Collection
From national surf carnivals and cultural events to family holidays by the sea, Australians love spending time at the beach.
With its unique history, rituals, language and customs, Australia's beach...
Collection
Surf culture has been an important part of the Australian identity for over a century.
The influence of surfing can be seen in many of the films, music recordings and newsreels in the NFSA collection...
Article
From lifesaving to 'soul surfing’: Paul Byrnes tracks the history of surfing and surf movies in Australia.
Article
Watch a classic newsreel about the 1960s origins of Ugg boots and the Australian surfer who popularised them.
Audio
For sheer whimsy, it is hard to go past the one minute and forty seconds of 'He’s My Blond Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy’ by the 14-year-old Little Pattie.
Apart from being one of the...
Audio
The summer of 1963-64 saw a brief flowering of Australian surf music. Inspired by the songs of Jan and Dean and The Beach Boys as well as the reverbed guitar instrumentals of bands like the Shadows,...
Audio
The first Australian surf hit was the instrumental 'Surfside’ from The Denvermen, entering the charts in January 1963 and reaching No. 1 in the Sydney Top 40. It had the required Fender lead electric...
Video
Echoes is a 23-minute film within the film, composed entirely of George Greenough’s footage from inside the curl of the wave – the legendary 'green room’. The camera, with specially designed wide-...
Video
A short newsreel item from 1963, outlining police efforts to curb gang violence between outer suburban ‘rockers’ and surfers at Manly beach.
