So Phil, was there any shirt fronting, or just malicious gossip directed your way?

The Phil I once knew would pour another one and get seriously in one's face/shirt and start chewing the floral pattern off said perpotrators attire when aspersions of the nature outlined where cast.

I have to say Phil that however admirable Duke may have been I struggle to see his importance in the development of modern Australian surfing. The idea that he left us a legacy of the aloha spirit just doesn't gel with our history. Australian surfers have always been known for their aggression and competitiveness, at home and elsewhere. There is also the disconnect between the surf club related board riding that dominated the period from Duke's visit through to the advent of lightweight surfboards in the fifties and what followed later.
It is a stretch to consider the surfing culture that developed after that period as descending from the earlier period. It was heavily influenced by American youth culture and that influence continued through most if not all of the modern era. It would be interesting to look through some of those very early Australian surfing magazines to see if Duke rates many mentions. My memory is that the current mythology surrounding him came quite a bit later. I was away for the event but would probably not have tried to put forward my opinions in that forum anyway.

Nice piece Phil.

It's done and it's dusted. I asked Pam on Saturday if she was hanging around, 'Nah, off home. Got patrol tomorrow'. Boom Boom.

With respect, Phils attitude to dissenting opinion here also highlights a much broader issue; which is the Old Surf Media having to (reluctantly) relinquish their hold on the narrative.
In the Old days Phil would have written his spiel on Clubbies, say, that would have been Gospel Truth and if any letters arrived with dissenting views they would have been binned or printed with a "fuck off idiot" under the letter.
It's been hard for the gatekeepers to hand over the keys to the Kingdom and let the rabble have their say.
Even harder considering the Surf Media very quickly evolved, especially post Phil Jarrat into a very cosy de facto marketing arm for the surf industry.
What got printed: anything that was in the interests of the advertisers.
What got left out or ignored: anything that threatened those interests.
Talk about self serving agendas. Considering this, it's not surprising the rabble have built up a bit of well earned passion, which occassionally manifests itself as misdirected high emotion.
The standard way for old surf media to engage with an argument they don't like is to merely ignore it and brand the messenger a "hater".

Now the clubbies may have many worthwhile people involved but they are an organisation with serious amber lights flashing whenever anyone with half a critical eye takes a sober look at them. There's definitely something rotten in the state of Clubbie Denmark. I found the comments under the original clubbie article far more illuminating than the original text, even if there was a bit of dross to wade through.
The "vast majority wanted to spray toxic venom" .........that's strictly in your opinion Phil. I thought the vast majority had very interesting points to make.

Hear hear.

Well said Freeride.

Nicely put Mr freeride.

Australia losing influence in how crowds/surf etiquette operates is pretty profound in indo where a mish mash surf etiquette if any has developed influenced by euros and the locals need for money.

Now tonybarber, any thoughts on peter liddy?

nice Mr Freeride.......as I have previously mentioned..Phil is great story teller and entertainer.....but not a journalist....as are you Mrs Rides little boy Free......hehe!!!!

Freeride has a point that is worth further debate as can be extrapolated from Phil's own words above.
Quote "Don’t get me wrong: I love a good argument, but in order for it to be an argument each side has to listen to the other’s point of view, and then attempt to dismantle it. The problem with many of the key historical arguments in the surf culture is that they are founded not on opposing views about what actually happened but on misinformation spread by people with their own self-serving agendas.

So breaking that down it would seem Phil is keen to "listen to other's point of view". A short visit thru the several related articles and threads on swellnet seem to suggest Phil takes a somewhat different approach. An oversight that he could quite easily fix.

Secondly his mention of people with their own self serving agendas seems to be polar opposite to reality. I have no agenda, axe to grind or any pecuniary interest in the Duke, SLSA or any action related to the events of last weekend.

On the other hand it would appear (and happy to stand corrected) that a select few who are entering into debate do have a self serving agenda either directly via writing articles, appearing on panels or committees or smoking with the purported surfing elite for their personal ego or to promote their respective interests or those of the SLSA.

Is it too much to ask that those with an interest honourably state such interest before casting judgement on others who dar to question

Not just in the surf media but overall there is still an intellectual arrogance amongst journalists that that they will deliver the sermon and the plebs should receive it with glad hearts.
Reality is, vast chunks of published material are pure dog caca and are now rightly and quickly called out as such.
Phil's original piece was probably conceived (and read as such) like a quickly written puff piece to promote the Duke Day where Phil no doubt had his book on sale. Fair enough.
But it inadverdently picked the scab of a pretty old wound that still had a lot of unresolved scar tissue around it.
Phil had every opportunity to come in and engage with the arguments presented but chose not to, until he responded with an extraordinarily condescending comment basically saying : "hey boys, I'm the pro here, I get paid to do this, I'm not coming down to the ground floor to engage with you plebs". Amazing arrogance Phil. There's a fair bet a majority of the posters here are better educated and higher paid than you. The contempt for the reader might have flown at Tracks back in the day but the game has changed now.
Writing online means the conversation starts when you publish. You fail to engage with it and you'll likely be treated in the same spirit with which you treat the readers.

Your on fire Mr freeride,

But less of the "better educated and higher paid than you "

I was at the Duke event on Saturday. I have no bias or pecuniary interest in the surf industry or SLSA. My overall experience was gracious goodwill shared by passionate surfers from around the globe. In particular the Talk Story sessions with the Hawaiian Waterman and surviving members of the Duke Surf Team were full of interesting anecdotes and passionate tales. It was more than that though; the Hawaiians seemed very keen to re-offer a welcome mat, a willingness to share their waves and promote the spirit of aloha as a way of life. Not wanting to sound hokey but you could sense the rising emotional in the room as these sentiments layered up, presumably as the audience started to reflect on what a sensible approach to life that is. That is, be grateful and respectful of your personal relationship with the ocean. Its a lifetime opportunity, and when you are faced with a choice, offer peace not aggression to others. I think the Duke would have been happy with that sentiment and uninterested in an obsession with so called "facts" fastidiously presented in a chronological manner, cross-referenced to supposedly verifiable third-party sources.

Nice comment radiationrules. Much appreciated.

Huh, what is everybody so angry about?

As regards to Mr Jarratt, I have never met Mr Jarratt and have no connection with him of which I am aware. But I would say, for me, his time editing Tracks was the time I found that magazine to be at its funniest, funnest, more irreverent and best written.

And freeride, I think Mr Jarratt's statement about being a pro was not a claim of superiority. It was in response to the accusation that he had written something to promote a possible pecuniary interest.
I will paraphrase that previous exchange thus,
'I accuse you of writing this for money, or for the hope of money.'
'Brilliant deduction, Sherlock! That might be why it says professional writer on my shingle.'

For the record Blindboy I think Phil is one of the best surf journalists around, past/present. My comments were not directed at him. It was more an observation about the bigger picture a surfing, the chance to take it out of rabble of 21st century life and its obsession with verification at the expense of good feelings. Not mutually exclusive. If you want a more specific example, read Fred Pawle's mean spirited article in the lead up to The Duke event published in The Australian. "Isabel wasn't at Freshwater when the Duke was there", fine correct the record but did he have to add "and she could have been a lesbian". What relevance is that?

Well, the 'tut-tuts' can keep on tut-tuting. Time for all to get into the green room, me thinks. Well spoken Phil.

Amongst all this hoo-ha how did the panel on women and surfing go? That would have been fun and enlightening, I imagine.

Oh, and kooks unite!

Kooks are the new hipsters Clif.

get in on the ground floor.

On reflection I might have been a bit Attila the Hun with my delivery this morning.

I was out the back paddock chipping thistles and hacking lantana with the machete and got a bit hot under the collar thinking of Phil sitting in his air-conditioned townhouse disrespecting all us common saps who've bought his books and magazines and made him the Towering Titan of Australian Surf Literature that he is today.

Something a bit more reasonable might have done the job. Hope Phil takes the exchanges as bit of spirited pub banter gone a little hot and not Toxic Venom being sprayed everywhere.

No way, for anyone whose been reading Jarrett for years your observations were spot on.

Condescending is not cool!

WTF Freeride, now you got one thinking there has been some forces at play as there is nothing other than straight talk and truth in what you proposed.

was it as simple as a subtle text, a whole call with no caller. Maybe a drone hovering over the thistle patch or you found knots in your fishing lines....something has spooked you and please pray tell it is not religion

I was at some of the Talk Story sessions on Saturday afternoon which I really enjoyed and thanks to Jack and the rest of the guys for organising them.

Following Phil's article regarding clubbies I was interested in the Talk Story about clubbies and it was much more interesting than I imagined with Midgets contribution both entertaining and informative. The observations from Tim Hatton ( I think was his name) a local surfer whose eventually joined the surf club when his kids joined the nippers was also funny & informative. I think Nick Carroll moderated this session particlarly well and I actually learnt something from the session

Attending the session with Rusty Miller, Joey Cabell, Paul Strauch and Fred Hemmings was witnessing a true piece of surfing history & was truly memorable for this long term surfer, although the session would have benefited from a more skilled moderator like Nick Carroll rather than Rabbit ( no offence Rab) but Busting down the Door didn't exactly develop the warm relationship between the Hawaiians and Australians that the Duke started.

What would have been really entertaining and memorable would Midget sitting in with the Hawaiian visitors and discussing surfing in Hawaii on his first visit, Midget and Joey discussing the 64 world titles, Midget & Fred discussing the 67 World Titles. Paul Strauch telling us how he developed the Paul Strauch crouch ( how many other surfers have a move named after them?) and much more.

While we are at it what about someone organising more Talk Story sessions- I would pay money to hear Midget talk about his life , who really invented the short board, his feud with Nat, his views on the surfing industry from his unique position.

And I want to hear more from Rusty Miller about his early life and when he first came to Australia, how Byron has changed, surfing Ulus with Steven Cooney in MOTE and more.

As for Phil, he didn't look like the stirrer of old in his funny little hat and his retro Qantas cabin bag but I do enjoy his writing ,but I am probably biased as I used to enjoy his satire and observations in Tracks, and he did publish a few of my contributions to Tracks back in the old days when clearly they were crap.

Freshwater Beach Surfing History's Great Hoax and Myth - BUSTED!

Legend and fib combine as Isabel Letham surfs into history on wave of fancy.

• by: FRED PAWLE ...
• From: The Australian
• December 27, 2014 12:00AM

THE wave Isabel Letham caught at Dee Why beach, Sydney, on February 6, 1915, was neither long nor spectacular. According to one newspaper account of it, she spent most of the ride “toppling backwards”, and in the end fell off.

But, in one of the strangest twists in Australian sporting history, it was enough to get her into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame, an honour usually reserved for people whose contribution to the sport spans an entire lifetime.

She achieved this status by embellishing the story of her Dee Why ride to make it far more significant than it was. Her audience — the surfers of Australia — were convinced by her story because, for reasons I’ll explain later, they desperately wanted it to be true.

Oral storytelling, particularly about new and radical experiences, forms a large part of surf culture. As a result, surfers, who are not the most literary bunch, are prone to exaggeration. But even by their hyperbolic standards, the Letham story is extraordinary. The truth, as usual, is even more fascinating .

A reassessment of Letham is overdue, partly because her status in surfing has become ludicrously high, and partly because the centenary of her alleged achievement is approaching, and it would be a shame if the planned celebrations on Sydney’s Freshwater beach on January 8 [sic - 10] commemorated a fallacy.

These are the known facts of that historic summer of 1914-15. The great Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, a gold-medal-winning swimmer at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, was invited to Australia to compete in races in Sydney and Brisbane. While he was here, he also put on demonstrations of “surf shooting” in the Hawaiian style (riding a surfboard while standing), of which he was at the time one of the world’s best practitioners and protagonists.

By far the most significant public demonstration was the first one, at Freshwater, Letham’s home beach, on January 10 1915, which was attended by about 400 spectators. For a long time afterwards, this was considered the day Australian surfing was born.

A month later, another demonstration was held at Dee Why Beach, a few kilometres north. On this occasion, Letham, 15, a keen young ocean swimmer and a bit of a tomboy, was invited to ride tandem with Kahanamoku, which she did, making an impression on all three journalists present, as well as the crowd of thousands.

“When ‘the Duke’ stood up the sight was grand,” Sydney’s The Telegraph said. “Later, Kahanamoku came in standing on his head, and at another time carried a lady passenger.”

The Sydney Morning Herald also confirmed it: “He was accompanied at intervals by Miss Letham, of Freshwater, and it was a rare sight to watch both swimmers on the surf board.”

The Referee, a sports newspaper, said Letham’s ride with Kahanamoku was the “more sensational spectacle” of the demonstration, but only because it showcased the Hawaiian’s skill — Letham spent most of the ride “toppling backwards”. The ride ended when both Letham and Kahanamoku wiped out.

In the late 1940s, as surfing began its ascendancy within Australian culture, this story of the ungainly tandem ride at Dee Why became conflated with the Duke’s surfing demonstration at Freshwater, which was beginning to acquire newfound historical significance. Stories began to be published placing Letham front and centre at the Freshwater event.

The Sydney Morning Herald in 1948 said that Kahanamoku had taken Letham “out with him (at Freshwater) and they would come right into the beach with incomparable grace and precision”. A similar account appeared in a book called Surf Australians Against the Sea, by C. Bede Maxwell (1949). In 1959, Heroes of the Surf, a history of the Manly Surf Lifesaving Club, said Kahanamoku “took three waves with her (Letham) standing on the board in front of him”. None of these publications cites sources.

Yet the only surviving contemporaneous newspaper account of the Freshwater demonstration is by W. Corbett of The Sun, who wrote in some detail about Kahanamoku teaching two Manly swimmers how to surf by themselves. Had Letham ridden tandem with Kahanamoku that day, it is inconceivable that Corbett wouldn’t have mentioned it.

The arrival of mass-produced fibreglass boards in the 1960s helped surfing to explode in popularity, and with it the Letham myth took off. In 1968, the Daily Mirror published a story about Kahanamoku’s visit, which focused on the Freshwater demonstration; Letham is quoted as saying that as she and Kahanamoku took off on the wave it “was like looking over a cliff”.

“But after I’d screamed a couple of times he took me by the scruff of the neck and yanked me to my feet. Then off we went down that wave,” she said. For the next two decades, she continued to repeat the story, with only minor variations, in print interviews, an oral history and a video recorded in 1986. She collected most of her own clippings into a personal archive, which was donated upon her death to the Dee Why public library, where they remain.

Those clippings are punctuated with notes by Letham correcting minor mistakes by the various journalists. In none of the clippings does she dispute the increasingly accepted fact that she surfed with Kahanamoku at Freshwater.

The story was even embellished without Letham’s input. A book called The Surfrider, edited by Australian journalist Jack Pollard and published in the mid-1960s, claimed that Letham not only rode with Kahanamoku, but managed to sit on his shoulders as well. This claim is made in the book’s foreword, which is attributed to Kahanamoku, but according to Geoff Cater, one of Australia’s leading surf historians, the foreword is almost certainly Pollard’s own work. In it “Kahanamoku” says: “There was a tiny girl in the crowd that day who by her manner seemed more excited than all in the crowd. I put her on my shoulders and we made a few good rides.”

Shoulder-riding, Cater says, didn’t become popular until the 1940s, when long hollow boards made the trick easier to perform. This detail has since been repeated at least twice, both by surf journalist Phil Jarratt, in A Complete History of Surfboard Riding in Australia (2013) and That Summer at Boomerang (2014).

But why all this credulity and exaggeration? To answer that, one needs only to look at the rest of Australian surfing history. It’s filled with blokes. Not just any blokes, but yobbos. Australian surfing history is mostly a procession of aggressive, arrogant, hard-drinking, drug-abusing, brash dudes whose obsession drove them wild, sometimes literally. Our brand of surf culture propelled Australia to some world titles and gave us a distinct national character on the pro tour and the various surf meccas around the world, but it came at a cost.

The Letham story was a perfect foil. At last, Australia had its own Gidget! A tomboy who rode with Duke! But even this new development couldn’t escape the inevitable male fantasy — if they rode a few waves together, could they have also, you know…? Letham never married or had children, and later in life was still expressing her reverence towards him, saying he “is still in my heart”.

This year, Phil Jarratt published what some male surfers were probably already thinking. That Summer at Boomerang is a historical novel centred on Kahanamoku’s 1914-15 tour. In the introduction, Jarratt says “all the events depicted actually happened”. The book then goes on to describe a series of increasingly flirtatious encounters between Letham and Kahanamoku, ending with a sad dockside farewell during which Letham’s eyes get “misty” and Kahanamoku hugs her “tight for long seconds” and kisses her on both cheeks, saying, “I’m going to miss you, young lady”.

Letham herself repeatedly gave the impression that she, if not Kahanamoku, established a deep emotional bond on the day they supposedly rode together at Freshwater. But Sandra Kimberley Hall, Kahanamoku’s official biographer, is not convinced. Any romantic interaction between a 15-year-old white girl and a 24-year-old dark-skinned Hawaiian in Australia in 1915 stretches the bounds of plausibility, she says. “Nowhere in Duke or Isabel’s archives is there anything that would lead researchers to believe there was a romance, a fling, or even a friendship between the two of them,” she says. “It’s laughably ridiculous.”

Hall says Letham’s claim to have ridden with Kahanamoku at Freshwater is similarly fanciful. “It seems that at some point in time, Isabel confused Dee Why with Freshwater,” she says, adding that it was “unlikely” that the pair rode tandem at Freshwater.

Two weeks after the Dee Why demonstration, Kahanamoku left Australia. Letham persuaded her father, a master builder, to make her a board like Kahanamoku’s. She and her friend Isma Amor, a fellow surfer tomboy from Manly, began spending weekends at remote Bilgola beach on Sydney’s northern beaches surfing and earning the label “wild young things”.

Jarratt’s book describes Letham’s later, fruitless attempts to reconnect with Kahanamoku, stopping in Waikiki, but not finding him, on her way to the US in 1918, where she worked for a while, trying to break into the film business, before returning home to be with her dying father. She returned to the US in 1923, where she finally [sic - she saw him again in 1956 and 1963 in Sydney, NSW] and briefly saw Kahanamoku again.

She has said nothing of this meeting, one of three they would have before Kahanamoku died in 1968, aged 77. The romance, if there was one, was never rekindled. Letham stayed in California and became a highly respected swimming coach at the glamorous Women’s City Club in San Francisco. She sailed home to Australia in 1929 and continued coaching swimming and water ballet. She died in 1995.

Surf historian Peter Warr interviewed Letham at length between the late 1980s and early 90s. He says Letham was still obsessed with Kahanamoku even then. “It was much more than a teenage girl’s puppy love,” he says. “She was still infatuated with him.” Letham smiled as she recalled Kahanamoku, Warr says. “She started talking about her feelings for him. I said, ‘that’s wonderful that you kept these feelings all these decades,’ and she just said, ‘oh, he’s in my heart’.”

Warr compares Letham’s love to that of other women from her generation who fell in love with soldiers who died in battle, then never married. “It was a much more controlled society back then,” he says. But asked by Warr if she would have liked to marry Kahanamoku, Letham hinted that a more conservative process was at work. “She said she would have if circumstances had allowed. By that she meant the White Australia Policy. It would have been a scandal.”

Cater has a different theory: Letham used her lifelong devotion to Kahanamoku as a cover for her own sexual orientation. “It was a perfect blanket,” he says. “She had the story that she met him as a teenager and never looked at another man. The evidence is more than plausible that she used the story to cover up her own sexuality.”

If Cater is correct, Letham’s story to cover up her own taboo same-sex secret grew so big that it earned her in 1993, induction into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame, alongside real surfing legends like four-times world champion Mark Richards and seven-time champion Layne Beachley. Letham’s entry on the Hall of Fame’s website repeats the dubious story about Freshwater, saying she “never forgot the exhilaration of that first ride”.

This historical ambiguity creates a dilemma for the organisers of Duke’s Day, the three-day celebration commemorating the centenary of Kahanamoku’s visit, starting on January 8 at Freshwater. One of the highlights of the celebration will be a re-enactment of the now mythical Letham-Kahanamoku ride.

Duke’s Day committee chairman Stephen Bennett says the Letham story, which had been “relayed through the generations”, is beyond doubt. “It is hard to believe that the story about Isabel would have been perpetuated unless it was true as there were so many eyewitnesses who were present,” he says.

The most overlooked person in all of this is Tommy Walker, of Manly, who is increasingly seen as the real first surfer in Australia, riding a board he bought for $2 in Waikiki during a trans-Pacific crossing.

Cater’s website quotes The Telegraph describing surfing at Manly Beach in January 1912, three years before that supposedly historic day at Freshwater. “A clever exhibition of surf board shooting was given by Mr. Walker, of the Manly Seagulls Surf Club. With his Hawaiian surf board he drew much applause for his clever feats, coming in on the breaker standing balanced on his feet or his head.”

Sadly, the centenary of this event, which is more significant and plausible than Letham’s ride at Freshwater, went past uncelebrated.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/legend-and-fib-combine-as-isabel-letham-... See More

The January 2015 Centenary Celebrations of the visit of Duke Kahanamoku to Freshwater Beach - A Critique of the self-appointed Dukes Day (DD) Centenary Committee and its actions.

This 2015 DD Committee was funded with over $20k of Warringah LGA Ratepayers' funds and other tax & ratepayer funded resources for its use - e.g. it acquired for its own purposes control of most of Freshwater SLSC, the majority of Freshwater Beach and its Public Reserves etc. during the 9 & 10 January 2015 time period - which were in prime of Summer Public usage days of this Beach.

Duke Kahanamoku (1890- 1968) was of course and remains a Public Figure. His life and times have been extensively researched and written about for many years (including 2 PhD's being written on him and several Post-Doctoral research papers on his activities in Australia).

The self-appointed 2015 Duke Day’s Committee which is an unincorporated association of persons - has no legal standing under any Statute or Common Law - nor any enforceable legal powers at all in respect of Duke Kahanamoku’s Legacy or any of his actions at Freshwater Beach.

The Freshwater SLSC minuted in its Executive Committee Meetings’ Minutes - that the self-appointed 2015 DD Committee’s activities are NOT part of the Freshwater SLSC's role or its activities.

The self-appointed 2015 Dukes Day Committee has no registered Trademark, Patent etc. - or any legal claims whatsoever on Duke Kahanamoku’s likeness, image or his past actions etc. within Australia or elsewhere. The International registered Trademark holder for Duke Kahanamoku is a Company independent of the self-appointed January 2015 DD Committee.

The self-appointed Dukes Day Committee also had no legal standing or basis at all behind any of its apparent self-purported claims - to be the sole arbiter of how any person(s) may wish to celebrate in any way the 2014/15 Centenary of the visit of Duke Kahanamoku to Freshwater Beach etc. during the Summer of 1914/15.

The official Biographer of and acknowledged World Expert on Duke Kahanamoku - is the Freshwater born Ms. Sandra Kimberley Hall who has long resided in Hawaii and has spent decades of her long life engaged with in-depth research into her area of expertise - Duke Kahanamoku. Ms Hall flew out from Hawaii and be visited Freshwater Beach for the 2015 Centenary Celebrations of Duke Kahanamoku's visit.

Sandy Hall informed me in writing that in respect of the 2015 DD Committee's activities at Freshwater Beach:

"I have tried to coax them into considering the facts re Isabel and Duke, and yet, provide entertainment for the audience."

In respect of the key event in the Centenary's Celebrations, the Harbord Diggers sponsored Re-enactment of the alleged events and alleged persons involved with proceedings on the morning of Sunday 10 January 1915 at Freshwater Beach - the DD Committee were from a reading of their Press Releases and their website information etc. - just making up important Australian Surfing History details as they are going along in their Centenary Celebrations preparations.

This is because they simply did NOT have the necessary depth of Freshwater Beach Surfing History knowledge or a real understanding of the decades long distortion of it by members of the Freshwater SLSC, e.g. Claude West and by others, e.g. Isabel Letham.

Note the views of Duke Kahanamoku's Biographer:
"Hall says Letham’s claim to have ridden with Kahanamoku at Freshwater is similarly fanciful. “It seems that at some point in time, Isabel confused Dee Why with Freshwater,” she says, adding that it was “unlikely” that the pair rode tandem at Freshwater."

In a private Australian Surfing History documentation collection, there is a 1972 original document from Isabel Letham - which shows in her own handwriting - that at that time when she was aged 73 years old - she did NOT recall on what date and at which beach - she had ridden on Duke Kahanamoku's surfboard with him!

Long locked away - this document and other relevant information was unlocked and produced at the 2015 DD Discussion Panel on Isabel Letham's life! This "Talk Story" Panel had a 1:30pm start on Fri. 9 January '15 - and was chaired by Nick Carroll.

Isabel Letham's CONFLATED tandem surfing stories - involving her joining her 1915 activities at Dee Why and Freshwater Beaches - are just that - they are stories. She was a great self-promoter - who wanted to be remembered by Australian Surfing's history! Added in were her memory failures concerning the events in the Summer of 1914/15.

There is also documentary evidence to prove that former Freshwater SLSC member the late Claude West - repeatedly publicly lied to many newspapers etc. about his alleged achievements in Australia's Surfing history. He has knowingly caused to be published false and misleading information about himself and his alleged Surfing achievements - which grossly over exaggerates his role in Australian Surfing history.
For example:
"I was the first Australian to take up surf-board riding", 9 February 1939, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). This assertion is demonstrably untrue.

In respect of the holding of the best possible in terms of accuracy re-enactment of what occurred on the 10/1/1915 at Freshwater Beach - the 2015 DD Committee were mostly too egotistical to listen to those who have a better knowledge and understanding of what occurred in January 1915 - based on evidenced based research and analysis - rather than on conjecture and oral anecdotal tall stories.

This "interesting" self-appointed 2015 DD Committee - which would be better named the "Credulity Committee" - was more interested in not letting the truth stand in the way of their own "story" - in respect of their re-enactment of some of the mythical events - said to have occurred at Freshwater Beach on the 10 January 1915.

One of the "interesting" Freshwater SLSC members of this self-appointed 2015 Centenary DD Committee is a female who is also a former Executive Committee member of this Surf Club - who Bullies, Harasses and tries to intimidate others, e.g. by repeatedly shouting and screaming at them inside the Freshwater Surf Club during the set up for the January 2014 Aloha Cocktail Party - in gross breach of SLSA's strict Anti-Harassment and Anti-Bullying policies and requirements.
Very "interesting" behaviours for a 40 something single mother at a DD event she claims celebrates the spirit of Aloha!

Her Bullying and Harassing behaviours continued being directed at a Guest to one of the DD Committee's meetings in the Freshwater SLSC Boardroom - several months later. During this meeting she advised it that she was abandoning her commitment to the DD Committee - and was off travelling overseas for months and months during which she openly advised those present that she would be working ILLEGALLY whilst overseas in breach of her entry Visa's legal requirements.

Another DD Committee Member is a self-appointed Sole Censor of the DD Facebook site - who continually Censored any dissenting opinion differing to his own opinion - or simply anything which he can censor for no good reason at all. He removed posts to the DD Facebook page and then re-posts exactly the same thing back on this DD Facebook page in his self-appointed role.
I am not sure how his job as a Public Bus Driver - equips him at all with the required knowledge, skills, attributes and intellect - to be the 2015 DD's website Sole Censor?

It is "interesting" to note that the financial Sponsor of the DD Committee's re-enactment - the Harbord Diggers Club - also has a history of orchestrating hoaxes against the Freshwater Community, e.g. sham Community Consultations regarding its property development interests in Freshwater.

Some of the DD Committee crew - are shown in the photograph below - in their unthinking herd mentality usual state - being fed their favourite food - CRAP!

It is particularly galling to have discovered that their Chairperson and others on the DD self appointed Committee - were informed of the evidence based facts in this matter - by Duke Kahanamoku's Biographer Sandy Hall - who they had been in contact with since meeting her in August 2011 in Hawaii - yet they have continued to publicly promote this Freshwater Beach Tandem Surfing Myth!

"Duke’s Day committee chairman Stephen Bennett says the Letham story, which had been “relayed through the generations”, is beyond doubt."

Hmmmmnnnn.... an "interesting" assertion from a Chartered Accountant and Accountancy Firm (Wynn Bennett) Partner.

You will wait forever for him to produce some researched based evidence and proof, e.g. primary documents, contemporaneous newspaper reports and/or written notes etc. made in January 1915 - to substantiate his "beyond doubt" assertions!

Mr Bennett in early 2014, stopped work on and took over all responsibility for the restoration and maintenance works of Duke Kahanamoku Park and Statute in Freshwater - yet did absolutely nothing at all to have these works conducted!!

It was only when these restoration and maintenance works were taken back off him in November 2014 - that they were they carried out at all for the Freshwater Centenary Celebrations.

This self-appointed 2015 DD Committee was an insular and inward looking group running a mainly public monies funded January 2015 re-enactment of Duke Kahanamoku's visit to Freshwater Beach. A significant component of their re-enactment only served to perpetuate the myth making at Freshwater Beach!

http://www.dukesday.com/commitee-members.html

Myth versus reality? Myth usually wins because it's a better story. The whole Duke thing is over blown. None of it stands up to much scrutiny. The aloha spirit? In Australian surfing? Not in my experience! Sandy Hall contacted me before Duke Day about these issues but as I was not going to be around I didn't follow it up. Thanks for the post Freshwater.

Too easy to imagine this sorry tale being introduced by Tracey Grimshaw and sandwiched between a story about a dodgy builder and an advertorial for a revolutionary weight loss product.

Fascinating read.

So Isabel lies somewhere in between Simpson and his donkey and that skanky chick from Puberty Blues?

"Alright ! I'll root youse! I'll root youse all . " Freida the mole.

The DD Committee was chaired by recent President and Life Member of Freshwater SLSC - Stephen Bennett - so you can work out what his agenda was and where his loyalties lie.

In respect of former Freshwater SLSC member Claude West, I think some of my research discoveries are important to share and for others (if interested) to understand – in the context of the 2015 Duke’s Day Centenary Celebrations!

After Claude West’s confidently self- proclaimed statement:
"I was the first Australian to take up surf-board riding." - was published on the 9 February 1939 in the Daily Telegraph (Sydney) by Harry M Hay (http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Harry-Hay/37319091),
suddenly the not publicly heard of for almost 20 years Tommy Walker - comes out of the woodwork (he was then I understand living in Adelaide) – with his letter written to The Referee (Sydney) newspaper – which was published on page 16 of its 23 February 1939 Sydney edition.

Note this 23 February 1939 published letter of Tommy Walker is written and published only 14 days - after Claude West has his lies published on 9 February 1939 in the Daily Telegraph!

In my view, it is no coincidence at all that Tommy Walker pulls out his pen, writes his letter and attaches a photo of his 1909 purchased in Hawaii surfboard- which then goes into print in a Sydney Newspaper on this significant issue in Australian Surfing’s history.

In his letter published in The Referee, Walker explained that he purchased a surfboard in Hawaii in 1909 when he called there aboard the Poltolock [sic - The vessel was likely the steel barque Poltalloch - per Geoff Cater’s research], and became increasingly proficient on it back at Manly (See picture of this surfboard below).

For information, Thomas (Tommy) Gordon Walker (1890 - 1941) contributions to Australian Surfing are discussed and analysed in Dr Gary Osmond’s post-Doctoral Research Paper (Attached): -
Myth-making in Australian Sport History: Re-evaluating Duke Kahanamoku's Contribution to Surfing
Gary Osmond
Available online

By 1911, Tommy Walker was Hawaiian Surfboard riding - both standing up and doing Headstands - on his 1909 purchased in Hawaii surf board.

I can find no record of any published comments or claims by Claude West – after Tommy Walker’s letter is published in The Referee - to refute Tommy Walker’s claims about his Surf board riding occurring before Claude West learnt to ride an Hawaiian surfboard in early 1915 at Freshwater Beach.

Claude West was caught out and was publicly exposed for his lies about his role in Australian Surfing History in February 1939 by Tommy Walker!

Tommy Walker I understand died in Adelaide in October 1941.

After Tommy Walker’s death, with no one around to challenge him – the way was now clear for Claude West to re-invent his role in Australia’s Surfing History – which he goes to extraordinary lengths to do so for his own self- promotion and egotistical ends.

When Mrs Bede Maxwell was researching Australian surf history for her 1949 published book: “SURF Australians against The Sea” - Claude West was I understand interviewed at length by her, and he has feed her his bullshit and she bought it!

Sir Adrian Curlewis who contributed some research to this book and who wrote this book’s introduction in 1949 – had by the early 1980’s when I interviewed him at his Mosman home - reservations about its contents’ accuracy. Sir Adrian was a former NSW District Court Judge – he was highly trained and skilled in how to weigh up evidence very carefully and correctly!

Bede Maxwell’s book stresses Kahanamoku’s willingness to share his skills with Australian observers, and his transmission of surfing know-how to one person in particular, Claude West.
[ Maxwell, Surf, 237.]

She describes the Sydney youth, who had seen Kahanamoku surf, as the conduit between Hawaiian and Australian surfing - the individual who breached local surfing ineptitude and launched the nation on a course towards eventual surfing mastery. Through her exposition, Maxwell can be identified as the originating source of what is now the entrenched Kahanamoku story.

Claude West had with this 1949 published SURF book’s help - re-written Australia’s then nascent Surfing History - to grossly over-state his Surfing’s role and importance in it!

Also keep in mind that here are no known Newspaper articles which independently of Claude West’s own assertions – or corroborate Claude West’s version of events of what actually happened in the Summer of 1914/15 at Freshwater Beach between Claude (or Isabel) and Duke Kahanamoku.

CLAUDE “THE GREAT PRETENDER” WEST (1898 – 1980)

“Oh Yes, I’m the Great Pretender….
My need is such that I pretend too much!
Oh Yes, I’m the Great Pretender….
Adrift in a world of my own!

Oh Yes, I’m the Great Pretender…..
Too real is the feeling of make believe,
I seem to be what I’m not you see!
Oh Yes, I’m the Great pretender……..
- The Platters, USA Number 1 - Hit Record (1955)

If any person in the History of Australian Surfing has done more damage to its credibility and has repeatedly lied to distort its truth for their own selfish self- promotion as much as Claude West did – then after over 4 decades of research into Australian Surfing History, I am yet to come across such a person!!

Not only did Claude West repeatedly lie throughout all of his Adult life about his Australian Surfing activities – he has lied to his own flesh and blood, e.g. to his Daughter Maureen Wall (nee West) about his alleged Surfing achievements

I am trained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the psychological profiling of human psyches - particularly how dysfunctional and Criminal minds view reality and act etc.

Claude West in my psychological profiling of him - fits the classic description of what is known as “an old white male Aussie Dinosaur”….he’s full of bullshit and is highly egotistical!

Compounding Claude West’s psychological problems – is I believe he also suffered from “small man syndrome” e.g. he did not achieve much at all with his career or life and his repeated lies were a compensating mechanism for his own perceived inadequacies…

Claude West also was never loved by the Australian Public of his era for his Surfing achievements – unlike his contemporary C J “Snowy” McAlister who was loved and respected until his death in Manly Private Hospital. Claude sought public attention and hoped for the public adulation - which he never got!

His 1953 gifting of Duke Kahanamoku’s 1914 Freshwater Surfboard (given to him by the Walker Brothers of Manly) – was in my view an egotistically driven measure - that was done by him mainly because he wanted some public attention and for him to be remembered in Surfing history.

The stories and lies he made up all through his life - and which he has ensured are re-told by his descendants - help to get a true picture of his mind’s inner workings.

Freshwater Head a great read and raises the very relevant issues that have been conveniently sweep under the carpet by those with vested interests in the perpetuation of their own agendas and rewards.
If you gained access to the fact that WSC put up $20K there must have been some serious $$ raised via the whole Duke Festival. Who got what and if there was leftovers, where are they under whose control?
I raised this on another thread on Swellnet with someone who purported to know many facts and figures re the event and so far al we have got is silence.
Silence when asked to be forthcoming about public monies IMHO has a habit of only raising the question as to why. Yourself and Blindboy appear to be the only knowledgable ones attempting to shed some light on the truth of the matter.

Egotistical liars involved in the history of surfing, who'd have thought.

ICAC Freshwater? Your allegations clearly fall within their legislation.

Freshwater Head - your posts at the least are very entertaining, those slanderous accusations certainly lend a certain intrigue to an otherwise vacant afternoon when caught between days.

Is there such a thing as defamation suit insurance ? Maybe you'd better look into it.
Let's hope the truth, if that's what it is, is insurance enough.

4 Corners, calling 4 Corners, time to do a follow up of your previous investigation.

And Phil, your little 'experience' in the surf which just happened to initiate a story about the Duke Day and your book and started this whole forum, what say you?

Good stuff Freshie keep it coming.

Woooow.......freshie seems to have more knowledge on the whole "birth of surfing in Australia" than .....the vested interests......will be very interested to see if there is any comment from Phil or Nick on some of the so called "facts" that we have all been fed for nearly a century!!

Damn it! I should have go up earlier.

Just come across this image (scroll right) of Tommy Walker captured up Yamba before the Duke was in town in..

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