Manly Beach, 1913. Olympic silver medalist swimmer, Cecil Healy, meets a local ratbag beach bum for a beer and a chin wag. Hmmm. Maybe this chat never actually happened. But it could have. Tommy skips down the two sandstone steps from the front door of the Seagulls club house, traverses the tarmac footpath, crosses the South Steyne, then wanders past the timber surf club to … [Read more...]
A very strange summer (1966–1967) – when surfers became sporting gods but social pariahs!
In a strange quirk of history while one of Sydney Northern Beach's greatest ever surfers was winning the world title in the USA, public authorities back in Australia were banning his wonderful sport! On a windy Sunday morning a few dozen surfers were enjoying some fun, little waves at the protected southern end of Palm Beach. Around mid-morning the patrol captain of the … [Read more...]