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Four Corners: Surf story

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Old photo shows young boy standing on surf board in shallow water
Four Corners: Surf story

SUBJECTS:  History

YEARS:  9–10


Imagine riding a big wave on a surfboard back in the days when surfboard riding was the newest craze to hit Australia.

Imagine riding a big wave on a surfboard back in the days when surfboard riding was the newest craze to hit Australia. At that time, many teenagers believed that surfing represented a whole new way of life.

This Four Corners program from the early 1960s investigates the impact of the rise of the surfboard and surfing culture on Australian popular culture.


Things to think about

  1. 1.Do you enjoy surfing and, if so, do you see it as a pastime, a sport or a way of life? Because many Australians have always lived near the sea, surfing was popular long before the 1960s. But, early in that decade, surfboard riding turned surfing into a new teenage subculture with its own music, dances, magazines, movies and slang.
  2. 2.How many people watched the first World Surfboard Championships at Sydney's Manly Beach in 1964? What new industry was created by surfboard riding? Why were surfboard riders sometimes a problem for other surfers? Why did many surfers use peroxide in their hair? What concerns did the surf lifesaving movement have about surfboard riding? What conclusions can you draw about surfing as a new subculture?
  3. 3.The winner of the first World Surfing Championships was Sydney teenager Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly. In his interview, how does Farrelly convey the complexity and excitement of surfboard riding? What do you think it was about Farrelly that gave him legendary status among young Australian surfers? In this clip, which half of the community is not mentioned in discussions about the act of surfing?
  4. 4.This video refers to surfing songs, including Little Pattie's 1964 hit 'He's my blonde headed stompie wompie real gone surfer boy', and the surfers' dance called the Stomp. Use the internet and other appropriate sources to investigate the influence of the surfing craze on popular music, films, magazines and lifestyles in the 1960s and 1970s. What do your investigations show you about the role of girls and women during this surfing craze period?

Date of broadcast: 1 May 1964


Copyright

Metadata © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia Ltd 2012 (except where otherwise indicated). Digital content © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). Video © Australian Broadcasting Corporation (except where otherwise indicated). All images copyright their respective owners. Text © Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Education Services Australia is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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