This is when it all started in Australia.

[jaffa1949]

In 1956 Melbourne Australia held the Olympic Games, American Californian Life guards brought the "modern" malibu chip balsa boards to Australia, Australians had been riding 16ft hollow ply tooth pick boards prior to this.
Aussie lifeguards laughed at the "toy" boards and were promptly proven wrong,
Here is a movie from that time, Jaffa started in 1958.
http://aso.gov.au/titles/sponsored-film ... sun/clip1/

[jaffa1949]

A bit more surfing history from Australia.
This time it's almost all about me
My first board 1958 it was known as the can opener 9'6" balsa pig board basic just round rails and a D fin.

My father required me to swim a mile before he would allow me to have it!
It was 1960 when the older guys allowed me to paddle out on a small Dee Why Point day.
A day like this

Unchanged in backhand stance.

The amazing thing is my stance backhand hasn't changed all that much.
Local council and surf clubs in their wisdom decided that surfers should register their boards and there was supposed to be an insurance scheme backing us against injury.
Surf clubs would confiscate unregistered surf boards or boards that got washed in through swimming areas ( there were no leashes).

your board would be checked for rego if you walked down the beach.
So jumping off the point rocks and exiting from them became a necessary skill.

This photo was by a great photographer of the time Bob Weeks

Next board

About the time I finished high school 1967/68 board shortening was beginning.
I had hacked the end off my long board and added a Greenough fin and started recruiting Japanese exchange students into the evil art of surfing.
Graduation from high school at 18 meant you received a draft notice for conscription to the military and the Vietnam war.

.
So University for me, and as boards got shorter the hair got longer and playing with snakes became an option, Hippy days on the North Coast of New South Wales .

.
A potted history of that part of my life ( pun intended) The long and the short of it and back to long!
Great times, Golden days and much of the freedom we enjoyed then has been drawn up and submerged in regulations ( but that is another story)

[benjl]

Jaffa that is amazing! What a fascinating clip of life growing up with surfing.

I only Hope today's youngsters get interested in the past and learn about how far it's come and how good we've got it these days.
As a newbie to the sport im worried about where it's going, a few people at my gym saw my surfing profile on Facebook and have recently talked to me about picking up surfing and how fun it is. I ask them whether they've read about the surfing etiquette at all and none of them had any idea or real interest to bother learning