By Hollie Harris
NOOSA film-makers Phil Jarratt and Shaun Cairns have uncovered the story of a golden decade in surfing, starting in 1956, when surfing was transformed into a sport and culture with its very own music, movies, fashion and heroes.
Men of Wood and Foam explores the fascinating story of the birth of the Australian surfing boom.
Through the stories of these Aussie pioneers the film retraces the roots of the modern Australian surfboard from fine-tuning the toothpick for wave riding in the ’40s through to the arrival of the Malibu chip, the development of the Okanui in the ’50s and the peroxide surf boom of the early ’60s.
Underpinning this exciting transformation was a small group of artisans who were affectionately known as The Brookvale Six.
They started out in the 1950s making wooden surfboards in their backyards along Sydney’s eastern beaches before eventually moving to Brookvale where they experimented with “blowing foam” to make lighter and more responsive surfboards from plastics.
Noosa’s veteran surf journalist, editor, author, Noosa Today contributor and now film-maker Phil Jarratt lived through the exciting years of the surf boom, bargaining with The Brookvale Six for his first custom surfboards on the front lawns of their factories where they conducted Saturday morning sales.
During his career as editor of surf magazine Tracks, he became friends with the six as the boom wound down.
“I developed huge respect for these pioneers who really invented surf culture in Australia and in recent years I suddenly realized that they weren’t getting younger and their inspiring story had never been told. It was time to do it,” Phil said.
“Fortunately, in Foxtel’s Brian Walsh I found a kindred spirit who had also grown up with surfing embedded in his soul,” he said.
The Brookvale Six had not only supplied the entire country with surfboards, but also made design breakthroughs that put Australia at the forefront of the sport for decades to come – inspiring a never-before-seen evolution in Australian surf culture.
With in-depth interviews with all members of The Brookvale Six – Gordon Woods, Bill Wallace, Scott Dillon, Danny Keogh, Greg McDonagh and Barry Bennett – leading surfers including Layne Beachley, Nat Young and the late Midget Farrelly, and famous faces from the time including Patricia ‘Little Pattie’ Amphlett as well as rare archival surfing footage spanning seven decades, Men of Wood and Foam explores a truly iconic time in Australian sporting and cultural history.
Men of Wood and Foam is on Foxtel’s History Channel on Wednesday 14 December at 7.30pm and will play during the Noosa Festival of Surfing 2017.
