saggers

Here’s Ron Saggers hanging out the washing at Sydney’s Freshwater in the mid 60s. A few years earlier the 10 year old Ron and his photographer cousin Ron Perrott joined US film maker John Severson at the Sydney premier of Big Wednesday at ANZAC House in 1961 and recalled ‘reading something a few days later about some kind of damage being done to the entrance…’ Turned out that angry surfers unable to squeeze into the auditorium had taken matters into their own hands, along with foyer furnishings, doors and decorations. Not surprisingly, the RSL was appalled and cancelled further screenings.

And as Peter Bowes adds… I was there, it all happened – The glass doors were broken in the crush – Brennan got up on stage at the break and played the mob perfectly – the noise was huge – everybody was EXTREMELY excited – and nobody was pissed or stoned – all we wanted to see was big waves and hear loud music, and at at the same time. Severson and Cooper (in his silly hat) were gobsmacked.