Tossing in the Towel
Back in the early 1960's most of us testosterone-charged teenagers at the beach considered Mrs. Thwaites too old to draw breath. Yet there she was, all of fifty and the permanent shadow of her son, Tasmanian surf pioneer, Bill Thwaites.
Her name was Cecilie, but out of respect we always called her Mrs Thwaites and the collective opinion was, she was attached to Bill by the hip. No matter what size the swell, no matter how bitter and cruel the weather, if Bill was there, so was Mrs Thwaites.
Bill was credited with discovering many of the states prime surf spots, including Roaring Beach at Nubeena and Seven Mile Point, but his constant companion was somehow overlooked, perhaps proving history is either blind, sexist or both.
Bill was a lifeguard at the Hobart Olympic Pool who was blessed with the physique and presence of a Greek God. With film star looks, topped off with aviator sunglasses, he was the undisputed Don of Tasmanian surfing. A man of few words who spent all his time with his mum. In an era when the last person young men wanted to be seen with was their mum.
However Bill's mum was different. Very different!
Aviator sunnies in place, Bill Thwaites lays on the sand at Carlton Beach with his mum Cecilie (Libraries Tasmania)
Cecilie Cripps was from the prominent Hobart bakery family and married Jack Thwaites in 1935, producing a daughter Anne and son Bill. As head of the forerunner of Parks and Wildlife, Jack was responsible for the preservation of much of Tasmania's southwest wilderness. A member of the Royal Geographic Society, he was also the recipient of the Order of Australia for his contribution to conservation. Along with Leo Luckman, he founded the Hobart Walking Club and trekked much of the state's wilderness, including Thwaites Plateau in the Arthur Ranges. Mrs Thwaites constantly by his side.
Unlike Bill, who surfed with the grace and style of a cat, Mrs Thwaites was far from being a natural athlete. No doubt enhanced by the fact she smoked like a steam train. The only time she wasn't lighting up was when she was in the surf. It was tough to watch her stagger to her feet and assume a clumsy survival stance. Tough to watch her wipe out and struggle ashore while her son was out the back ripping. We all felt for her in our own way, but few of us fully understood the powerful elements she brought with her to the beach. Her lack of ability was lost on her. She was focussed on having fun. Not only was she a visionary but, with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps the most inspirational figure in Tasmanian female surfing.
In the 1960's surfing was beginning to take off, but it was a young man's world. Surfboards were around 10' long and weighed 35lbs. Not only were they cumbersome and difficult to carry, but devoid of the benefit of a leg rope, they were also lethal unguided missiles. Ever conscious of preserving their turf, the boys decided that the boards and the surf zone itself, were far from female friendly. Much like many of the social attitudes that existed at that time.
A time when it was politically correct to call any non Anglo-Saxon a wog; when bullying was rampant and expected; when corporal punishment was normal; when females were relegated to the towel, where they were expected to douse themselves in baby oil, get tanned and admire every wave their boyfriend caught.
Fair to say that in the early-60's, boys ruled the waves while the sand was the realm of the surf widow.
Between sessions we would while away the time with idle chat and when, between firing up, Mrs Thwaites spoke of inclusion and participation, her words were usually drowned in silence. This was a topic lost on us males, since we all knew that women didn't want to surf anyway. They were more than happy sitting on the beach soaking up rays.
Weren't they?
The thing about Mrs Thwaites was her amazing resilience. She refused to be put off by the boys club attitude and went about spreading her gospel by stealth. When Bill and his mum established Tasmania's first surf retail outlet, Seaworld, she understood the power of the female dollar and not only introduced her female customers to kaftans and bikinis, but boards and wetties as well. During her sales pitch she cajoled them with her conviction that men didn't have a mortgage on fun. And, she was convincing, because slowly but surely they began tossing in the towel and paddling into the lineup.
Ironically, the most accomplished female surfer of that time was Jenny Leeson. Ironic because she lived on the Phantom north-west coast, the coast of mythical waves. She came from a surf lifesaving background which had long embraced female participation and she felt totally at ease in the ocean, taking it up to the boys at any opportunity.
In the south, the Dorneys were well known in architectural circles and had a shack at Park Beach where the whole family surfed, including Leigh Dorney who won the women's title in 1968. In her case she learnt to surf with her male siblings and cousins who gave her very little. She was a tough competitor both in and out of the water and surfs to this day in Victoria. Despite their ability, women were not taken too seriously. The usual contest format was that females were treated as a standby novelty event. Something to fill in time until the tide turned, or held at the end of the day while the boys skulled frothies at the nearest pub.
Despite female numbers steadily increasing, the hardcore males of the lineup gave them small regard, fewer waves, and little if any encouragement. Most were convinced they'd soon tire of the whole thing, get pregnant, return to the towel and look after kids.
Fast forward some twenty years and a female pocket rocket by the name of Dara Penfold exploded on the scene, heralding what was to be, the boys' worst nightmare. She went on to become Tasmania's first world champion - World Junior Female Champion - and was the most successful competitive surfer the state has seen. And if there was ever any doubt, Dara went on to conquer the male domain of Shipstern Bluff, proving to all and sundry that not only were women here, they were here to stay.
Tasmania's first world surf champion, Dara Penfold, at left, and Jo Goldfinch
Since then Brooke Mason drew a line in the sand, demanding equal prize money for female surfers and despite strong pushback from the male cohort, was adopted as policy by Surfing Tasmania twelve months later. The World Surf League has since gone on to become the first sport in the USA to adopt equal prize money for females. A point not lost on Red Bull, with Bruny Island local Liz Stokely receiving an invite for the Cape Fear event at Shippies.
Had she still been alive, Mrs Thwaites would have rightly been one very proud woman.
Since those early days surfing has undergone a paradigm shift in both demographics and attitude. No longer an exclusive male domain, todays surfers are often family groups, sometimes three generations, grandmothers through to grandkids. Almost half of those attending surf schools are young females and stalwarts like Jo Goldfinch are active as coaches, judges, and team managers and the beach vibe is much better for it.
Following the recent death of Bill Thwaites, Surfing Tasmania received a gift to help fund the future of state surfing. That money is being used to develop a network of progressive surf coaches at boardrider clubs around the state and is known as the Thwaites Fund. It's open to both males and females and is named in honour of Bill and his constant companion, Mrs Thwaites.
Anyone want a stack of discarded towels?
// MICK LAWRENCE
Mick is a Tasmanian surf pioneer and is the current President of Surfing Tasmania.
Comments
great story , love hearing about this ,its what its all about imo
Brilliant Mick. Love hearing stories about Tassie and it’s surfing culture. I’ve met a few of the individuals in your story. Great piece. I have noticed in the past five years a heap more women surfing - heading to the locals and the points. Keep writing more about the early Tassie surf culture.
The concept of women discouraged or prevented from surfing by a culture of systemic sexism has never matched any reality I’ve experienced. It always appeared to me that the relatively recent influx of huge numbers of women into the waves seemed to me to be more related to the idea amongst girls that surfing wasn’t something they might consider doing and nothing to do with being intimidated by male surfers.
It’s not like I was too far removed from the alleged ground zero for entrenched misogyny either. Puberty Blues was written only a couple of years before I started getting into surfing seriously yet I never saw evidence of men discouraging women from surfing and I knew quite a few women surfers.
If anything I’ve always found girls to be actively encouraged. I’ve seen many girls hooted into waves where a man would be ignored. Girls get tips from more experienced male surfers which are delivered with kindness. Some girls might interpret this as patronising but I know when I was a grommet and a much better surfer volunteered advice I was grateful and appreciative….as I should’ve been. If a superior surfer offered me tips tomorrow I’d be stoked.
The women I surfed with in those early days were purists. They surfed because they were drawn to it, not because it was a fashion. These women were of all demographics -old, young , good surfers, average surfers. They may have been given short thrift for waves at times but this was par for the course for every surfer out there irrespective of genitalia.
I’ve since questioned most of these girl surfers about their experiences back in those days , trying to determine if there was an inherent undercurrent of sexism and male discouragement of which I simply couldn’t or wouldn’t be made aware. No was the universal answer. The girls almost always said they felt included amongst the surfing fraternity, even if they remained dilettantes.
I’m sure there is girls out there who’ve experienced different. I’m also sure there’s girls out there who have played the sexism card to create a marketable “against the odds” image for their pro surfing careers. One individual in particular.
I’ve watched the “Girls don’t surf” documentary and though I enjoyed it , as I’ve found many of the girls to be impressive both in surfing talent and character, the whole time I was wondering where the sense of entitlement came from for some of the attitudes.
Some of the issues raised by the girls were absolutely genuine and egregious. But there times when the girls were complaining about not being taken seriously as pro surfers , or not being granted centre stage , or financial discrepancies and the hardships they faced chasing sponsors and I was thinking..hang on, the initial male pro surfers created this entire deal from nothing. They were not given anything. They forged the idea of pro surfing from nothing. It was through nothing more than their determination that surfers were treated as anything but antisocial underclass.
Male surfers used to get beat up by police and rockers and farmers. Male surfers got their teeth knocked out in Hawaii….yet the girls had it hard cause they walked into this established set up and weren’t given the best conditions and the wrong tide?
Anyway….that’s a bit off track and I’m not too sure that the hard work creating pro surfing ever worked in surfing’s favour anyway.
I support womens surfing, always have. So has everyone I’ve ever surfed with as far as I’m aware. I don’t believe this myth of systemic sexism operating to squash the idea of women in the waves. If a girl wanted to go surfing she was encouraged by every Australian surf culture I’ve come across and I’ve known my fair share.
If you want to mischaracterise someone being rude to a fellow surfer as evidence of broadscale misogyny then you are living in a different surfing world to me. Because that shit happens everyday and if you think it’s only happening to girls then you’re dreaming.
Next on Swellnet News, white people say they "saw no evidence" of racism in the surfing community.....
Inspiring story Mick thank you for bringing it to light!
That was always coming from a certain quarter.
Are you female with a litany of genuine horror stories to contradict the relayed experiences of women surfers I know or just another virtue signalling muppet?
Not to mention the fact that it’s men who are supposed to be the bad guys and I am a man, who is extremely supportive of women, and know a lot of men so my perspective is valid.
Great comment Blowin. Appreciate your contrarian perspectives
Nailed it, hilarious.
that was all time surfiebum....ph number, address and favourite sexual position...hahahahahahahha..... btw im also a chickie babe
Spot on mate. You articulated that well. I get sick of hearing Women complain that they have been unable to get jobs in certain industrys. I question them. I am sure it has happened in the past though. Whoever said girls couldn't work in the Mines or be a tradie or an engineer. Not me. Maybe no one.
It would've been nice if, just for once, a story could've simply stood on its own merits rather than be a launching pad for anecdotes.
+1
+1
Sorry mate. I didn’t realise the comment section was exclusively for empty platitudes.
Didn't realise you also knew so much about surfing in Tasmania in the '60s.
I don’t.
Though if you read between the lines it appears the author agrees with my opinion. He makes no mention of genuine discouragement of the female surfers. He makes passing reference to the thought amongst some that the girls would get bored or pregnant and stop surfing, but nothing to suggest active discrimination, sexism or misogyny aimed at females who dared to ride a few waves.
The author mentions that girls didn’t imagine themselves at surfers. This illustrates lack of belief , not lack of choice or the heavy hand of male oppression.
The author makes a great tale of women who found their home in the surf. The tone isn’t actually that they overcame any staunch male resistance to do so. This sentiment led to me feeling that I might expand on the idea that women surfers were only held to a later mass adoption of surfing than men by paucity of role models and not by the toxic masculine culture which has become the default rewriting of history amongst the surf media wankerati.
Dunno Blowin, Mick seems to have painted a pretty clear picture here even if he didn't colour it in...
"Ever conscious of preserving their turf, the boys decided that the boards and the surf zone itself, were far from female friendly. Much like many of the social attitudes that existed at that time."
The only problem ive noticed with girls surfing is given by this example-
I was once surfing sandon point on a 4foot day not too big not too small and a group of lesser skilled surfers were taking off on the end after the sucky takeoff, (not the actual end of the wave 500 metres away) the end of the takeoff section.
Im getting along fine with them they were chatty and all and found it funny i actually went left on a couple.of waves.
Next thing one left i go a girl jumps off near me and paddles back out with me. i didnt say much just howzit etc.
she would have been 15 or 16 too young for me i was about 28 at the time.
Anyway she starts asking me for tips etc and i answered a few times but the group on the end start thinking im trying to pick her up!
the comments they were saying were disgraceful and all i was doing was short one word answers to questions, or "you should look that up on the internet" .
Anyway it really pissed me off that those goons on the shoulder got the wrong idea and ruined my surf.
Just one example of why men cant surf with young girls around.
That was a great read.
with the depressing regularity of a trolling Russian bot that seeks to derail and hog every single post..."I", "I","I"....it's always about blowin, it's always reactionary, and it always fckin stinks.
at bondi they long ago built an ocean outfall, so that you don't have to swim in shit every time you paddle out. yet, here on swellnet, every dip into the forums is a swim in blowin's me-me-me-me shit.
A relaxing morning read into a little of Tassie surf history. Thanks Mick.
Do you reckon that's a Cascade longneck standing tall near Bill's right knee??
The photo was taken on Christmas day 1964 so there's a good chance it is.
........Xmas Day - check the thickness on the jumpers....recall a Xmas day in the middish 70's with howling winds and hail (no surf that day)...great photo and read thank you.
Checking out coastal conditions on Christmas day back in '64 would be a Sydney to Hobart effort for me as computer skills.. mmm, lack some knowledge.
But check out the rotation of clothing apparel during "THE" '64 Sydney to Hobart yacht race.
I thought this may be an interesting insight.
Maybe a cool Boags.The same brew the Aussie cricketers shared with Root and Anderson?
Great read and well written. Would love to have heard more of Mrs T’s story. Absolute right of passage as a grommet to go into SeaWorld surf shop, inhale the flavoured surf wax, exotic incense and marvel at all the cool surfing products and fledgling labels. Not so sure about a boys only club?Maybe more of a lost boys club? Taking up surfing in Tassie was a challenge for either gender, the weather, the travel, the equipment, the surf conditions and the culture. It attracted a lot of personality types that weren’t into team sports and might be better described these days as “on the scale”. An individualistic selfish pursuit was more exclusive than inclusive to either gender. SLSA didn’t allow women to be full members until 1980 I wondr if the NW coast famous for its parochial rivalry in all sports had the benefit of more representational sports for women and had a bigger female participation- along with more conducive rolling surf might have helped. The surfing community and the surf retail industry are not the same. The latter telling the former what is cool and what they would support. Surfing contests enabled surfers to become the biggest fish in our small Tassie pond. Nationally thanks to Surfing Aus- including Sandra English, Christine Cox, Pam Burridge, Jodi Cooper, Alan Atkins, Chris Collins and passionate advocates in every state branch female allocations/ divisions became mandatory. Here in Tassie we could offer a pathway to a fledgling sport!
Back then Tassie Surfing comps had to offer prizes to justify asking surfers to pay an entry fee. The best had to have a bunch of sponsors and onwards and upwards went the egos. At the same time with the realisation that sponsored surfers never kept the prizes anyway it went to also offering money that could go towards travelling. - you could never get surfers to fundraise for their own or teams trip to the Nationals is was far too uncool. (surfing Tas was the only state branch and least able to afford that covered the cost of all team officials rather than dividing the cost between the reps- we had to or risk getting kicked out for not fielding teams)
Getting cash out of sponsors was hard enough in the 90’s so it was part of the entry fee that could be allocated. Therefore the more surfers in your division the higher the prize money. It wasn’t gendered. The sponsors prizes were as equal in value as we could get them. Often the female divisions could be 2 or 3 competitors only and some could win both division at the one event.
There are so many pioneer female competitive surfers that contributed to the development of female surfing locally and on a bigger scale. Sunny Richards ( first professional & Natiional Womens officer) Anne Davies, Ngaire Bell, the Park beach girls, Di Heddle, Jo Goldfinch,Sam Collins, Sammi Faulkner, the Clark sisters, Eleonora Buczek, and more recently Anna, Clare, Maya, Brooke, Lizzie and many more (apologies for omissions) be great to hear some of those stories! Feck sorry the comment might be longer than the story! Blame pseudo lockdown and crap surf! Cheers
Ps Dara Penfold needs to write a book!
Great read Mick - thanks, I would love to see some more photos of that era of surfing in tasmania
I find I can agree with Mick's portrayal of girl's who didn't seem to find it easy to navigate a path to participating in surfing - even now there's more blokes than girls, it makes a difference to how easy or hard it is to join in I reckon. I always look romatically at the 60's when surfing was fringe but occasiionally wonder if I would have been bold enoguh to join the party in the 60's like I did in the eighties
but ... I also simultaenously get sick of a broader narrative in our society that the historic patriarchy only delivered bad outcomes - and yes, I am a middle aged white male. You bet there were bad outcomes, but over time things have got better on balance (less diesease, higher quality of life, greater prosperity, more leisure, protection and recognition for minorites, the less privilidged etc.). If the patriarchy is to blame for ALL the bad - is it also to be credited for ALL the good. Of course, it's not binary, there's a blend of both and I agree with Blowin - the current narrative is skewed to the negative -
I think it's legitimate that Blowin is making a comment on this here - it's in a similar sphere to Mick's story - I like it when people have something thought provoking to say as well as plenty of encouragement and good vibes - keep it coming
Thanks for your contribution NDC, wise, polite and thought provoking. Cheers
Long time swellnet user. First time poster.
I’m bloody fed up with the same old people sharing their views. Blowin, hold your tounge, for just once…
Swellnet could do with removing the comments section. Do it!
I’m sure it stresses Ben out, reading all this shit and trying to moderate it..
Keep the heart felt stories, like the one above coming, it’s the best source of surf related news and stories…. But please would these swellnet celebrities shut the fuck up…
Get rid of the comments… yes, I shouldn’t read them if I don’t want to hear this shit, but for fuks sake… make it easy for me will ya.
Cancel all comments!!!!!!!!!
Catch ya in the next ten years you Fukn self involved bunch of dicks..
Swellnet crew, you do a great service, appreciate all your work!
Ironically that is a pretty negative comment.
Or you could just not read it.
“Cancel” comments, cause you don’t share the views of one commentator?
It’s a short slippery slope to oppression of minorities and other horrors. No, just NO.
Blowin you post all you like, and we will all be richer for the ensuing debate.
It’s called tolerance, it’s called having an open mind, it’s fundamental to liberal civilisation.
Jeeeeze
Great bit of history and story there Mick. Also great to hear about the link to conservation, discovery and pioneering that remote wilderness by Jack.
It sounds like Cecilie pathed the way for women's surfing to be embraced, encouraged and welcomed down in the Apple Isle, and it's a must to have her included in the history of surfing the region.
Thanks for sharing.
Cool as but come on Mick entice us please. I'm sure that you have far better stories to tell your readers than this. The nitty gritty real shit no fence sitting type stuff you'd have has no problem with telling when you were in your late 30s!!
You're not trolling there are you SGAG? I do have such tales to tell but will leave that till a future post. Getting back on point, I did think Blowin had some valid points amongst his mischief making. While my story didn't portray blatant sexism, it did highlight the tenure of the times which were far from female friendly.
Society was much more structured in the 1960's. It was run by those who experienced two world wars and a depression, they were stoic sons of the Empire and all of us plebs were expected to conform to their roadmap which said: a guy left school, got a job, got married, acquired a mortgage, had kids and worked until you were 65 when you retired and played lawn bowls until you died. A woman's role was determined as making a nest, having kids, cleaning house and if time permitted, get a job stacking supermarket shelves.
I suspect the Vietnam War was the catalyst that changed all that. A pea brained idea that backfired and turned a whole generation into hippie drop outs who just wanted to surf all day. While Blowin would have us believe that females have always been actively encouraged to surf, I'm not so sure his argument is supported by facts. After all the WSL only began giving equal prize money to women some two years ago and some Australian board rider clubs still give less prize money to women than men. That's not encouragement, that's discrimination.
I likewise enjoyed 'Girls don't Surf', but rather than seeing women with an attitude of self entitlement, I saw women seeking to right a wrong. Just like the aboriginal debate, perhaps it's time to move on and share in one another's company. Throw in the towel together.
Great article.The Thwaites are owed a massive dept of gratitude for all the work they have done to make surfing within everyone’s reach.The women out there lately,and there are plenty of them,deserve to be treated like everyone else.Lets face it we are all brothers and sisters and just want to have fun.Happy surfing and adios amigos!
For once I agree with blowin, In the early days 99% percent of girls weren't at all interested in surfing and devoted their lives to stopping their boyfriends from "wasting their time surfing." If you wanted to be a hard core surfer you just had to stay single, it would have been a dream come true to have a chick who shared your passion for the lifestyle. She says " I don't care if it is the best swell of the decade you went surfing yesterday, I thought today we would go on a picnic."
He says " How about I throw the board in and we have a picnic down the beach"
Followed by tantrum and full on fight. " Who do you love me or your board."
This is the true history for all the blokes I know, but sorry if it doesn't fit with todays woke generation.
Great story, thanks Mick.
I also like Blowin's perspective. And I have the ability to skip a comment if it riles me up.
Thank you for a really great article. I find Mrs Thwaites to be an inspiration, doing what she loved regardless of a generally unwelcoming environment “Mrs Thwaites spoke of inclusion and participation, her words were usually drowned in silence …. She refused to be put off by the boys club attitude….” I love the fact that “Her lack of ability was lost on her. She was focused on having fun.” I think all of us can learn from that attitude. Kudos also to Bill Thwaites for happily surfing with his mum.
I read the commentary about women in surfing with interest, and want to respond to blowin and others’ comments with a women’s perspective, acknowledging that I can only speak for myself and not women more broadly. I have, occasionally, been on the receiving end of overt sexism, but fortunately this is rare. But I still don’t always find the lineup a welcoming environment. I think there’s a lot of truth to the saying “you can’t be what you can’t see”. Personally, I’ve fought against my self-doubts for things I’ve really wanted to do, like surfing and building a career in a male-dominated field. But in less confident moments, it’s easy to look around and not see any other women and feel like I don’t belong. It actually doesn’t take much for me to overcome those self-doubts, just one or two guys in the lineup making the effort to say hi rather than look right through me, or worse, snake my waves. My guess is that being put off by the really skewed gender ratio is common for female surfers, or maybe means they might only surf certain breaks or on smaller wave days where they feel more like they belong. I also watched Girls Can’t Surf, and am disappointed to hear that some people think those women were entitled and complaining. I came away feeling a mix of anger at what they had to put up with, and the hugest admiration for their incredible determination and passion. And I’m grateful to women like Mrs Thwaites and other pioneering women surfers for providing role models. I guess what I wanted to say is that there doesn’t have to be systemic sexism for surfing to be an unwelcoming environment for women. But if we can all play a small part in being friendly and inclusive to everyone regardless of gender, ability, ethnicity or board type (SUP, longboard, short board), then all of us should catch waves, and like Mrs Thwaites, have fun.
I always had a lot of respect for the few females like Mrs. Thwaites who shared our passion for surfing in the early 70's. Every beach and crew had their "Gidget" who was like one of the boys and had a different outlook on life than normal girls and put their love of surfing above having perfect hair and makeup all the time. So often back then a hot young up and coming surfer at your local would get a girlfriend and then disappear from the scene forever only to be spotted at the mall with a tortured look on his face shopping for whitegoods with the new ball and chain.
Times have really changed and now surfer girls are the norm but IMHO if you want respect in the water it is all about surfing level and ability and not gender.
If you are a kook on a log and choose to paddle out at a name break packed with experienced surfers don't expect any entitlement regardless of your gender. Learn to surf at out of the way spots then slowly work your way up the pecking order and earn your place in the lineup like us blokes have to. Cheers from an old dinosaur.
Good comment Blowin. Too many women say they want equality but really are only seeking privilege thereby maintaining the sexist system.
What does gary g think about tossing in the towel
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/frankly-its-dangerous-women-finally-given-p...