Freshwater Beach

On a sweltering summer’s day, January 10th 1915, four hundred spectators swore they witnessed a mirage. The Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku, world record holding Olympic swimming champion, was now walking on water. Having paddled out almost a kilometre from the shore of Freshwater Beach, in an instance he was on his feet gliding across the face of a rolling wave.

Underneath him was a slab of American sugar pine, taken from a North Sydney timber mill, and carved into what would soon become affiliated with beaches around the Australian coastline. 
For the first time the ancient Hawaiian art of surfboard riding had been introduced to the country. 

Duke Kahanamoku, Waikiki, 1910

Enthralled locals watched on in awe as the Duke performed acrobatic feats carried shoreward. Those who could break his spell rushed off immediately to have boards modelled after his, returning to imitate the skill and grace that they had witnessed.

Generations later and they still haven’t left. On any given day, the electric blue water of the small beach, wedged between two grand headlands, is filled with surfers flocking for the legendary breaks.  A statue of Duke Kahanamoku watches over them proudly from the shore.

Total count: 49/160