60s photographs

1960s Mark Waddell & Rod Bothwell

In the 60s Leederville surfer Mark Waddell (elder brother of David, Ron & Gerard) was a renowned big wave charger in South West waves and Rod Bothwell (elder brother of Peter Bothwell) was a Subiaco boy who loved the ocean and marathon sports.

This 1964 photo captures the two dapper chaps with their surfboards on Rod’s Ford Prefect sedan at Floreat Beach . L-R Mark Waddell & Rod Bothwell. Photo courtesy of Peter Bothwell.

1964 M Waddell & Rod Bothwell Floreat Beach

Mark Waddell

Mark and his brothers started surfing at City Beach in the early 60s and were members of the City Beach Surf Riders club (CBSR).

Photos: 1964 Mark skurfing on the Swan River on a flat day. (Left) Mark in his Ben Cropp wettie. (Right) Mark skurfing his board behind the tow boat. Photos courtesy of Peter Bothwell.

1964 Mark Waddell skurfing Swan River

Editor’s note: “Back in 1964 Mark lent me his Malibu surfboard at City Beach, it was my first time on a surfboard and the beginning of my surfing lifestyle.” JK

In 1964 Mark Waddell, Peter Bothwell, Brian Boynes & Mick Lindsay moved from CBSR to Yallingup Board Club (YBC) to chase bigger, better waves in the SW.

Mark was driving the big Hudson Pacemaker sedan (with 6 occupants and 6 long boards on the roof) when it flipped and took out the petrol bowser outside Caves House Store at Yallingup circa 64. The other 5 occupants were Geoff Berry, Peter Bothwell, Brian Boynes, Blue Burridge & Merv Hart.

Geoff Berry recalls: “The purpose of buying the Hudson was to save our own vehicles as this would be our “Surfari wagon”. It was big enough to sleep full stretch across the back seat, we even took it down the Gallows track. On that last doomed trip we were halfway to Yallingup from Perth on the Friday night and the Hudson brakes failed. I continued driving using the double clutch technique and managed to nurse the car to our camp site under the tea trees near Surfside. The next morning the surf was good and Mark elected to drive us to Margaret River. We had just driven up Yallingup hill & were heading downhill towards Caves House Store when Mark hit the brakes and cried “shit, no brakes!” In our excitement to go surfing we had all forgotten about the malfunctioning brakes.” Read Geoff’s hilarious account of the car crash in Sue-Lyn Adrian-Moyle’s Surfing Down Book.

Photo: 1964 The Hudson Pacemaker before conversion to soft top in Yalls car crash. Image courtesy of Geoff Berry.

1964 Hudson Pacemaker car crash at Yalls - Geoff Berry

Mark is now retired and doing a bit of travelling. He no longer surfs.

Rod Bothwell

Rod & his brother Peter started surfing at City Beach in the early 60s and were members of CBSR.

In the mid-60s young Rod Bothwell used to hitch hike with the City Beach boys to a beach break between Floreat & Brighton to body surf uncrowded waves. The surf break was colloquially named ‘Plumboth’ after Peter Lumb & Rod Bothwell.

Editor’s Note: “Back in 64 I went on my first surf trip with Rod & others to Avalon Beach near Mandurah. We didn’t have a car but stayed in a holiday shack on the beach for a week. We surfed fun waves on our mals. On a flat day, we hitch hiked to Bunbury via the old limestone Coast Road. It wasn’t easy with barely any traffic other than an odd truck using the road, luckily we made it to Bunbury & back before nightfall.” JK

Peter Bothwell: “Rod enjoyed his automobiles but was not mechanically minded. He favoured older model cars because they were more affordable.”

Photos: 1964 Rod’s automobiles at Subiaco (Left): Ford Anglia convertible sedan. (Right). Ford Prefect sedan. Photos courtesy of Peter Bothwell.

1964 Rod Bothwell's cars IMG_001

Rod left WA in the late 60s and lived in England and travelled to India. In the 80s Rod lived in the USA for several years. He was a keen long distance runner/swimmer. He ran in both the Boston & NY Marathons a few times and swam in the round Manhattan Island Swim and the English Channel.

Photo: Late 80s Rod leaving France to swim the English Channel to England. Photo courtesy of Peter Bothwell.

1980s Rod Bothwell leaving France on English Channel swim - P Bothwell. IMG_02

Rod returned to WA from overseas but then sadly his life was terminated prematurely in a traffic accident.

 

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