Fallen Glory: Old Billabong Flagship Store

Friday 19th January - 2024

I was over in Manly today and saw this unsettling sight, the old Billabong stores' retail facade on The Corso has just being boarded up in preparation for redevelopment. Soon, all traces will evaporate forever.

Signalling the end to an era, this once-mighty Billabong flagship mega store was a vibrant & thriving retail surf outlet neatly tucked into Manly's premiere, ritzy, beachside retail strip, The Corso.

A plain wooden hoarding now covers the old facade of the former
Billabong flagship store on Manly's Corso. Photo: Steve Core

But some surf brands have tumbled from the Top Ten and fallen as once powerful and dominant market leaders. Billabong is one of them and it will never be the same again. The weighty, halcyon days are long gone.

I have a soft spot for Billabong because it was founded in 1973 by an old mate, Gordon Merchant, who used to be a shaper at Jackson Surfboards in Caringbah, back in the late '60s and early '70s when I was working at Peter Clarke Surfboards and G&S Surfboards.

Later on in the '80s, when I owned a few surf shops, I got be the #2 Billabong account in NSW. So this story does tug at my heartstrings.

My good old friend, ex Billabong employee, Steve Savage summed it nicely when he said to me "I think Billabong lost its cred with the new generations a long time ago. These days, I see it mainly worn by my age group, non-regular beach goers, or holiday makers. When Billabong dropped "Only A Surfer Knows The Feeling" because they wanted to be relevant to more than just surfers & surfing, they abandoned their core culture ethic.

Interesting isn't it? Why the backslide, what have they misjudged? Why has Billabong fallen between the cracks and slipped off that top 3 podium. What are your thoughts? I'd love to hear them. Please feel free to comment below.

My two Classic '70s Surf Films for sale...

Both of my two surf movies are for sale on DVD

I have 'In Natural Flow' (1971) - my first film and 'Ocean Rhythms' (1975) my second film.

Now regarded as 'must have' collector items that define the '70s era of Australian surfing. Before the WSL and captured in pre-legrope times, audiences that enjoyed that era, still can't get enough of the first generation of Australia's pro surfers.

For additional details about Ocean Rhythms and original reviews from Tracks Magazine - CLICK HERE

For additional details about In Natural Flow and record breaking screening at the Surf World Museum at Currumbin - CLICK HERE

The DVDs are $35.00 each and that includes packing & Australia Post postage anywhere in Australia. 

Payment is via PayPal or by direct bank deposit.

To place your interest, order or inquire; 

It's easy, please make first contact with me through Facebook Messenger on my Steve Core Surf Facebook Page or by SMS to 0493 204 118. Please note: This phone number is not permanently manned for voice calls.

Above: the details for 'In Natural Flow'

(click to enlarge)

Above: the details for 'Ocean Rhythms'

(click to enlarge)

Both movies were digitalized to DVD by master surf movie historian, Warren Delbridge, a true genius at 16mm conversion. Warren has
done work for every major surf film-maker in the industry. 

Initial contact can be made through my Steve Core Surf 

page on Facebook using Facebook Messenger.

or please send your details by SMS to:

 Australian Mobile: 0493 204 118

*Overseas orders are also available - but due to the higher 2021 postal
Air Mail rates the DVDs are $45.00 Australian dollars each.

Living in the palace of the kings. A NSW South Coast reef break.
 A charismatic all hollow performance by PT:
Hollow wave & a hollow WAVE board.

NSW South Coast reef break
16mm frame blow-up from 'Ocean Rhythms'

Terry Richardson - Richo spent a dizzyingly amount of time locked
inside the Green Room at this place but after the spinning vortex perfection tube trim often came a slashing, high-speed 

roundhouse cutback.

Torpedo Tubes on the NSW South Coast. 16mm frame blow-up from 'Ocean Rhythms'.

One of the unforgettable characters of '70s Australian surfing,
Michael Peterson - slashing & burning, the rock skimming
inner section of Burleigh Heads, Gold Coast, Qld.

16mm frame blow-up from 'Ocean Rhythms'

Farewell Martin Tullemans

1st December - 2020

I was deeply saddened today to hear the news of the passing of fabled Queensland surfing photographer, Martin Tullemans.

I’ve know Marty Tullemans since 1971. That was the same year I was shooting my first 16mm surf movie ‘In Natural Flow’ on the Gold Coast. Earlier in that very same year, I had struck up the beginning a life-long friendship with Peter ‘PT’ Townend. PT and I had frequently spotted Marty perched on the rocks at either Kirra, Rainbow or Snapper, feverishly snapping away with his slightly under-powered Takumar 500mm telephoto lens. One sunny day, we both walked up and introduced ourselves to Marty – and that was where another long friendship took off like a Space-X rocket. It was dear Marty who wrote the review for my second movie ‘Ocean Rhythms’ for Tracks Magazine in November 1975. Marty attended a screening at the old Alhambra Theatre in Stones Corner in Brisbane, which, back in the day, was the flea house where we screened all the surf movies. Marty was originally a Brisbane boy from Indooroopilly.

Two of Marty's most exemplary Tracks Magazine covers.

Marty was from the era of emulsion, read: 35mm film. Black and White negatives or colour slides. That was his medium - that's what he shot. He never crossed the digital divide to emerge into the deep world of computative photography. Yes, he was old school, but this also lent his work, at best, to an inordinate richness of purity. A freelancer and self-taught, there was no motif he would draw on, no wave set line-up he could not adapt to, and above all, no fear of failure. Always short of a dollar, it bred in him a case hardened adaptability. Martin’s photos were admirably received by surf magazine photo editors and readers alike. To me, two of Marty’s most enduring shots each earned the front covers of Tracks Magazine. These two cover shots here, firmly affix PT and myself to Marty now for eternity. By a small freak of nature I happened to be in the foreground of one of those shots.

Martin Tullemans

Marty snagged the cover of Tracks Magazine with his shot of Butch Cooney competing in the ‘74 Australian Titles at Burleigh Heads. With me in the foreground shooting with a 16mm movie perspex housing. Marty’s second Tracks cover is of Peter Townend in 1976, soul arching into the Coolangatta Beach shore-break. Taken from the Kirra groyne and capturing PT in a religious moment of ascension. Martin also captured a staggeringly good representation of Gold Coast surfing during his period of continuous shutter high. Crisp work which brought on none of the catcalls from the Sydney, Northside-based surf media of the time – who would normally decanter such work from outer fringe dwellers like us. He shunned mainstream commercialism and that would eventually lead to become the hallmark of his work. He produced a large body of work over his time. His photos were never high-end art, or all that surfing photography can give, but they were never disagreeable either. Marty concentrated on the Gold Coast, strictly on his own terms, and eventually becoming one of its senior social photographic record keepers. (for the time).

Marty's awesome Burleigh Heads image of
Butch Cooney and me, also made the cover of
Albie Thoms Australian book: Surf Movies

Slightly nomadic, he grew up with home being everywhere. He once coerced Michael Peterson, a friend and confident, into a series of posed man and board portraits. With stunning results. Guided by Marty taking the photos and MP, two kinda pushy personalities eager to make their mark in surfing. The images had an under current of non commercialism to them. Some say it was some of Marty's best portrait work. Marty, thank you for your contributions and your devotion to surfing and for being a small part of my humble life. Like the azure sea, and the blond beaches of southern Queensland you and your legacy of majestic images will always surround us, immersed with rich movement and glittering with crystalline light. May your spirit surf on my old friend.

Steve

The Richo books have arrived...

Cleared through Customs yesterday, the Richo books have arrived in country. 

Richo now has two big jobs to tick off before his book launch appearance in Cronulla at the Cronulla RSL on Tuesday 30th October.

Hot off the press - Richo taking delivery of the first print run of 
books and begins signing all the pre-ordered books

Job 1] Currently Author Rob Reynolds has Richo working feverishly on unpaid overtime signing copies of books for the big mailout which begins today. Reviewers and the mainstream surf media get their copies too.

Job 2] After a couple of weeks of hardcore surf training, Richo leaves home this weekend for the Azores to compete in the WSL World Grand Masters Titles which is set to run September 18-23, on the Atlantic shores of São Miguel, Azores.

Just two more things to add to his list of a lifetime of surf stories to talk about at the Richo Book Launch Tour, check the list [below] for a date and location nearest you.

Books are $30.00 + shipping and are available direct only at the moment from the Richo Surf Shop link below or from the Road Trip signings. CLICK HERE to purchase.

Richo to launch his book in Cronulla

1st September - 2018

Terry Richardson Book Launch - Cronulla.

I'm proud to announce that we in Cronulla are going to see and hear Terry 'Richo' Richardson talk about his new book after he returns from the WSL World Grand Masters Titles which is set to run September 18-23, 2018 on the Atlantic shores of São Miguel, Azores.

Richo’s career as a competitive surfer and professional shaper spans 50-years. From Michael Peterson to Kelly Slater, from single-fins to computerised shaping, from Aussie Pipe to Banzai, Richo has held his own. 

From the very start of pro surfing in 1976 to this year’s WSL World Masters Professional Surfing championship, Richo has surfed the eye of the cyclone.

He charged Hawaiian waves bigger than houses as a 17-year-old, redefined tube-riding at South Coast Pipe, and battled the ravenous pro circuit for 16-years.

Richo in a full-wrap cutback at Torpedo Tubes
screen-cut from my '75 film 'Ocean Rhythms'

Richo remains one of an elite band of surfer shapers who have surfed at the highest level and banked a lifetime of shaping experience, while remaining enduringly competitive.

On the night, the MC will be the book's author Rob Reynolds. There will be video on the big screen, chats with Richo, Q&As from the audience, book sales & signing and photo ops - so bring along your photographic device of choice.

WHERE: Cronulla RSL, Sunroom
WHEN: Tuesday 30th October, 2018
TIME: 6:00pm mingle for 7:00pm start

Cronulla's Battle of the Reefs - September 2018

To promote the up-coming inter-club, annual battle next month between Cronulla Point Boardriders and rival Cronulla Peninsular club, Sandshoes Boardriders - Leader newspaper senior staff photographer & resident, in-house surf guru, John Veage penned this up for the sports page edition of this week's St George & Sutherland Shire Leader.

Screencut from the e-edition of the StGeorge & Sutherland Shire Leader
22 August 2018

The contest is set to go down on Saturday 15th September, 2018.

Nice work as always JV - stoked - thank you

Peter Townend: Why Midget Mattered

by Peter Townend
Monday, August 8, 2016 - re-posted from WSL

It's hard to put into words the impact Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly had on the surfing world, but he was certainly responsible for making Australia one of surfing's great superpowers.

In the early 1960s the World Championship Tour didn't exist, but the Makaha International did. From 1954 onwards, the annual winter event was held on Oahu's west side. That's where world champions were crowned in those early days. The event was steeped in Hawaiian style, with 24-man heats narrowing the field down through the hundreds of entries. 

The vast majority of competitors were local Hawaiians or Californian transplants. In the broad stream media, surfing's first boom was underway with the Gidget craze in America, and Hawaii was still considered the edge of the surfing universe.


 

Midget Farrelly came of age riding traditional longboards, but he remained a key player Down Under during the shortboard revolution with his evolutionary performances.

It was in this environment, in late 1962, that a young Midget Farrelly arrived in Hawaii with a few friends from Australia to give the Makaha competition a go.

When he won the Hawaiian event early in 1963, he quickly became Australia's first face of surfing. Midget's success was a pivotal step in importation of the surfing boom Down Under. Thanks to Midget, Australians would host their own elite tour event as early as 1964.

Groms like myself who grew up in Australia in the '60s were all diehard readers of his column in the Sunday paper. And we were rabid fans of the Farrelly Surf Show on ABC. I can still vividly remember huddling around the one TV set in the house to watch his latest adventures, which included safaris around the world. And, naturally, I had his book, The Surfing Life.

Midget Farrelly and Peter Townend talking 

design at Bells Beach in 1974. - WSL 

The first time I crossed paths with Midget I was at my home beach in Greenmount Point in 1970. The Australian Titles were being held and I had made the Queensland team for the first time. I was able to mingle firsthand with all the top surfers, a starry-eyed grommet just soaking it in.

Our Queensland local hero Peter Drouyn (now known as Westerly Windina) won over Midget, Nat Young, Ted Spencer and Keith Paull. That same year, after Midget ran second to Rolf Aurness at the Bells Beach World Titles, a picture came out in Witzig's Surf Magazine. The image showed speed, rhythm and style. Back then, style mattered. I was a 16-year-old Coolangatta teen, inspired.


 

Midget's performance at Makaha in early 1963 helped propel Australian surfing 

into its future as a dominant force on the international scene. - WSL

During the '73 North Shore Winter season, Midget turned up in Hawaii for the first time in years. He invited me to go over to Makaha with him for a surf. It was my first time on the west side. It was a perfect little offshore day, and of course Midget was still treated like royalty around there. He introduced me to Buffalo Keaulana and all the boys for the first time.

After that we went to a luau at the Aikaus (the famous cemetery house). We were able to swap stories with the family, a moment I will always treasure. It was as real as you can get when it comes to Hawaiian family culture.

PT quote: Groms like myself who grew up living in Australia in the '60s were all diehard readers of his column in the Sunday paper. And we were rabid fans of the Farrelly Surf Show on the ABC Television network.

It can be argued that Midget was Australia's best competitive surfer of the 1960s, winning Makaha in '63, the inaugural ISA World Title in '64, runner-up to Hemmings in Puerto Rico in '68 and then finally runner-up to Rolf Aurness at Bells in '70. No one had that kind of consistency in that decade.

He was also a master shaper/designer. He was always pushing the envelope. The quality of Midget Farrelly Surfboards was second to none. It quickly became a staple of the Australian surfboard industry.

Despite his accomplishments, his style, and his contribution to design, he was often overlooked by surf historians. When Surfer Magazine's "50 Greatest Surfers of All Time" issue came out in 2009, I was mortified that they'd left him out, and I let the editors know it. 

He's an Australian surfing icon that can't be forgotten. When it came to speed, rhythm and style, Midget was the best. I wanted to surf just like him.


WSL Editor's Note: Peter Townend is recognized as the first world champion of pro surfing's modern era. He won the first world tour in 1976, closely followed in '78 by another Australian, Wayne "Rabbit" Bartholomew.

Australians would continue to dominate for most of the next decade, with Mark Richards, Simon Anderson, and Cheyne Horan all playing pivotal roles. But each one of them will be the first to tell you that the age of Australian dominance all began with Midget Farrelly.

To read the WSL's latest news and info click here


Related: Below a tribute clip of Midget Farrelly - hang-gliding from Steve Core's 1975 surf film 'Ocean Rhythms'




To purchase 'Ocean Rhythms' on DVD on-line from the Steve Core Store click here