Watch: Torquay 1970s
Produced by a young David Hill, who'd later take up arms with both Kerry Packer (World Series Cricket) and Rupert Murdoch (Fox Sports and Sky Television), this program is infinitely more herbal and homey. Come take a visit to TQ in the 70s showing the surfing, the fledgling surf industry, and the emigres who flocked there to escape stifled city living.
Comments
As an ex Ocean Grove kid that was flashback . Birdrock footage and main st brought back memories . Thanks
mm surf mats, so many memories of bad rashes
Remember the times at Pt Lonnie - all peace and love, until you got in the water, then all hell broke out ;)
Bird Rock crew !
Geez - looks great. I wonder if it's still like that?
Hope this exposure doesn't change things.
lol :)
Life was so simple, no mobile phones, no social media, no mals, and chicks were so cool back then. All you needed was a board, trunks, a block of wax and a bag of weed.
Classic
We are a "sub-culture," so goes the ABC.
Fantastic Times..
?si=wnBLVlJMAP-cgMB1Ha. You could rent a house for $20 per week.
Would have been good with low crowds and free love(even unshaven), but the boards would suck to ride and that Hari kirshna and no meat would have sucked.
Good historic documentation though.
Not to mention cold. Wetsuuit technology has come a long way too I would imagine. Not too sure how good wetsuits would have been in the 1970s, but from memory, they have a come long, long way from the late 80s.
@ Age
Good point, and i think back then you were a lucky one to even have a wetsuit, all the old guys here always bang on about having to wear footy jumpers covered with wax to have some warmth.
You shave, Indo?
$1million dollars lol.
There’s tubes in Torquay?
Hare Krishna yahooooo
I used to have hair like that but it became a drag to mantain.
Gold Coast G'day @ 55 sec mark.
Given the number of times he looked over his shoulder it wasn’t the only time. :)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I've never heard that term before. I had to think about it, but when the penny dropped...... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Could rent a house for $20 a week..CLASSIC..some pubs charge that for a pint today..all time classic clip cheers for that
how spiritual is painting neoprene logos onto a neoprene wetsuit . haha
MP paddles into waves with very little effort.
Fit as, more foam under the chest, lower rocker etc
What became of Rod Thomas?
He's living out back of Anglesea, still the same guy, loves life...
Stoned mudda krishinas!
The good old days lasted into the 80s.
Surfed Bird Rock by myself on a pumping 4 to 5 foot swell on weekday in the early 80s and thought it not surprising at all to be empty. Everyone was probably at perfecr Winki and Bells.
Mum dropped me and 2 mates off at Jan Juc milk bar around 79 with tent and sleeping bags.
We jumped the fence and camped illegally above Steps for a few days scoring some filth waves until the local coppers confiscated our stereo and "mellojuana" (legal high) stash.
We had to walk down to the Torquay cop shop to retrieve the stereo.
They let us stay 1 more night in order to get mum back down from Melbourne advising us not to light any fires and keep away from weed - "you never know what shit you're smoking"
Ha - great times
I remember the rope and carved out foot holes and the crooked slippery, one hand rail, set of steps. You nearly died before getting in the water. Then getting back up with numb hands and feet (feels like walking on on your heels) was a test of your commitment to surfing. People have it too easy these days. I admit though, in ya 50's it is a lot safer now, considering the arthritis I have. But when I surf there now it has opened the door to all the wanna bees, following the leaders. Progress can be a bum.
Would be interesting to see how those in the film are today. Wonder how many of them are still surfing?
Lol, 'Rod Thomas'... that's Rod Brooks aka 'Brooko' with Dennis Day aka 'Strapper' and Kym Thompson shaping at Klemm-Bell Surfboards. They were one of, if not the first shop situated on Geelong Rd.
Gary Crothall is gluing logos at the original Rip Curl 'factory' on Boston Rd. The Rock crew was in part Fledge, Boong, Kym, Iggy, Katie (the Cherry Ripe girl early 70s later married Kym) & a few others.
That's what I thought, it's Brooko with a whopping great helmet of hair.
Great little film. It brings back lots of memories of that period. I bought my first new custom Klemm-Bell from that surf shop in the mid 70's. We would camp in the Torquay caravan park and surf Torquay Point, Juc, Bird Rock etc. Sometimes walk in the night and sleep in the bushes (like views from the) at Bells or Boobs if we thought it was going to be good in the morning. Had some great sessions.
Boong
how good was $20 a week rent
reminds me of the goldy back in the day paying $75 for a 2 bed unit on the beach with 4 people sharing the rent .
how great would a time machine be ha ha ha
Ha ha, haven't seen that in a while, Stu. As it happens I'm staying with Hilly in Cape Cod for a family wedding this weekend. I'll share it with him for a few laughs around the barbie. Rod Thomas indeed! Lot of faces in that no longer with us. March of time.
Ah this reminds me of the purity a honesty of the WSL.....Bahaaaahaaahaa
Wow!... how totally shithouse do those boards look. I was in my early teens back then learning how to surf on an early 70's 6'7" Klem Bell pintail. ...Thought it was the dux nuts at the time.
Board design has come such a long way,.... thank goodness!
That was awesome to watch. Caught my first stand up wave at Drainos in 78 after years on the rubber surf mats at Torquay. That was easter '78 and I only had boardies and a Melbourne footy club woolen jumper. Geezus it was cold with a strong NW'er. Spent every weekend and school hols at our house in Central Ave with the boys, epic times
Surfing Bird Rock back in the day was a bit harder when Ziggy was there.
Wow i can remember the smell of the old rubber hahaha loved the place and its still got the vibe
Nice to see roader (Kym Thompson)
Its funny the stereotypical SurfCoast ( Torquay ) pioneers as opposed to MP and PI crew .
My earliest recollection of TQ Pub in the late 80's was of getting wasted and Arm Wrestling people for money . Which was a happy medium compared to other areas / coasts where you were fighting fisho's for recreation at their pubs . But yeah 3 coasts with distinct community differences . Hare Krishna ..... hahah