surfresearch.com.au  newspapers : 1903

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Newspapers : 1903.

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A meeting of the Manly branch of the Life- saving Society was held at the Steyne Hotel on Friday for the purpose of electing officers.
There was an attendance of over 50 members.
The election resulted as follows :-
Patrons, Mr. Dugald Thomson, M.P., and Mr. E. W. Quirk, M.L.A. ; president, Mr. D. Hogan ; vice-presidents, Dr. David Thomas, Dr. L. Watson Harvey, Dr. G. R. P. Hall, and a number of prominent residents ; hon. secretary, Mr, J. A. Rosenthall ; committee, Messrs. P. Lowe, L. Glasson, W. Daley, J. Bedwell, F. Bell, J. Strong, and A. Rosenthall.
It was moved by Mr. W. H. Gocher, -" That the residents of Manly should be invited to subscribe funds for a lifeboat together with a bell and belfry, the bell to be rung when any person was in danger in the breakers, and its final tolls to denote at what part of the beach the services of the life-saving corps were required."
Arrangements were made for drill at St. Athanasius' Schoolroom every Monday evening.

Mr. George Pile writes -"There is no danger in surf bathing at Manly if the northern end of the beach (or freshwater beach) is selected for the purpose, because the under-current only sets in at its southern end, and in view of this well-known fact, it does seem passing (?) strange that the municipal authorites should have selected as a site for the public bathing shelter the most dangerous spot on the whole beach "

"Shooting the Breakers," showing a phase of surf bathing at Manly, is the subject of a picture in this week's " Mail.'' -Advt.

Manly is becoming a name of perilous and tragic association, simply because bathers will take risks which they know to exist. If the victims were usually visitors from out back, gathered into Sydney by excursion trains, the thing would be more explicable. People used to bathing, when they are lucky enough to have water, in shallow creek reaches, or even in tanks, might excusably be ignorant of the strength of the ocean undertow or the effect of an ebbing tide. But these are the people who walk circumspectly in the surf-bath, and shin far up the dry sands of terra firma if a wave reaches to their knees. It is the city resident, the expert swimmer, who is drowned, or, after intense excitement and with infinite trouble, rescued at the last gasp. That is because the expert swimmer generally likes to show off his powers, and demonstrate his pluck. But it is hard that on this account the nerves of the timid who live in surf-bathing neighborhoods should be perpetually nicked by apprehension. In "Erewhon," it will be remembered, anyone contracting disease was treated as a criminal.

The subject of surf bathing was brought up by a letter from the local Life Saving Society, to whom the council had offered flags for defining the positions of   dangerous holes and treacherous bathing places.
The society preferred that the council should put the flags up.
It was decided to ask the Premier to supply Manly with a surf boat and gear. 

Left: #1 Centre: #5  Right: #7 (Photograph captions below)

The thirteenth annual carnival of the Fort street M.P.S. Swimming Club was held on Satur day, at Farmer's Domain Baths.
There was a very large attendance.

The results were as follows:-
45 Yards Championship of the School (under 14 years).- S. Pert, 1; H. Huggins, 2.

270 Yards Interclub Teams Relay Race (90yd).-
Mort's Dock: J. Craig, F. Kirby, J. Pitman (20sec), 1; Enterprise: J. Dickie, S. Smith, S. Rohu (20sec), 2; Balmain Gladstone: H. Daley, D. Shade, L. Watson (25sec), 3.

45 Yards Handicap (4th classes).-
First heat: C. Fain, 1; W. Cashman, 2. Second heat: G. Buttle, 1; S. Grange, 2.
Final: Suttie, 1; Grange, 2; Pain, 3.

45 Yards Handicap (5th classes).-
First heat: C. Dennis, 1; W. Congden, 2. Second heat: R. Lewin, 1; J. Apted, 2. Third heat: F. Hardwick, 1; O. Schwerdtmann, 2. Fourth heat: L. Broadfoot, 1, E, M'Phee, 2. Fifth heat: J. Wood, 1; N. Griffiths, 2. Sixth heat: A. Homersham, 1; H. Docker, 2. Seventh heat: W. Collis, 1; G. Croll, 2.
Final: Lewis, 1; Homersham, 2; Hardwick, 3.

Fancy Costume Race.-
W. Ellard, 1; 0. Smith, 2; H. Smithers, 3.

100 Yards Interclub Handicap.-
Cavill swam 100yd in an attempt to break his own world's record of 69sec.
Amid great cheers, it was posted that he had beaten the record by one-fifth of a second.

45 Yards Handicap (2nd and 8rd classes).-
First heat: S. Pert, 1; R. Daly, 2. Second heat: N. Lotze, 1; P. Duff, 2. Third heat: B. Imber, 1; J. Robertson, 2. Fourth heat: H. Day, 1; A. Baett, 2. Final: Day, 1; Imber 2; Pert. 3.

Water Polo Championship of N.S.W.- Mort's Dock forfeited to Bondi.

Messrs. Harold Smyrk, H. Burgess, Alick Wickham, and representatives of the Solomon Islands from the schooner Aola (by permission of Captain Pope, and under the direction of Mr. N O. Purcell) gave an exhibition of diving.

Mr. Ven. Chambers and members of the Sea gull Club also gave an exhibition of diving.

The Fram Finding the North Pole.-
W. Cashman won.

Old Boys Handicap, 90 yards.-
Loutit, 1; Robinson, 2.

Clothes Race, 40 Yards.-
O. Schwerdtmann,, 1; J. Apted, 2; R. Swinburne, 3.

100 Yards Championship of the School.-
L. Murray, 1; H. Hardwick, 2; C. Smith, 3. Time, 1min 8 1-5sec.

45 Yards Championship of the School (under 12 years).-
G. Page, 1; A. Brett, 2.

Trove
1903 'SWIMMING.', Australian Town and Country Journal (NSW : 1870 - 1907), 1 April, p. 39, viewed 14 September, 2012,
http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71479710

There was an innovation at the Queen's celebration of her sixty-fifth birthday yesterday afternoon.
There was a sight seen that has seldom been seen here for many years.

The Queen's celebration of her birthday was a very quiet affair.
It lacked a great deal of the elaborateness of some of the celebrations she has held of late years, notably the celebration in 1900 and in 1901: The celebration was held at her Waikiki residence and took the form of a modest luau to a number of her more intimate friends and a number of her retainers.

The special feature of the celebration came after the luau.
It was nothing less than an exhibition of surf board riding in the surf adjacent to the Queen's Waikiki residence.

The masterpiece of the exhibition was the riding of the surf board just before the crest of the wave, the rider standing up erect on his surf board.

The artist who displayed this feat was a young native named Papaheenalu.
Time and again he went out where the breakers were rolling in high crests, started forward on his board, rose first on his knee, as the board rushed forward, then rising higher and higher, but always carefully until he stood erect, he came like a statue to the shore with his feet in the foam.

Papaheenalu was cheered to the echo, and many strangers and others besides the guests of the Queen were attracted to the beach by the unusual sight, and enjoyed the rarely seen spectacle.

Chronicling America
The Hawaiian star. (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, September 03, 1903, Image 1
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1903-09-03/ed-1/seq-1/

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1.
Norman Elliott Dole, a senior at Stanford University, is to be given a beautifull gold medal by the University for having broken a Pacific Coast amateur record at the intercollegiate field day at Berkeley April 18th of this year.

Norman Dole is the fifth son of George Dole of Riverside and is a nephew of Ex-President Dole of Hawaii.
He is one oi thirteen children, ten sons and three daughters, all of them athletes and composing what is without doubt the greatest family of college athletes in America, the third son, Charlie Dole, having been the greatest individual athlete ever at Stanford University and having taken third rank in competition for the individual amateur athletic ctiampionship of America.

The feat that won Norman Dole his record was the most sensational individual athletic accomplishment in the record of the remarkable Dole family.
It is not only broke the Western, the intercollegiate, and the Western college records for the pole vault, but it turned the final tide and won the field day for Stanford, completing the first defeat of the kind the University of California had ever known in all the eleven years of track contests.

Norman Dole vaulted without a fault gradually up to and then easily over the bag at 11 feet ?' inches, breaking the record by many inches, and might have gone several inches higher, for he seemed fit for the trick.

During his three years at Stanford he has kept up the familv tradition and won varsity points against California every year.
As a high school youth in Riverside he was a star football, baseball, basket ball, and track athlete.
He has a high jump record of 5 feet 8 inches.
The presentation of this medal, the only one to be conferred by the club this year, will be made the occasion of a formal Stanford gathering at the University Club, probably about the middle of September.
President Wheelan of the Univefsity Club will make the presentation speech.
A large number of athletes will likely be assembled.

The medal is of heavy gold, with all the lettering inlaid in cardinal enamel, the Stanford color, and the wreath effect near the bottom is done in bright green enamel.
On the reverse side is engraved "Norman E. Dole, Eleventh Annual Intercollegiate Field Day, April 18, 1903.

The Hawaiian star. (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, September 09, 1903, Image 6
Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI
Persistent link: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015415/1903-09-09/ed-1/seq-6/

RIDING THE BREAKERS.

LAUNCHING THROUGH THE SURF.

BATHERS AND THEIR GUARD.

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