I was surfing around Torquay from the age of 18.  In 1969, I broke my right arm/shoulder and was unable to surf. At the suggestion of friends I took up photographing surfing and iconic breaks such as Bells Beach. For a while I hired a camera & 200 mm lens from Isenberg Camera Store in Chapel Street Prahran. Obviously that lens wasn’t long enough & I eventually brought a camera with 500mm F5.5 surfing lens. In the early 70s, Rip Curl, Quiksilver and the Bells Beach Classic gave Torquay a national identity. The counterculture of the 70s influenced several of my friends and dedicated surfers to move to Torquay permanently. Initially it was a way of dropping out and surfing. The Vietnam War, conscription & the new freedoms, young people explored were reasons too. Torquay was a village except for Easter and the Christmas holidays when the population swelled. We had a cinema and the Torquay Pub provided live music, otherwise it was a pretty quiet place.

The natural landscape, surfing quality waves, fledging start up surf companies all helped to make Torquay the place for a generation of converts, who helped make Torquay what it is today.