In 1934, during the month of either July or August, Edward Arthur (Ted) Parker of 18 Schofield Avenue, Earlwood, became the first person in Australia to water ski. The epic event occurred in Hen and Chicken Bay, Sydney Harbour, behind a three pointed boat powered by a 22 horsepower Johnson outboard motor. The boat was driven by Carlisle Arlington Rochester of Burwood. The skis were made by Ted Parker’s neighbour Doug Facoral, of Undercliffe, who was a patternmaker by trade and the skis were made from photographs seen in American Magazine “Popular Mechanicsâ€. The design was copied and a pair of shoes securely fastened onto the skis for foot grips. Ted Parker was aged 20 at the time and was born in Sydney on the 11th of February, 1914.
In the post-First World War period, aquaplaning was extremely popular in Sydney with rivers and inlets providing safe skiing conditions. The Narrabeen Lakes in Sydney was a popular venue between the two World Wars. The Hawkesbury River was at that time not developed as a water skiing centre – that would come in the 1950s. Meanwhile, photographs of aquaplaners regularly appeared in the newspapers of the 1920s and 30s. Aquaplaning was largely a pastime for those who could afford it, that is, those who could pay the cost of hiring or buying boats, buying specially made aquaplanes and other equipment, and contributing to the fees and expenses of belonging to a social club – sometimes yacht clubs, which promoted the sport. Any competitions of the time in aquaplaning were purely casual, with no sets of rules or guidelines to make the sport other than simply a day’s social fun for aquaplaners.
It was a popular belief that the first Australian to ski was Carl Atkin from Darwin in the N.T. who in 1936, while visiting Sydney skied on Sydney Harbour. Then the Second World War curtailed any further skiing activity until the 1940s when the era of Bill McLachlan, Jack Murray and Reg Johnson took over to set the sport on fire as we know it today. Reg Johnson, a taxi driver from Sydney, was the first person to water ski after the war and he started on the Hawkesbury River. As a cab driver he used to work shifts and have plenty of days off. It was through this that he used to invite people up to the Hawkesbury and amongst the first he invited were Bill McLachlan, Jack Murray and Ray Leighton. Their first experience of water skiing was when the Hawkesbury River was in a flood and was all muddy and not a very impressive sight, though once up on skis they were hooked. And so the story of water skiing in Australia unfolds.
It was not until after the Second World War that water skiing began in earnest as two points of the Hawkesbury River near Sydney; Sackville and Wiseman’s Ferry. These particular parts of the river have long straight stretches of water; they are tidal and are bordered by lush green banks. They are, in short, ideal for water skiing. At these locations, water skiing began to blossom into a sport not exclusively for the well-to-do. One could hire or share a boat, skis and equipment at the towns of Sackville and Wisemans’ Ferry. Water skiing encouraged the powerboat and trailer making industries – an entirely new holiday and recreational ‘scene’ began to grow. Generally, a party of skiers might go up for the day, or camp over the weekend – thus enjoying picnicking as well as water skiing. It was this democratic and easy way of conducting skiing which permitted it to become a nationwide sport in such a comparatively short time.
One of the more spectacular developments of water skiing in Australia took place at Surfers Paradise on the Southern Queensland coast. There, on the Nerang River, an imitation Cyprus Gardens ‘Sea World’ (the original in Florida USA) was developed, with aquatic attractions including marvellous displays by individuals and groups of water skis and of course, the predictable water ski ‘ballet’. Nonetheless, Sea World offered full-time water skiing opportunities to professional skiers and those who wish to gain experience of a wide range of water skiing events.
This article was reproduced from “Water Skiing in Australiaâ€.
Courtesy of Bob Wing.
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