In the mid to late 1950s Trad Jazz was the music of choice for pioneer surfers visiting South West beaches. Surfers listened to recorded Trad Jazz music on wind-up gramophone players. The portable gramophone played 78RPM vinyl records.
Some of the pioneer surfers were Jazz musicians and entertained the others on the beach and at local dances in the South West.
Around 1957/58 we formed the West Coast Board Riders club with meetings held in Davo’s garage in Wembley. By then, there were regular groups heading down south for weekends, this usually entailed 4-5 hour trips via South West Hwy. with the obligatory refreshment stops (pubs) along the way. By the time we hit Yalls we were well and truly primed for a good days surf the next day.
Getting into the old hammocks at night after a skin full of booze provided a challenge which often resulted in being tipped upside down with the help of a mate flat on your face in the dirt. Trying to keep warm wasn’t easy until someone got hold of a couple of ex air force ‘bear suits’ which the fighter pilots used to wear in World War 2, they were great and it wasn’t long before quite a few of us had one.
When it rained, we used to head for the shelter of the veranda of the old one room Yallingup primary school on the corner of Caves Rd. and Wildwood Rd. just down the road from where I now live, or sometimes if there was an unlocked door or window, head for one of the old Hammond cottages, which were the only houses on what is now the exclusive Yallingup hill.
Often in the mornings at first light we would be wakened by the sounds of the then budding trumpet player Don Bancroft, a non-drinker going through the scales to the annoyance of the hung over, bleary eyed rest of the crew. After much yelling of abuse and rock throwing to no avail it was time to scramble out of the hammock and from where we were camped to check out the waves. Don later became one of the leading Trad jazz trumpeters in Australia and if I’m ever in Perth on a Saturday arvo and not watching my old footy team Subi, I head down to the Railway hotel North Fremantle to see Don and his Cornerhouse Jazz Band do their stuff.
Sometimes in the arvo after a good mornings surf we would head over to Cave House for a quiet ale. Caves a State Govt. owned hotel then catered mainly for honeymoon couples. We would sit on the road next to the pub playing 78 rpm Trad Jazz vinyl records on a wind up gramophone which was our kind of music in those days. Jim Keenan’s favourite was ‘I want a gal just like the gal that married dear old dad’ it was a great rendition, but after about 10 times straight serenading the guests, it got a bit much. The honeymooners also thought so and would lean out the window telling us to shut up.
On the return trip home, we would often stop at the Highway Hotel in Bunbury for the Sunday afternoon session. With Bernie Huddle (piano), Don Bancroft (trumpet), Bruce ‘Moonshine’ Hill (clarinet), Artie Taylor (trombone), and Tony ‘Harbo’ Harbison (tea chest slap bass), we had the makings of a really good trad jazz band. The band and the rest of us would get free grog, making it all worthwhile. How we got home to Perth in one piece I’ll never know.
Image: 1956 Unidentified and John Budge listening to Trad Jazz music being played on a wind-up gramophone player at Yallingup beach. John Budge pic.
Brian Cole – The boys tossed damaged and unpopular vinyl records ‘Frisbee’ style into Yallingup lagoon.
In the following image, there is a portable record player in the foreground and a 16ft hollow ply toothpick surfboard in the background.
Image: 1958 unidentified person relaxing in a hammock under the melaleuca trees on Yallingup beach front. John Budge pic.
Image: 1957 Yallingup surfers standing around a campfire on the beach front. Brian Cole pic.
L-R Laurie Burke, Jim Keenan, Don Bancroft, Artie Taylor, Des Gaines & Colin Taylor in WW2 Bears suits.
Don Bancroft entertained surfers by playing his trumpet from an ex WW2 RAN (Navy) hammock pitched between a couple of melaleuca trees in the bush overlooking Yalls main break. Don also sat in with jazz bands playing at Busselton dances and South West pubs.
Image: 1960 Jim ‘Lik’ McKenzie (striped shirt) and Don Bancroft leaving the surf and returning to Yallingup campsite pre-concrete steps. Steve Mailey pic.
Trombone player Artie Taylor was another talented muso amongst the early surfing crew at Yallingup.
Image: 1958 Artie Taylor playing his trombone in a sea hammocks in the Yallingup camp site. Brian Cole pic.
BrianCole – In the early days there was some friction between surfers from the city and SW farmers. Surfers were not welcome at local dances. Only musos were allowed! To get around this restriction, Don & Artie would enter the dance hall with their musical instruments and then passed them out through a back window to the waiting crew. The next group then used them to get pass the doorman by saying “we are members of the band”. This enabled us to get into dances and meet the farmer’s daughters.
Image: 1958 Yalls Xmas hols Don Bancroft (trumpet) and Art Taylor (trombone) entertaining the boys on Yallingup beach. Brian Cole pic.
Image: 1950s vintage Ford Prefect car with hollow wooden surf boards parked outside Caves House Yallingup. John Budge pic
In the following image, the sun lovers wind up gramophone and their 78 RPM vinyl records can be seen in the foreground. Brian Cole made the early hollow plywood Malibu surfboard on the left.
Image: 1958 Bruce ‘Moonshine’ Hill and the boys flaked out near their camp site on Yallingup beach listening to traditional jazz music. Brian Cole pic.
L-R Colin Taylor, Dave Williams, Keith Kino and Bruce ‘Moonshine’ Hill.
In Australia portable gramophone and vinyl records were replaced by transistor radios in the late 50s. The lads in the following image may be listening to an early transistor radio…see portable radio & aerial bottom right.
Image: 1956-57 Jim Cavendar’s FJ Holden ute loaded with hollow plywood boards at Yallingup Beach. Photo John Budge
L-R Kevin Power, Brian Bradley, Rod Phillips & Jim Cavendar with Brownie Camera.
A big thank you to Kevin and the other surf pioneers for sharing your photos and recollections.
Footnote: WA Surf pioneer Brian Cole celebrates his 80th birthday on 18 August 2019.
In the mid to late 1950s Trad Jazz was the music of choice for pioneer surfers visiting South West beaches. Surfers listened to recorded Trad Jazz music on wind-up gramophone players. The portable gramophone played 78RPM vinyl records.
Some of the pioneer surfers were Jazz musicians and entertained the others on the beach and at local dances in the South West.
These comments are extracts from Kevin Merifield’s story 1950s WA Surfing History by Kevin Merifield published August 2016.
Around 1957/58 we formed the West Coast Board Riders club with meetings held in Davo’s garage in Wembley. By then, there were regular groups heading down south for weekends, this usually entailed 4-5 hour trips via South West Hwy. with the obligatory refreshment stops (pubs) along the way. By the time we hit Yalls we were well and truly primed for a good days surf the next day.
Getting into the old hammocks at night after a skin full of booze provided a challenge which often resulted in being tipped upside down with the help of a mate flat on your face in the dirt. Trying to keep warm wasn’t easy until someone got hold of a couple of ex air force ‘bear suits’ which the fighter pilots used to wear in World War 2, they were great and it wasn’t long before quite a few of us had one.
When it rained, we used to head for the shelter of the veranda of the old one room Yallingup primary school on the corner of Caves Rd. and Wildwood Rd. just down the road from where I now live, or sometimes if there was an unlocked door or window, head for one of the old Hammond cottages, which were the only houses on what is now the exclusive Yallingup hill.
Often in the mornings at first light we would be wakened by the sounds of the then budding trumpet player Don Bancroft, a non-drinker going through the scales to the annoyance of the hung over, bleary eyed rest of the crew. After much yelling of abuse and rock throwing to no avail it was time to scramble out of the hammock and from where we were camped to check out the waves. Don later became one of the leading Trad jazz trumpeters in Australia and if I’m ever in Perth on a Saturday arvo and not watching my old footy team Subi, I head down to the Railway hotel North Fremantle to see Don and his Cornerhouse Jazz Band do their stuff.
Sometimes in the arvo after a good mornings surf we would head over to Cave House for a quiet ale. Caves a State Govt. owned hotel then catered mainly for honeymoon couples. We would sit on the road next to the pub playing 78 rpm Trad Jazz vinyl records on a wind up gramophone which was our kind of music in those days. Jim Keenan’s favourite was ‘I want a gal just like the gal that married dear old dad’ it was a great rendition, but after about 10 times straight serenading the guests, it got a bit much. The honeymooners also thought so and would lean out the window telling us to shut up.
On the return trip home, we would often stop at the Highway Hotel in Bunbury for the Sunday afternoon session. With Bernie Huddle (piano), Don Bancroft (trumpet), Bruce ‘Moonshine’ Hill (clarinet), Artie Taylor (trombone), and Tony ‘Harbo’ Harbison (tea chest slap bass), we had the makings of a really good trad jazz band. The band and the rest of us would get free grog, making it all worthwhile. How we got home to Perth in one piece I’ll never know.
Image: 1956 Unidentified and John Budge listening to Trad Jazz music being played on a wind-up gramophone player at Yallingup beach. John Budge pic.
Brian Cole – The boys tossed damaged and unpopular vinyl records ‘Frisbee’ style into Yallingup lagoon.
In the following image, there is a portable record player in the foreground and a 16ft hollow ply toothpick surfboard in the background.
Image: 1958 unidentified person relaxing in a hammock under the melaleuca trees on Yallingup beach front. John Budge pic.
Image: 1957 Yallingup surfers standing around a campfire on the beach front. Brian Cole pic.
L-R Laurie Burke, Jim Keenan, Don Bancroft, Artie Taylor, Des Gaines & Colin Taylor in WW2 Bears suits.
Don Bancroft entertained surfers by playing his trumpet from an ex WW2 RAN (Navy) hammock pitched between a couple of melaleuca trees in the bush overlooking Yalls main break. Don also sat in with jazz bands playing at Busselton dances and South West pubs.
Click on this link to view 1958 Don Bancroft – Surfer/Jazz Musician published January 2015
Image: 1960 Jim ‘Lik’ McKenzie (striped shirt) and Don Bancroft leaving the surf and returning to Yallingup campsite pre-concrete steps. Steve Mailey pic.
Trombone player Artie Taylor was another talented muso amongst the early surfing crew at Yallingup.
Image: 1958 Artie Taylor playing his trombone in a sea hammocks in the Yallingup camp site. Brian Cole pic.
Brian Cole – In the early days there was some friction between surfers from the city and SW farmers. Surfers were not welcome at local dances. Only musos were allowed! To get around this restriction, Don & Artie would enter the dance hall with their musical instruments and then passed them out through a back window to the waiting crew. The next group then used them to get pass the doorman by saying “we are members of the band”. This enabled us to get into dances and meet the farmer’s daughters.
Image: 1958 Yalls Xmas hols Don Bancroft (trumpet) and Art Taylor (trombone) entertaining the boys on Yallingup beach. Brian Cole pic.
Image: 1950s vintage Ford Prefect car with hollow wooden surf boards parked outside Caves House Yallingup. John Budge pic
In the following image, the sun lovers wind up gramophone and their 78 RPM vinyl records can be seen in the foreground. Brian Cole made the early hollow plywood Malibu surfboard on the left.
Image: 1958 Bruce ‘Moonshine’ Hill and the boys flaked out near their camp site on Yallingup beach listening to traditional jazz music. Brian Cole pic.
L-R Colin Taylor, Dave Williams, Keith Kino and Bruce ‘Moonshine’ Hill.
In Australia portable gramophone and vinyl records were replaced by transistor radios in the late 50s. The lads in the following image may be listening to an early transistor radio…see portable radio & aerial bottom right.
Image: 1956-57 Jim Cavendar’s FJ Holden ute loaded with hollow plywood boards at Yallingup Beach. Photo John Budge
L-R Kevin Power, Brian Bradley, Rod Phillips & Jim Cavendar with Brownie Camera.
A big thank you to Kevin and the other surf pioneers for sharing your photos and recollections.
Footnote: WA Surf pioneer Brian Cole celebrates his 80th birthday on 18 August 2019.
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