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pods for primates : a catalogue of surfboards in australia since 1900

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references : books m

1930 (1996)
Mackenzie, Donald A. :
South Seas : Myths and Legends
Senate, Random House UK Ltd.
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA, 1996.
Soft cover, 380 pages, black and white photographs and illustrations.
First Published in 1930 as
Myths and Traditions of the South Sea Islands
The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd., London.
Review

1950
Mackie, Mr:
Pacific Portal - Pictorial Cavalcade, Souvenir of the Sutherland Shire, Picture History 1770-1950.
No publishing details.
Soft cover, pages, duo-tone illustrations and photographs.
Review.
This obscure book contains a rare autographed picture of Duke Kahanamoku and Party at Audley, Royal National Park, 7 February 1915.
The image is on a page titled "going places! Knights of the Surfboard" and is printed below a doctored photograph by Doc Ball of Tom Blake, Johnny Gates and Gard Chapin at Palos Verdes, circa 1945.

See Source Documents
Duke Kahanamoku's Visit to Cronulla Surf Life Saving Club, 1915.

MacLaren, James :
1997 Learn to Surf
Lyons and Burford, 31 West 21 Street. New York, NY 10010. 1997
Soft cover, 131 pages, 40 black and white photographs, 4 black and white illustrations, Glossary, Index.
Review
Basic instruction book that recommends use of larger boards (Modern Malibus) for beginners and photographs, by Mark Grabowski, feature both male and female riders.

2003
McNeill, Ian (editor):
Looking Forward Looking Back - A History of Wollongong City Surf Life Saving Club: 1915-2000
Wollongong City Surf Life Saving Club, September 2003. Soft cover, 116 pages, black and white and colour photographs, Appendicies.
Review
B.

2009
McTavish, Bob:
Stoked!
Hyams Publishing.
PO Box 171 Huskisson, NSW 2540, 2009.
www.hyams.com.au
Editors: Rosanne Fitzgibbons and Brian Purcell.
Hard cover, 431 pages, black and white photographs, Some of My Friends, Glossary, Index.
Review
Bob McTavish's enthusiasm for surfing, and life generally, permeate Stoked!, covering his surfing career up to 1968, which leaves open the possibility of a further volume covering the next 40 years.
While the formative years in Queensland as a member of Caloundra Surf Life Saving Club are highly interesting, for the reader who has closely followed McTavish's numerous media contributions, many of the stories from the 1960s are extremely familiar.
Indeed, in some cases their re-telling here seems to lack some of the freshness evident in the original published versions.
Some minor errors in dates or spelling (Milner, not Millner, page 38), are probably the responsibility of the editors.
A tendency to somewhat overstate the author's impact on the surfing industry is evident, for example the account of the development of the Vee bottom board during 1967 (Part Eight).
Midget Farrelly had already established the "lightweight" stringerless as an industry standard by 1966 and he played a major role in the subsequent radical reduction in board lengths.
In 1973, McTavish wrote: "At the same time Midget's shop at Palm Beach was running stiff competition with us at Keyo's. As we'd cut 2" off, Midget would cut 4" off, then vice versa."
Significantly, he rejects the commonly held myth that his and Nat Young's plus nine foot Vee bottom surfboards taken to Hawaii in December 1967 initiated the Short Board Revolution (pages 383 to 396).

1838
Malo, David: Hawaiian Antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii)
Bernice P. Bishop Museum,
1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Translated from the Hawaiian by Nathaniel B. Emerson, 1889.
First published 1901.
Special Publication 2 Second Edition 1951.
Reprinted 1971, 1976, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1997, 2005.
Review
Brief, but essential.
For extacts see:
David Malo: Surfriding (1838)

1998
Mambo (Graphics) :
Still Life With Franchise
Mambo Graphics Pty Ltd
83 - 85 McLachlan Avenue Rushcutters Bay NSW 2011. 1998.
Hardcover, 217 pages, copious colour illustrations.
Review
A richly produced, completely tongue in cheek, product catalogue for Australia's most outrageous fashion label.
Surf images and references abound.
Note, amongst many...
Reg Mombassa: Surf Cultural Evolution (Three Parts) - Thong, Holden car, House, 1995.
Gerry Weld : Mambo Tapestry of Surfing History I-IV, 1995.
Jonas Allen and Seenu : The United Family of Surfing 1995.
Paul McNeil : I am not an Amimal 1995, Loud Shirts 1997, Surfboards 1996

2006
Manly Surf Lfe Saving Club:
Australian Surf Museum Catalogue
Manly Life Saving Club Inc
Surf Pavilion, South Steyne, Manly NSW 2095 Australia, 2006.
..PO Box 141 Manly NSW 1655, Australia '
ph: +61 299772742 fax: +61 2 9977 6101 .
e: admin@manlylsc.com.au
Soft cover, 71 pages, colour photographs
Jon Waddy notes in the introduction "and we thank Ray Moran and his team who helped put this collection of photographs of surf craft together. They include Ray Petersen, Simon Gillespie, Bert Adams, Tony Bonner, Adrian McCall, John Stuntz, Jon Waddy our photographer, and especially Harvey Gordon from Manly Photoworld (1 b The Corso, Manly) who worked very hard on the execution, assembly, layout and printing of this booklet."
Review
An illustrated catalogue of some highly significant surfcraft held by the Australian Surf Museum.

1999
Man, John:
Atlas of the Year 1000.
Penguin Books
27 Wrights Lane, London W85TZ, England, 1999.
Soft cover, 144 pages, colour maps and photographs, Millennial Gazetteer, Bibliography, Acknowledgements, Index.
Review.
An comphrehensive overview of the known world up to the year 1000, the book includes an chapter on the exploration and occupation of Oceanania (pages 122 to 127) and specific sections on New Zealand (pages 130 to 131) and Easter Island (pages 132 to 134).
The section of most interest are the chapters on Viking exploration and colonisation of Noth America (pages 30 to 31) and Iceland and Greenland (pages 40 to 41) that give some insight via access to written sources indicating the forces and personalities involved in such events.
These may have some parallels to Pacfic exloration

1983
March, Laurie:
A History of the Merewether Surf Club 19080-1983.
Merewether Surf Life Saving Club, 1983.
Hard cover, 174 pages, black and white photographs, Appendicies.
Image right, Frontpiece.
Review.
A highly informative work, based on extensive club records and newspaper reports and in-depth personal interviews.
The highlights are the recollections dating back to the 1930s of senior members Ted Jefferson (pages 104-105) and Jack Blackett (pages 109-114).

For extracts see:
Laurie March : Merewether SLSC.

2005
Marcus, Ben:
Surfing USA! - An Illustrated History of the Coolest Sport of All Time.
Voyager Press
123 North Second Street, PO Box 338, Stillwater MN 55028, USA, 2005.
Hardcover, 208 pages, extensive photographs and illustrations, Acknowledgements, Index.
Review.

2007
Marcus, Ben:
The Surfboard - Art Style Stoke
Voyager Press
MBI Publishing Company LLC
Gaultier Plaza, Suite 200, 380 Jackson Street, St. Paul
MN 55101-3885 USA, 2007.
Review

1970
Margan, Frank and Finney, Ben R. :
A Pictorial History of Surfing
Paul Hamlyn Pty Ltd, 176 South Creek Road,
Dee Why West, NSW 2099. 1970
Hard cover, 319 pages, 37 colour photographs / sequences, extensive b/w photographs, 25 b/w illustrations, glossary, bibliographic note, index.
Review
An awkward work in that the text and the photographs are not in synchronicity.
This is not apparent at the beginning but things start to go awry by page 32.
The text is continuous with no chapters:
Early Hawaiian surfriding, pages 13 to124 (drawn extensively from Finney and Houston, 1966)
English bathing and the development of the Life Saving movement in Australia, pages 125 to 261.
Surfriding in Hawaii-California-Australia 1907 – 1970, pages 261 to 312.
The titles on the contents page do not refer to the text, only to some of the illustrations.
On the other hand the photographic selection is extensive and comprehensive, if chronologically scattered.
Almost all the essential illustrations and photographs from Finney and Houston (1966) are reproduced and the Australian photographs feature the excellent work of Jack Eden. Pictorially this book is a feast, badly in need of rigorous editing.
Of the many highlights…
1. George Greenough free fall / NSW north coast 1969 by Tanya Binning, page 310 – unfortunately small and cropped.
2. Butch Cooney trim / Newcastle Beach (Merewether?) Newcastle Contest 1965 by Jack Eden, page 179 – full page.

1991
Martin, Andy :
Walking On Water
John Murray (Publishers) Ltd 90 Albermarle Street, London WIX 4BD . 1991
Hard cover, 212 pages, 10 colour plates, 1 b/w map, glossary, bibliography.
Review
Personal account by an English academic of winter ’89 – 90 on North Shore, Oahu.
Brief sketches of Ken Bradshaw, Mark Foo, Martin Potter, Wills brothers, Ace Cool.
The approach is similar (but includes more to notable surfers) to Daniel Duane's Caught Inside (1996).

2008
Martin. Mary L.:
The Ultimate Collector's Guide to Surfing Postcards.
Schiffer Publishing Ltd
4880 Lower Valley Road, Atglen, PA 19310, 2008.
Soft cover, 165 pages, Extensive black and white and colour images..
Review
Unfortununately the book fails to live up to the Ultimate of its title and merely reproduces a limited selection of the available material.
There are a number of printing errors and some, mostly insignificant, images appear in multiple versions (up to five times).
These are not collated, but are spread through the book.
The catagorisation is haphazard and there is a distinct lack of analysis of the quality or historical significance of the postcards.
Critically, in the chrome era, there is no distiction between professional surfing photographs and those shot in unattractive surfriding condtions.
The pricing is rudimentary - everything is worth $7, some rare items more.
Most of the significant postcards appear in previous Schiffer publications; Nancy Schiffer's Surfing (1998) and Mark Blackburn's Surf's Up : Collecting in the Longboard Era (2001).
Very disappointing.

2001
Mason. Paul :
Surfing - to the limit
Hodder Children's Books
Rodger Coote Publishing, Gissing's Farm,
Fressingfield, Eye, Suffolk, IP21 5SH. 2001
Soft cover, 32 pages, 45 colour photographs, Glossary, References, Index.
Review
English juvenile introductory book with the text supported by high quality colour photographs, mostly from Hawaii.
Note Surfboard design variables, pages 8 to 9.

1998
Matthews, Anne :
Australian Beaches
Lansdowne Publishing Pty Ltd
Level 1, 18 Argyle Street, Sydney 2000, Australia. 1998
Soft cover, 128 pages, extensive colour photographs, Credits.
Review
Photographic collection of varied coastal use and enviroments, some explicity of surfing, pages 14, 21 - 22, and 54 - 55.
Foreward by Robert Drewe.

1976
McGinness, Laurie. Photographs by Crawford, Peter :
How to Ride a Surfboard
Jack Pollard Pty. Ltd., 42 Pacific Highway, North Sydney. 1976
Soft cover, 160 pages, 17 colour plates, 101 b/w photographs.
Review
Basic instruction book, most interest being in the photographs, the vast majority being current circa 1976.
Noteable exceptions include...
McTavish at giant Bell’s ,1965, page ?
- Bob Pike at Laniakea, page 144.
- a front-on shot of Butch Cooney at Newcastle Contest, Newcastle Beach 1967 , page 61.
Jack Eden has a wonderful side-on shot of possibly the same wave.
All three are uncredited.
Chapter 10: Board design is rudimentary.
Dimensions are metric (?!).

1977
McGinness, Laurie. Photographs by Crawford, Peter :
Wildwater - The Surfriding Way of Life
Jack Pollard Publishing Pty Ltd. Rigby Ltd Sydney 1977.
Hard cover, 128 pages, 80 colour photographs, 1 black and white photograph.
Review
The superior volume of the three offerings by McGinness/Crawford.
The text covers History (Chapter 1), Contests (Chapter 2), Lifestyle (Chapter 3), Surfers (Chapter 4) and Locations (Chapter 5); and is informative and current circa 1977.
The History chapter has some errors/ommissions and like many books underestimates the importance of Midget Farrelly's contributions.
Peter Crawford's photography is well presented, many images are full or double page.

1978
McGinness, Laurie. Photographs by Crawford, Peter :
Surfing Fundamentals
A. H. & A.W. Reed Pty Ltd
53 Myoora Road Terrey Hills, Sydney. 1978
Hard cover, 80 pages,19 colour plates, 73 black/white photographs
* A revised edition of How To Ride A Surfboard 1976, above.
There seems little variation in the text (the weight/dimensions table is now metric and imperial - page10), a majority of the black and white photographs (not those noted above) have been retained, and the colour plates are changed.
Some previous colour photographs are now black and white.
Design chapter does not mention the Twin fin #2.

1949
Maxwell, C. Bede
Surf : Australians Against the Sea
Angus and Robertson
Sydney . 1949.
Hard cover, 302 pages, 22 black and white plates.
Review
Beautifully written and expertly reseached, this book is ''a wave-to-wave description of surf lifesaving from its inception'' (to 1949) -Adrian Curlewis, in the Foreward.
An essential resource for this period, much of the text has been reproduced in subsequent works.
Surfcaft are detailed in Chapter Three, Mountaineering in Boats, and Chapter Seven, Surfboards and Surf Skis.
Special mention: The evolution of the surfboard, from old style "solid" to modern "hollow". Maroubra board-men Bruce Devlin, Frank Adler, and Vince Mulcay.
Photograph 'The Sun', Sydney" , page 177.

c 1948
Mead, Stella:
Through the British Commonwealth- Australia and Tasmania.
Amex Company Ltd., Letchworth, Great Britain, circa 1948
Soft cover, 20 pages, colour and black and white illustrations, Map.
Review
Junenile travel story, Part VI of a series that travels around the world via countries of the British Commonweath.
No surfriding content.
Cover and sketches by Eulalie.
There is apparently a later edition with a different illustrator, circa 1955.
"Muir 4910 suggests 1940s"

1962
Middleton, Ron and Figtree, Allen,S. :
The History of the growth of Surf Lifesaving Clubs on the Illawarra Coast of New South Wales and the Development and Official History.
Illawarra Branch of Surf Life Saving Clubs of Auistralia. 1962
Hard cover, 64 pages, 41 black and white photogaphs, Lists of Officials, Representatives, Competition Results and Awards.
Review
Surfcraft limited to two photographs of boards (pages 17 and 46), one surfski (page 46) and several boats (pages ??).
Highlight is the maps and companion arial photographs on the flyleaves.
Also note : Circa 1913, the Thirroul "Club complained to Council of 'boards shooting waves in the surf' and wanted it stopped.
Bulli Council fully agreed.", page Ten.
Cover detail, right

1976
Miller, Fred and Berman, Phil :
Multi-hull Racing : The Hobie Cats
Haessner Publishing, Inc.
Newfoundland, N.J. 07435 1976.
Soft cover, 152 pages, 9 colour photographs, 58 black and white photographs, 27 tactical model photographs.
Review
Although the focus is Hobie Cat race tactics and technique, it is included here for the excellent Chapter 1 : Origins of the Hobie Cat.
Surfers had long observed that afternoon winds normally destroy optimal surfing conditions and, starting with Woody Brown in Hawaii circa 1950, began experimenting with surf-suitable catamarans.
Encouraged by the successful performance of Phil Edwards' El Gato (1960), Hobie Alter produced the first Hobie Cat in 1968.
A similar process would lead to the develpment of the Windsurfer in 1979.

2001
Mission Australia :
Beyond the Green Room - History of Gold Coast Surfrider Clubs 1963 - 2001.
Mission Australia - Mission Employment
17 Griffith Street Coolangatta, Qld 4225
Soft cover, 192 pages, black and white photographs, illustrations and archival material.
Review
A series of surfer and club profiles compiled as an employment program and funded by the Queensland State Government.
Most accounts are personal reminiscences in conjunction with archival material, mostly photographs.
The introduction by Rabbit Batholomew puts the contributions in a broader historical context.
Of particular historical interest is the large selection of archival material and the profiles of Johnny Charlton (pages 7-8) and Joe Larkin (page 11).

1993/1837
Moerenhout, J. A.:
Travels to the Islands of the Pacific Ocean.
Translated by Arthur R. Borden, Jr.
University Press of America Inc.
4720 Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland, 0706.
3 Henrietta Street, London,WC2E 2LU England, 1993.
Original French edition published 1837.
Soft cover, pages, black and white illustrations.
Review.

For extracts, see Source Documents:
J. A.Moerenhout :Surfriding in Tahiti.

2001
Moriartyy, Jay and Gallagher, Chris:
The Ultimate Guide to Surfing
The Lyons Press, 123 West Street New york, new York 10011. 2001
Soft cover, 95 pages, 86 colour photographs, 5 colour sequences, Glossary.
Review
Basic surfing how-to book with no outstanding fetures - the inclusion of "Ultimate" in the title a definite exaggeration.

2008
Moser, Patrick:
Pacific Passages - An Anthology of Surf Writing.
University of Hawai'i Press
Honolulu, 2008.
Soft cover, 339 pages, Permissions, Notes, Bibliography.
Review
Excellent compliation of four centuries of writing about surfriding.

2007
Motil, Guy:
Surfboards
Falcon Guides
The Globe Pequot Press
PO Box 480, Guilford, Connecticut, 006437, 2007.
Hard cover, 229 pages extensive colour photographs, Glossary, Acknowledgemnets, Index.
Review
Magnificently photographed and printed work with a variety of essays by several respected writers.
Unfortunately the boards are not presented in chronolgical order, thereby forgoing a basic presentation of the evolutionary development of surboard design.
As to be expected from an US publication, the coverage of the impact of Australian designers is rudimentary, largely using American models as illustrations.
Similar in presentation to Ben Marcus' The Surfboard and Drew Kampion's The Art of the Surfboard, both also published in 2007.

1962
Muirhead, Desmond :
Surfing in Hawaii
Northland Press, Flagstaff, Arizona. 1962
Hard cover, 137 pages, 30 black and white photographs, 3 back and white photograph sequences, Appendicies.
Review
Combination of How-to instructions and surf guide strongly based on the author's personal experiences.
History in Chapters I and II, Board Design in Chapter VII.
Most of the photographs are by Dr. Don James, and several feature Australian surfers - Dave Jackson (sic, Jackman) page 3, Midget Farrelly page 94, and Bob Pike page 103.
Australia is mentioned several times in the text and Appendix II is a guide to Australian surfing beaches contrbuted by Graham Henry of Harbord, however with many spelling errors, most probably in the transcription from handwritten notes.
Appendix I is a guide to Californian surfing beaches.

1983
Myers, K. (Editor):
No Lives Lost : The History of the Freshwater Surf life Saving Club 1908 - 1983
Printed by A. Windsor and Son Pty Ltd, 4 James Street, Wateroo. 699 2829 1983
Hardcover, 122 pages, 99 black and white photographs, Lists of Officials, Representatives, Competition Results and Awards.
includes fascimilie of
Forbes, Walter :
The History of the Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club 1908 - 1958
Publishing details unknown.
Review
Pages 1 to 36 are the reproduced History by Walter Forbes, the latter portion comprising additional sections to expand and/or update the book to 1983.
Highlights include Walter Forbes: Surfboards, page 18 (Duke Kahanamoku) - note photograph sans board page 17; Alf Henderson: Boards, pages 56 - 58; and Alf Henderson: Canoes, page 85.
Scan is selected area of hardcover, dustjacket unseen.

surfresearch.com.au

Note
This is not a complete list of surfing books, only books read and reviewed for this site are listed.
For more comprehensive lists go to...
The Surfing Bibliography - Surfing Books
- Steven Whelan's (England) comprehensive list of books, film, video and magazines, listed alphabetically.
and/or
The Water Log Surfing Bibliography
- excellent listing of books and journals by Daved Marsh (USA), listed by category.