The Public Works Dept built public toilets on the beach front at Yallingup in the early 60s. The toilet block served the community for more than three decades.
In the 60-70s the old toilets were used by visiting surfers as overnight accommodation in inclement weather. The women’s section was usually cleaner & dryer and the preferred sleeping quarters.
Louie ‘Longboard’ Corkill – “In the early 70s I used to camp in the old brick toilets on Yalls beach. I slept in a board bag made of quilt by my mother.”
Ross Utting recalls – “Sleeping arrangements at Yallingup were always problematical with a full car, especially when it was raining.
In desperation, one night me & my mate Norm (Dot) Kitson hatched a plan to escape the wet by staying up late & then bedding down in the ladies toilets.
For some reason the floor of the men’s toilets was always wet, but the ladies was dry. We stay up til past midnight comfortable that in the unlikely event that a female was in the area, they would have done their business by then. I bed down as far away from the door as possible, but Dot lays his bag down right in the middle, the idiot. About 2.30am I am awakened by a mad woman screaming blue murder. Apparently she had tripped over Dot & fallen face first onto him. Immediately I know what has happened & am willing Dot “stay in your bag”, “stay in your bag”. But no, like the idiot he is, Dot jumped out of his bag with just his underpants on & is trying to put his arm around the woman to settle her down. Of course this really fires her up. Reckon it would have scared me a bit too if a long haired bloke in his underpants tried to put his arm around me in the toilets at 2.30 in the morning. Anyway, she eventually escapes & runs out of the toilets never to be seen again.
I didn’t sleep a wink after that as I was waiting for the girl’s boyfriend to come & give us a good kicking or for the cops to take us away. Thankfully nothing happened, but we never slept in the ladies toilets again.”
Refer to Surfing Down South book for more tales of visiting surfers camping in the toilets.
Image signed by the Yal Mal Finalists. L-R Bob Monkman, Robbo, John Clemenger, Pater Mac, Ian ‘Mitch’ Mitchell, Peter Dyson, Cliff Hills, Gene Hall, Tony Harbison, Keith Campbell & Kevin ‘Twiggy’ Sharland.
New Toilet Block
The original brick amentities was demolished in the 90s and replaced with a new stone toilet block re-located in front of the Surfside complex. Yallingup residents Rob Malcolm and Ashley Jones were instrumental in ensuring the design was conducive to it’s surroundings. Local ‘big wave’ surfer Tony Harbison built the new toilet block.
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