NEWS DESK
Tracing history on a wave By Keith Platt PHIL Jarratt knows a bit about the surf culture in Australia and overseas. A prolific writer, Jarratt has for nearly four decades chronicled the ups and downs of surfing, both from the view of a participant and observer. His latest book attempts to bring the disparate parts of the surfing culture together, from the disorganised to the organised. He does not shy away from the seedier sides of what can easily be seen as a separate, parallel culture as he traces its origins and growth in the Australian psyche. With the vast majority of the Australian population living along the continent’s eastern and southern seaboards, it is really the beach, rather than the bush, that represents modern Australian. Based in Noosa, Jarratt believes his Surfing Australia – A complete history of Surfboard riding in Australia provides the first detailed account of surfing in Australia. It follows more than a dozen other books he has written about “surfing’s development as a sport, lifestyle and industry�. Surf beaches and areas that revolve around surfing get a mention through the exploits of homegrown surfers. Jarratt said he wanted to make the book accessible to ordinary surfers like himself (he once made the final of a NSW schoolboys’ event), and to this end one of the appendices of the book is the most comprehensive compendium of Australian contest results ever compiled. “But I never found that schoolboy’s result with my name in it,� Jarratt said. Among the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula surfers who get a mention are former administrators Rob McCartney, Simon Kellett and John Collins; competitors include Carol Watt, Mick Parkinson, Phil Trigger,
Looking back: Phil Jarratt is in familiar waters with his latest book about surfing in Australia.
Rob Licciardo, Warren Partington, Paul Trigger, Gary Burns, Ian Cochrane, Mick Pierce, Phil Coates, Ian Portingale, Alan Tibballs, Peppi Anglis, John Clatworthy, Gary Taylor, Scott Abbott, John Mason, Phil Antonie, Tony Reid, Leigh McClure, Simon Forward, Darren Watson, Mark
Walker, Jan Dunton, Andy Carter, Ray Mathews and Ryan Chalmers. Peninsula Surfriders Club, Mornington Peninsula Bodyboard Club and the Maladiction Longboarders Club also rate a few paragraphs. Surfing Australia is a coffee table book with more than 150 photographs
and forewords by multiple world champion surfers Layne Beachley and Mark Richards. It covers surfing’s pioneering years, from the repeal of the surf bathing prohibition, through the first attempts at standing on surfboards to demonstrations by Hawaiian Duke
Kahanamoku during the First World War, then on through the paddleboard years to the introduction of the malibu performance surfboard in 1956. The book recounts the years of the surfing boom and the development of competitive boardriding leading to Australia’s dominance in the professional era. “I developed this history in conjunction with the governing body of the sport, Surfing Australia, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2013, but when I started to write it I realised I had to explain why a bunch of free spirits who rode the waves had felt the need to get organised, and that meant going right back to the introduction of the surfboard,� Jarratt said. He says that while the book details the careers of champions from Midget Farrelly (1964) to Stephanie Gilmore (2012), it also covers the grass roots of the sport, telling the story of how champion clubs developed from car pools, and inter-club meets often ended in brawls on the beach. “Surfing Australia is doing a great job of working in the corporate world to take our sport mainstream, and possibly to the Olympics, but I didn’t want to sanitise the colourful aspects that have helped create the culture and, to its credit, Surfing Australia didn’t want to do that either.� Jarratt, former editor of Tracks magazine and Australian Surfers Journal, also wrote The Wave Game (1977), Mr Sunset (1997), The Mountain & The Wave (2006), Kelly Slater: For The Love (with Slater, 2008), Salts & Suits (2010) and Australia’s Hottest 100 Surfing Legends (2011). The Victorian launch of Phil Jarratt’s Surfing Australia – A complete history of Surfboard riding in Australia will be at Peninsula Surf, 835 Nepean Highway, Mornington, at 5.30pm on 6 December.
‘Eagle’s eye’ moves from sewage to desal THE former Mornington Peninsulabased Clean Ocean Foundation plans to keep an “eagle eye on pollution� along Bass Coast. The foundation is now based in Wonthaggi under the guidance of new CEO John Gemmill. Former CEO James Clark-Kennedy was told by letter in July that his services were no longer required, the day
after its committee had decided the organisation should be wound up. The foundation appears to have survived the early reports of its demise, regrouped and moved the point of its focus from the sewage outfall at Gunnamatta to predicted problems caused by the desalination plant near Kilcunda as well as other ocean sewage outfalls. Mr Gemmill says the foundation will
run a “independent community-based monitoring program on the marine environment in January-February 2013�. “With the assistance of the research vessel SV Pelican, scuba divers from SEAL Diving and community volunteers under the direction of respected marine scientists, the program will use robust scientific methods including GPS-synchronised underwater photo
Alan Marr
The Peninsula School T A remarkable group of multi-talented students, the Class of 2012 has added greatly to the life of our School. I wish the members of the 2012 graduating class all the very best as they move on to the next stage of their OLYHV FRQ¿GHQW LQ WKH NQRZOHGJH WKDW WKH\ DUH ZHOO SODFHG WR ÀRXULVK SHUVRQDOO\ DQG professionally and to contribute to society in a meaningful way. The Peninsula School’s community is very much looking forward to hearing of their future life journeys and to celebrating their inevitable successes.
Stuart Johnston Principal The Peninsula School
Principal
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surveys and accredited testing laboratories to monitor the effect of pollution on Bass Coast over time,� he said. “Particular attention will be paid to the effect of outfalls, ocean acidification, climate change, plastic pollution and desalination on the Bass Coast. “Clean Ocean Foundation has already begun consultation [with plant operator] AquaSure and will also be
contacting relevant state government authorities to ensure the operation proceeds smoothly.� Mr Gemmill said the foundation hoped scientific data would be shared with stakeholders “so both the community and the marine environment benefits from the exchange�. Clean Ocean Foundation’s new address is PO Box 475, Wonthaggi 3995.
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