Origins of Skateboarding in WA

Skateboarding was born sometime in the late 1940s, or early 1950s, when surfers in California USA wanted something to do when the waves were flat. No one knows who made the first board; it seems that several people came up with similar ideas at around the same time. Source: Wikipedia.

In 1963, WA surfing pioneers Terry ’Horse’ Williams and Brian ‘Blackballs’ Cole brought the concept to WA after returning from California. They had witnessed skateboards in action while touring the west coast of the USA.

In the early 70s, WA surf industry pioneer Len Dibben imported and sold Australian and American skateboards. By the mid-70s, he had started manufacturing his own brand of skateboards in his North Fremantle surf factory.

Len Dibben. “In the early 70’s I started selling the Australian skateboard Surfer Sam & also a few Midget Farrelly skateboards. Other Skateboards I imported from USA back in the early days were Bing, these had fibre glass decks & Rolls Royce wheels. And GT Plastic Skate deck Skateboards had 19”, 24” & 25” lengths in 5 different colours. I also imported Roller Sports Skateboards. Roller Sports were roller skate manufacturers with shoes, I think they were made in Florida.”

See links to the Origin of skateboarding in WA by John Harbison & Charlie Roper and 1970s Len Dibben Skateboards at the bottom of this post.