Having lived most of my life in Western Australia you don’t meet many German Nationals but when I have, I always mention that I had a friend I grew up with called Carl Heinze Schumacher at which point they usually burst out laughing saying how traditional that name is in Germany. I then proceed to tell them parts of the following story.
Throughout his short life I always called him Carl having known him since he arrived from Germany in the mid-fifties. Those of us who knew his parents, we always referred to him as Carl Heinze which is what his mother called him, but the surfing community always knew him as Schuey so for the point of this exercise that’s what we will call him.
IMIGRATION TO SUBIACO
When the Schumacher’s arrived in Australia his father spoke some English but when Schuey arrived at Subiaco Primary School in his Bavarian leather britches, he spoke German and was very different. The family rented a house in Lawler Street which is where my family lived his father a mechanic and his mother a nursing assistant. The stigma in our society attached to being German after the second world War was significant but they were friendly and my mother for one certainly accepted them unconditionally, as a result, out of school we became friendly.
BOXING
The Schumacher’s at home always had the German language pouring out and the house always smelt of their unusual and unique foods. The family dog was a large Standard Dachshund which my English Bulldog use to visit. Mrs Schumacher loved these interactions between the dogs of such contrasting breeds.
At Subiaco Primary School we had regular visits from the local Police. Don Glass was one who also played on the wing as a Subiaco footballer, he encouraged some of us to join the Police Boys Citizens Club in Raphael Street.
At Schuey’s instance I joined up for the Boxing programme. Being already fully committed to playing Lacrosse I said if he came down to the Acre Paddock (in between the railway and Subiaco Road and down the hill from Subiaco Oval) and try out with the Junior Lacrosse team, I would box with him. Schuey didn’t go on with Lacrosse nor did I go on with boxing, but we did spar a lot and went together to a boxing tournament at the Scarborough Police Boys club.
At about twelve or thirteen Schuey was one of the best Police Boys’ boxers for his age in the state. His parents had a fantastic photograph portrait of him (about A4 size) on the wall, in pugilist stance, lace up boxing shoes, silk shorts, gloves and Police Boys singlet – ready to go.
CHURCHILL AVENUE
It was about this time (1959) that the Schumacher’s bought the house in Churchill Avenue which runs behind and to the South of Hay Street. These where the houses that backed on to the shop fronts of the main drag. Subiaco had many separate parts and I didn’t see much of him in his early teens as we lived on the other side of town and I lived pretty much in my elder brother’s world whose friends were my friends. Schuey being an only child with working parents started to wander, he was well known on the streets and knew some of the rougher older teenagers who seem to be left over remnants of the Bodgie era.
Schuey Started surfing at Cottesloe with an older Canadian guy at about thirteen and he used to talk to me about the experience with enthusiasm. At School there was an ex-military master who dealt out corporal punishment, my brother who was a year older warned me to avoid this person at any cost. I just happened to be delivering a message to that master one day when Schuey was receiving a dose of six cuts for absenteeism. At one point they began to argue and the interaction became violent with Schuey being hit about the body and reduced to tears with the cane. He came and saw me later that day explaining how he presented a note from his mother for absenteeism which was rejected and deemed a lie, at which point Schuey went for him. Next time I saw him he had left school to become an apprentice jockey, no doubt his famous Schumacher (Willie Shoemaker) name helped him get the job.
I wondered at the time of his death how often events such as that one at school happened to him in his life and what contribution the system made to his demise.
The Cordingley Surf shop was half a dozen doors up from where he lived in Churchill Avenue and I can imagine him just walking in and endearing himself to Cords. The Cordingleys took him under their wing, made him surfboards an got him into the competition system – he got the bug. Schuey through boxing was very fit and strong for his size, always made the wave look bigger because of his small stature. He improved rapidly and by the time he was fifteen in 1965 there was a gap in the Junior ranks as the Barry Kings Brian Boynes and Allan MacGilvray’s moved into open competition. He was fresh, he could surf and he was everywhere. I was bit behind, only surfing in club competition at that point. In 1965 though we were both members of the competitive Yallingup Board Club.
THREE CONSECUTIVE State Junior titles -1965-67.
Schuey was fifteen in 1965 and this in my opinion was his best year as a surfer. He had finished with being an apprentice jockey (he grew) and concentrated on his surfing supported by Jennie and Colin Cordingley. He started surfing with the older crew in the Yallingup Board Club and was pretty much unbeatable at that point. The Long board surfing of that era suited how he surfed, everybody knew him and had a story about him, the girls liked him and he was like a little rock star. He represented WA in the Australian tiles. The 1965 Australian Junior Title that year which was won by Peter Drouyn from Queensland.
In 1966 Western Australian state titles at Gracetown Schuey was sixteen, he won again. I came second in the first state contest I entered. Schuey unfortunately fell foul of the Justice System at this point and was put in juvenile detention for about four months. Mick Bibby eventually taking his place to represent WA in Coolangatta.
I am not sure what he actually did or what crime he committed but by the time he came out of detention he had developed a hard edge to his personality almost scary. He also developed a “take advantage “of people attitude that people in the surfing community who had supported him got quickly sick off. Schuey’s continual battle with himself from that point was not lost on those of us that knew him.
In 1967 Schuey won again with Mick Bibby second (I surfed in the Men’s open that year for some reason the officials wouldn’t let me surf in the Juniors although I was the same age as the others). They both went to the Australian Junior Championships in Victoria. The Australian juniors particularly in 67 and 68 were pivotal years in the development of surfing after the new era started in 1966. The emergence of among others of Ted Spencer 1966 (NSW), Wayne Lynch in 67 (Victoria) and Ian Cairns (WA) in 68. Australian Junior finals of those years helped define the progression of Australian surfing.
Schuey never really adapted to the changes that occurred to surfing in the mid- sixties when Nat Young won his World Title in San Diego California in 1966. Lots of surfers didn’t adapt and fell behind, it was a fundamental thing.
We worked together for a few weeks in 67 and told me that he had fallen behind with his surfing but was keen get going again. His words were “I’m going to get back into it”.
I certainly never surfed with him again after we were seventeen. I don’t remember him competing in open ranks. In fact, I don’t think I even saw him again till he was about Twenty-One just before his death. People would say where is Schuey, we would hear that he was in Victoria and he did a stint in Long Bay Jail NSW. Then one day he showed up at the old house in Subiaco.
1967 Karl Schumacher WA Junior Champ article by Ken Wilson Daily News.
LAST VISIT
He came to see me with his partner and their baby. As we talked, he asked me to wave to them on the front lawn, which I did. Schuey was visibly shaking and begging me to help with his situation. I don’t know exactly how his life ended but it wasn’t good. He wasn’t a rich kid from Cottesloe but a German immigrant in post war Australia, the social responsibility to kids who fell by the wayside at the time was not sophisticated. He took his chances surfed as well as anyone in his prime and always battled through his short life. He was one of the saddest people I’ve known.
I lived in Subiaco again when first married and would run into an enthusiastic Mr and Mrs Schumacher at the markets they clung to our early relationship but what we knew Schuey had gone through made it difficult to engage in anything other than pleasantries over a cup of tea.
Footnotes.
This story was written in respect to Carl as a friend and a surfer and not intended to initiate unnecessary conversation or additional comment about him; and
The 1967 newspaper article is representative and not entirely accurate in its report.
Carl Schumacher recollections by Peter Bothwell
Having lived most of my life in Western Australia you don’t meet many German Nationals but when I have, I always mention that I had a friend I grew up with called Carl Heinze Schumacher at which point they usually burst out laughing saying how traditional that name is in Germany. I then proceed to tell them parts of the following story.
Throughout his short life I always called him Carl having known him since he arrived from Germany in the mid-fifties. Those of us who knew his parents, we always referred to him as Carl Heinze which is what his mother called him, but the surfing community always knew him as Schuey so for the point of this exercise that’s what we will call him.
IMIGRATION TO SUBIACO
When the Schumacher’s arrived in Australia his father spoke some English but when Schuey arrived at Subiaco Primary School in his Bavarian leather britches, he spoke German and was very different. The family rented a house in Lawler Street which is where my family lived his father a mechanic and his mother a nursing assistant. The stigma in our society attached to being German after the second world War was significant but they were friendly and my mother for one certainly accepted them unconditionally, as a result, out of school we became friendly.
BOXING
The Schumacher’s at home always had the German language pouring out and the house always smelt of their unusual and unique foods. The family dog was a large Standard Dachshund which my English Bulldog use to visit. Mrs Schumacher loved these interactions between the dogs of such contrasting breeds.
At Subiaco Primary School we had regular visits from the local Police. Don Glass was one who also played on the wing as a Subiaco footballer, he encouraged some of us to join the Police Boys Citizens Club in Raphael Street.
At Schuey’s instance I joined up for the Boxing programme. Being already fully committed to playing Lacrosse I said if he came down to the Acre Paddock (in between the railway and Subiaco Road and down the hill from Subiaco Oval) and try out with the Junior Lacrosse team, I would box with him. Schuey didn’t go on with Lacrosse nor did I go on with boxing, but we did spar a lot and went together to a boxing tournament at the Scarborough Police Boys club.
At about twelve or thirteen Schuey was one of the best Police Boys’ boxers for his age in the state. His parents had a fantastic photograph portrait of him (about A4 size) on the wall, in pugilist stance, lace up boxing shoes, silk shorts, gloves and Police Boys singlet – ready to go.
CHURCHILL AVENUE
It was about this time (1959) that the Schumacher’s bought the house in Churchill Avenue which runs behind and to the South of Hay Street. These where the houses that backed on to the shop fronts of the main drag. Subiaco had many separate parts and I didn’t see much of him in his early teens as we lived on the other side of town and I lived pretty much in my elder brother’s world whose friends were my friends. Schuey being an only child with working parents started to wander, he was well known on the streets and knew some of the rougher older teenagers who seem to be left over remnants of the Bodgie era.
Schuey Started surfing at Cottesloe with an older Canadian guy at about thirteen and he used to talk to me about the experience with enthusiasm. At School there was an ex-military master who dealt out corporal punishment, my brother who was a year older warned me to avoid this person at any cost. I just happened to be delivering a message to that master one day when Schuey was receiving a dose of six cuts for absenteeism. At one point they began to argue and the interaction became violent with Schuey being hit about the body and reduced to tears with the cane. He came and saw me later that day explaining how he presented a note from his mother for absenteeism which was rejected and deemed a lie, at which point Schuey went for him. Next time I saw him he had left school to become an apprentice jockey, no doubt his famous Schumacher (Willie Shoemaker) name helped him get the job.
I wondered at the time of his death how often events such as that one at school happened to him in his life and what contribution the system made to his demise.
The Cordingley Surf shop was half a dozen doors up from where he lived in Churchill Avenue and I can imagine him just walking in and endearing himself to Cords. The Cordingleys took him under their wing, made him surfboards an got him into the competition system – he got the bug. Schuey through boxing was very fit and strong for his size, always made the wave look bigger because of his small stature. He improved rapidly and by the time he was fifteen in 1965 there was a gap in the Junior ranks as the Barry Kings Brian Boynes and Allan MacGilvray’s moved into open competition. He was fresh, he could surf and he was everywhere. I was bit behind, only surfing in club competition at that point. In 1965 though we were both members of the competitive Yallingup Board Club.
THREE CONSECUTIVE State Junior titles -1965-67.
Schuey was fifteen in 1965 and this in my opinion was his best year as a surfer. He had finished with being an apprentice jockey (he grew) and concentrated on his surfing supported by Jennie and Colin Cordingley. He started surfing with the older crew in the Yallingup Board Club and was pretty much unbeatable at that point. The Long board surfing of that era suited how he surfed, everybody knew him and had a story about him, the girls liked him and he was like a little rock star. He represented WA in the Australian tiles. The 1965 Australian Junior Title that year which was won by Peter Drouyn from Queensland.
In 1966 Western Australian state titles at Gracetown Schuey was sixteen, he won again. I came second in the first state contest I entered. Schuey unfortunately fell foul of the Justice System at this point and was put in juvenile detention for about four months. Mick Bibby eventually taking his place to represent WA in Coolangatta.
I am not sure what he actually did or what crime he committed but by the time he came out of detention he had developed a hard edge to his personality almost scary. He also developed a “take advantage “of people attitude that people in the surfing community who had supported him got quickly sick off. Schuey’s continual battle with himself from that point was not lost on those of us that knew him.
In 1967 Schuey won again with Mick Bibby second (I surfed in the Men’s open that year for some reason the officials wouldn’t let me surf in the Juniors although I was the same age as the others). They both went to the Australian Junior Championships in Victoria. The Australian juniors particularly in 67 and 68 were pivotal years in the development of surfing after the new era started in 1966. The emergence of among others of Ted Spencer 1966 (NSW), Wayne Lynch in 67 (Victoria) and Ian Cairns (WA) in 68. Australian Junior finals of those years helped define the progression of Australian surfing.
Schuey never really adapted to the changes that occurred to surfing in the mid- sixties when Nat Young won his World Title in San Diego California in 1966. Lots of surfers didn’t adapt and fell behind, it was a fundamental thing.
We worked together for a few weeks in 67 and told me that he had fallen behind with his surfing but was keen get going again. His words were “I’m going to get back into it”.
I certainly never surfed with him again after we were seventeen. I don’t remember him competing in open ranks. In fact, I don’t think I even saw him again till he was about Twenty-One just before his death. People would say where is Schuey, we would hear that he was in Victoria and he did a stint in Long Bay Jail NSW. Then one day he showed up at the old house in Subiaco.
LAST VISIT
He came to see me with his partner and their baby. As we talked, he asked me to wave to them on the front lawn, which I did. Schuey was visibly shaking and begging me to help with his situation. I don’t know exactly how his life ended but it wasn’t good. He wasn’t a rich kid from Cottesloe but a German immigrant in post war Australia, the social responsibility to kids who fell by the wayside at the time was not sophisticated. He took his chances surfed as well as anyone in his prime and always battled through his short life. He was one of the saddest people I’ve known.
I lived in Subiaco again when first married and would run into an enthusiastic Mr and Mrs Schumacher at the markets they clung to our early relationship but what we knew Schuey had gone through made it difficult to engage in anything other than pleasantries over a cup of tea.
Footnotes.
Peter Bothwell – 2021.
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