To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ASAQ and Surfing Queensland, the then CEO of Surfing Queensland , Scott Gillies approached me and said that he would like to make a documentary of the history of surfing in Queensland in general, but looking at it through the perspective of the ASAQ and Surfing Queensland. I tried to persuade him to try an easier option, but he was adamant and so the adventure began.
I recruited producer Sky Kinnamont and cameraman/editor Dwayne Fetch to the cause and we decided that the best and only way to tell this amazing story was to get the key participants of the various times to take us on their personal journeys through the 50 years. We broke down the 50 years into 10 year segments, which in a 1 hour documentary, means the each decade has around 10 minutes allotted to it.
That meant that it had to be a broad sweeping look at our history and cover the different coasts, follow the progression of the surfing and the board designs, the administration, judging, coaching and the clubs. We are much indebted to the surfers who gave the time and wisdom in the interviews, those who sourced out old photos, film, video tape and memorabilia that captured the history of the 50 year journey. All the interviews of the incredible cast of characters that were interviewed, of which only short bits were used for the documentary, are on record forever now and will be made available over the years to come, as are the films, videos, photos and memorabilia.
This has been a labour of love with everyone gladly giving of their time and expertise to tell the story of our history and make a record of it for all time.
The Surfers Interviewed are: Mal Sutherland, Bob McTavish, Ken Adler, Phyllis O’Donnel, Billy Stafford Jnr., Tony Dempsey, Paul Daley, Terry Baker, Paul Neilsen, Mal Chalmers, Wayne Deane, Andrew McKinnon, Robert “Bushy” Mitchell, Glen Elliott, Kara Webber, Peter Townend, Wayne “ Rabbit” Batholomew, Michael “Munga” Barry, Mark Richardson, Jay Phillips, Gary “Kong” Elkerton, Andrew Stark, Bede Durbridge, Phil McNamara, Mick Fanning, Mitch Parkinson, Dimity Stoyle, Scott Gillies.
Enjoy the ride!
John Charlton