Bobby Brown Trophy

The first Bobby Brown Memorial event was held in 1968 and was won by Midget. The following year Frank Latta the local hero took top honors. Then  it was Qld hot rat Andrew McKinnon who stole the show when he beat Frank, Paul Neilsen and Baddy Treloar in small beachies at Wanda the following year. Heres the much desired first place trophy Andy walked away with. Pic by Pegus as seen in Deep.

Kurranulla Wahines

The all girl club called the Kurranulla Wahines formed in the 60’s. Its aim at the time was to enable girl riders to achieve a higher level. Whilst also to keep their femininity and be recognised as girl surfers and not impose an aggressive boys style. This article appeared in Surfabout Magazine and at the time of writing the club had 25 members and was the only female club on the southside of the harbour. It lasted a few years. Info courtesy of Rhys and Denise Faunce.

Bruce “The Fox” Hennessy

Bruce Hennessy alias The Fox started surfing, ie. riding a board, in 1959, he was 13 and used to knock off the boards the “clubbies” kept in the Nth Cronulla surf club.  A bloke named Terry Mcintosh taught him how to ride and he used to hang out with the ORIGINAL Cronulla gang at what is now known as South Cronulla . Brian Jackson and Nigel Dwyer were his mentors in the early days, Bruce went through all the eras of surfing and was lucky enough to have a great job at the sun-herald newspaper that gave him  heaps of time to surf   (thats where he met Graham Cassidy)  He worked at Jacko’s factory for nearly 12 years  and used to train at the gym with Frank Latta. Bruce saw the rise and fall of Northie’s  and worked on building sites with Bobby Brown (and blond bob as well) He is One of Cronulla’s original legends. Pic below of The Fox from Jackson Surfboards.

Peter Clarke Surboards

This advertisement for Peter Clarke Surfboards appeared in Surfabout Magazine in the mid 60’s. Advertisement back then was very basic when compared today’s more loud, colourful and  in your face style.

The Jacksons

Faye and Brian (Jacko) Jackson down the south coast photo taken by Jim Harper sometime in the 60’s. Photo courtessy Christina Parkinson,Jackson Surfboards

Kris Puckeridge

Pucko was one of the standouts performers at Cronulla from the long board era who began dominating the local contest scene while still a young teenager after Bobby Brown left us prematurely. Kris made an easy transition from longboards to shorter boards but while the short boards took over in the early 70’s he still prefered to rip on his mals.Pucko a few years later moved south to Kiama  and set up a factory/shop selling his board shapes.This interview with Kris appeared in Tracks 1990.

Frank Latta Adv.

Here’s a Frank Latta advertisement from ’89.

G&S – The Stretch.

A Gordon and Smith advertisement featuring The Stretch Model from the mid 60’s

Surfabout Cover

Surfabout Magazine was the work of local 60’s surf photographer Jack Eden.In the early days the Southside lacked exposure as all the surf media was based Northside. Jack changed all that and through the golden 60’s many cronulla surfers gained well deserved recognition. This arty cover was Vol 3 No 6.

Frank Latta @ Sandshoes

Frank ruled at Sandshoes in the late 60’s and early 70’s period. Shoes attracted a lot of hot surfers over the years  including the ’76 World Champ PT when he spent time in Cronulla. But as far as longboards go Frank was the king always stylish and practical and when boards got shorter he still ruled the takeoff spot. Not sure who took the pics below but they were from Matt Cook and his Sandshoes Facebook site.