THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN SURFING
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| Photo: www.surfresearch.com.au |
Surfing is a very popular watersport, and Australia has some of the best surfing spots in the world, possessing some of the surfing champion of the world. Surfies travel the globe looking for 'the' waves, and many of those occur around the Australian coastline, in particular the infamous Bell's Beach. Always take local advice on the waves, which must be treated with respect. Check out some of the popular surfing beaches.
Surfing and our surfing culture is not just a fad of the 20th century, but is actually a culture that is thousands of years old! It has only been in the last 100-to-200 years that records the history of surfing and surf culture.
It is thought that Captain James Cook first observed this pastime in the early 1770s. It was around the same time that missionaries suppressed the sport, outlawing it as being an 'unchristian' activity. It is believed that it was gambling that actually caused its demise when they removed sport from the activities of the noblemen who used to bet on the size of waves and length of ride. Surfing is said to have disappeared to most of the world for a couple of hundred of years. Previous to that Polynesians used to stand proud on wooden surfboards crafted from the timber of sacred trees. Fifteenth century 'Meles' (Hawaiian chants sung by elders and passed down generation to generation) record the surfing activities of the great Royal families and other dignitaries of even earlier times.
The Duke
It wasn't until December 1914 that Australian surfing history is to have officially begun when the legendary Hawaiian Olympic champion,
Duke Kahanamoku, re-introduced the sport of surfing to Australia.
He was invited to give a surfboard riding exhibition,
and promptly shaped a surfboard out of a solid piece of Queensland Sugar Pine.
A 16 year old girl, Isabella Letham, was plucked from a large crowd on the beach at Freshwater, Sydney, and became the first official record of an Australian learning to surf and actually standing up riding waves.
After Duke left Australia, Claude West, "the Hawaiian's star pupil" became Australia's first surf champ and ruled as such from 1915 thru 1924.
Surfing soon captured the imagination of locals and quickly built up a cult of devotees and proceeded to capture the imagination of sporting Australians.
A whole way of life had developed around surfing and the search for the perfect wave...
It soon became commonplace along coastal towns to find long-haired surfers cruising the more popular beaches in beaten-up old cars full of friends, surfboards and good humour.
In the early 60's, surfing was then introduced to Europe by Australian Lifeguards...
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| Photo: www.flickr.com |
If you are more interested in the history of australian surfing, you should definitely buy and read this book:
Phil Jarratt has taken a conquistador's approach to his latest book.
It's all there in the title. He starts by defining his target, 'Surfing Australia', and then goes on to claim all the available territory, 'A Complete History Of Surfboard Riding In Australia'. Scepticism may be my default setting but in this instance I felt justified; Jarratt's book was commissioned by Surfing Australia the organisation who oversee competitive surfing, and competition is but a small slice of Aussie surfing's dominion.
So then, a complete history of surfboard riding in Australia?
Well, you've gotta admire the chutzpah.
In his 2010 book, Salts and Suits, Jarratt's research and investigative ability were on full display. The diligence and perspicacity wielded in telling that tale of surf industry machinations puts him up there with the best of gumshoe detectives. In thongs, trilby and gaudy Hawaiian shirt I imagine he's
a camouflage expert also.
Jarratt would want to be wearing comfortable attire as the information gathered for Surfing Australia is comprehensive. He's roamed the historical sections of libraries, scoured the catacombs of old lifesaving clubs and utilised his exhaustive network of contacts from four decades spent in the surf industry.
It's tempting to say the resultant text is academic but it's more than that: it's forensic. It's historically complex, laden with facts, and yet the 300 odd pages are as effortless to read as water running off a warm gloss coat.
Jarratt takes up the story in the first decade of last century when Australians – Sydneysiders to be exact – began to consider the ocean in front of them. Till then the national psyche had largely been shaped by the bush and the notions of space and wide, open plains.
On beaches such as Manly and Bondi a new and unique beach culture was establishing a foothold. Daytime bathing laws had recently been repealed and the ocean was becoming viewed as a healthy place of recreation. All of this at least five years before Duke Kahanomoku rode his famous waves at Freshwater and more than fifty years before Surfing Australia came into existence.
So it's obvious what Jarratt's ploy is: extend the book's scope from Surfing Australia, the institution, to a wider view of surfing in Australia. The role of competition in surfing is still a centrepiece but it's told via a wider cultural setting.
This is especially so after the first surf boom of the late 1950s when a Baby Boomer-spawned youth culture took hold in surfing and the beach subsequently became a focus for youthful discourse: fashion, music, and all the attendant trends. Jarratt expertly weaves his tale amongst these elements encompassing each prevailing and countervailing viewpoint. Little is left untouched.
Printed in suave hard cover with hundreds of period photos Surfing Australia: A Complete History of Surfboard Riding in Australia is an enjoyably ambitious book. One that appeals to a wider audience than competitive surfing ever will. Indeed that is the book's best trait; you may have never surfed in a competition yourself, or been a member of Surfing Australia, but that doesn't preclude you from appreciating and enjoying it.
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