The Surf Coast In The 60s

Today, the names Bells Beach and Rip Curl are known by surfers and non-surfers alike across the world, and it all began in the 1960s.

We go back in time to find out what the Surf Coast was like in those days.

Bells Beach hits the big time

Before the 1960s, surfers keen to ride the break at Bells Beach could only access the beach via motorbike, jeep, or by paddling around from Torquay. It wasn’t until 1960 that surfer Joe Sweeney hired a bulldozer and carved out a track from the road to the beach. By 1961, Bells was a well-known surf break. Shortly after, in 1962, the first surfing competition was held there. This contest would become the Easter Classic, or the Bells Beach Surf Classic, and is known today as the Rip Curl Pro. In the 1960s, surfers from around the country would pile into their surf wagons and panel vans and head for Torquay every Easter in a journey that became known as The Pilgrimage. Before long, international surfers were making the trip, too. Today the Rip Curl Pro is the longest-running event in competitive surfing.

In 1966 the Shire of Barrabool (predecessor to the Surf Coast Shire) acquired 42 acres to build a road connecting Bones Road and Jarosite Road to provide better access to the beach. In 1967, Bells hosted the Australian National Surfing Titles for the first time. By the close of the decade, Bells Beach was well and truly established on the international surfing stage.

Surf brands take over Torquay

Torquay’s growing popularity as a surfing destination sparked the birth of several local surfboard manufacturing businesses. In 1960, pioneer Torquay surfer Vic Tantau, who had first surfed Bells in the 1940s, built Victoria’s first foam surfboard. One-time cabinet maker Fred Pyke opened his surfboard shop on Boston Road, Torquay, in 1967, making six boards a week. By 1968 output had increased to 20 boards per week; in 1969, Pyke was making 50 surfboards every week. Pyke, who had six full-time employees crafting boards by this stage, was making wetsuits too and had to more than double the size of his factory. The former Pyke Surfboards shop and factory can still be seen at 35 Boston Street.

Meanwhile, rival surfboard manufacturer Klemm Bell was set up in 1965 by Terry Klemm and Reg Bell, with shops in Williamstown and Gardenvale. By 1970 they were making more surfboards than any other Torquay manufacturer. Pat Morgan’s surfboard business began around 1966 in a former butcher’s shop on Anderson Street. Morgan, who prided himself on the craftsmanship of his boards, only made ten a week and charged $5 more per board than his competitors.

In 1969, Rip Curl Surfboards began in a garage in Geelong Road, founded by Doug ‘Claw’ Warbrick (who had worked for Fred Pyke) and Brian ‘Sing Ding’ Singer. From these humble beginnings was born an empire, with Rip Curl now one of the biggest surf brands in the world.

Other major brands, like Quiksilver, followed in the 1970s and beyond. In the years since World War II, surfboard manufacturing has been one of the Surf Coast Shire’s most successful manufacturing industries.

Holidaymakers flock to the Surf Coast

As surfing and board making took off along the Surf Coast in the 1960s, so too did tourism and population growth. The Great Ocean Road from Apollo Bay to Lorne was sealed in 1965, which made it easier to get here. The coast along the Great Ocean Road was described as the ‘southwest Riviera of Victoria’. Anglesea was promoted for its ‘spectacular cliffs and wide surf beach’, while Lorne’s ‘delightful combination of forest and surf’ was extolled by guidebooks of the day.

Anglesea gets a coal mine and power station …

Meanwhile, large deposits of brown coal had been discovered at Anglesea. In 1967, an open-cut mine and power station were built to supply power to the Alcoa aluminium plant at Point Henry, Geelong. The aluminium smelter closed in 2014, and after pressure from residents and community groups, the mine and power station followed suit in 2015.

… while Torquay gets its first police station

With all this growth came the need for more community services and amenities. In 1961, Torquay got its first permanent police station. Before then, there was only a police officer stationed in Torquay for two weeks every year over the holiday season. It became known as “‘the place without a policeman’ and consequently the haunt of an undesirable element,” according to the Geelong Advertiser. This was also the year a group of rural fire brigades from Birregurra, Deans Marsh, Bambra, Wingeel and Wurdale amalgamated at Winchelsea. Urban brigades from Barwon Downs, Winchelsea and Inverleigh later joined the group.

Residents gather to protect local flora and fauna

Since the Second World War, there had been growing community awareness and concern about conservation issues on the Surf Coast. In 1968, Edith Lawn, a teacher from Ballarat with a holiday house at Anglesea, picked some white spider orchids for her students to sketch. She hadn’t realised they were protected until a local builder remarked upon her posy. This encounter gave rise to Edith’s desire to communicate the importance and wonder of the area’s rare flora and fauna to the public. Together with artist Norma Bull, she gathered a meeting of interested locals on 30 March 1969 to discuss forming a society to protect native flora and fauna. And so Angair (an abbreviation of Anglesea and Aireys Inlet) was born. Today Angair’s more than 600 members remain dedicated to protecting the natural beauty of Anglesea and Aireys Inlet.

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