ENLARGE PHOTOS........Maybe goes to 1955 or more.....CLICK ON A 1940s SONG (Juke Box BOTTOM RIGHT) THEN CLICK 'here' The 1940s was a huge transition time for us kiwis and the beachs were infrequently visited and many were still isolated
1941 Lofty Blomfield One of Whangarei's more colourful characters who had 2 equally colourful surfing sons 'John' and 'Ross' both good surfers......but was Lofty a very big guy.........
Holy c..p....look at how much higher his shoulders were!!...ha! Lofty was the top wrestler in NZ around the 1940s.....they even gave him a big silver fern emblem...Ha!!
1945 Hilda Cooney (left) Mikes mum Even though it was still the war years...they were still pretty 'snappy' dressers ...weren't they!!!.....NZ had a very conservative attitude in the 1940s tho....and the US and Aussie surfing culture was totally unheard off by the regular kiwi.....
good ol' Waipu Cove 1940...didn't they know there was a war on!!...ha! all those classic old cars..& that shop hasn't changed much...has it!!....this was 73 yrs ago!!..even tho its a very popular surfing beach today..in 1940 it was a totally empty surf line-up..amazing eh..no such thing as anything that resembled a surfboard
1946 Langs residence Langs Bch...photo taken from the 'Langs' home Langs Beach was actually known up until the 1940s as 'The Cove' or 'Smugglers Cove', as all the illegal rum supplies used to come in here......Langs situated in the Northland Bream Bay area...now an awesome beautiful surf spot...............
1947 awesome Bream Bay....home of the Marsden power station and awesome wave set-ups... just a few houses...thats about it!....still looks pretty rural even today...beautiful part of NZ...sparkling white beaches...warm summer water...prevailing wind S/W offshore....
working on the new Bryderwyn by-pass...1940
1949 Waipu Primary School Dave Ryan, Mike Cooney, Les Mckay...we all would have been in that classroom 3 or 4 years later..they dont look all that 'untrendy' do they for 1949!!....a typical rural school in NZ in the '40s....your stories probably similar to this......
Ruakaka 1947...interesting looking rivermouth then!! Hardly a house to be seen!!.......Ruakaka in the middle of the Bream Bay bite....home to a new surfclub in the 60s
Ruakaka 1949..barren!!!
Pataua 1949 Check how the river used to flow past frogtown!! .....and no footbridge!.....locals will appreciate this photo, as it became one of the most awesome waves of the 60' pioneering days......a 20 minute drive from Whangarei.......
Horahora 1949 Totally barren coastline...and very isolated....east coast Northland...off Whangarei....but also home to an awesome wave....
1948 Ocean Beach.....Bream Head Northland.... My dad 'Leo Cooney' soakin up the rays at Ocean Bch in 1948..imagine the road out to there in 1948!!....or to any beach around NZ for that matter....I guess this was the first visit to Ocean bch for me & my brother..Bro Phil would have been about 5yrs old
The road out to Ocean Beach 1947
1947
The Matapouri and Tutakaka area 1946....with Pataua way in the distance!! ....East coast Northland....awesome untapped surf potential.........
close-up...Matapouri.....Ocean beach in the far distance...1946
and here's the bustling township of Matapouri in 1946...Ha!! ...probably what your beaches looked like in the 1940's....
Matapouri today...2013 ....ah progress is a beautiful thing!!!!.....look at that sand build-up on the rivermouth...just waiting for a solid swell...
Robert Wells Junior, with the Armstrong children....Matapouri 1946 good swell that day!!....
Matapouri ..1945
Sandy's and Wooleys Bay 1947
The Wells kids...Woolleys Bay 1949
Sandy Bay 1946...must have been high tide!!...one of Northlands iconic surf spots... Can anyone really claim Sandy Bay to be..... their beach!!.......some say it had the 'Pullman' family heritage linked to it...........well.....lets have a look!!...cant see anyone in this photo!!!!!!
but hey...wait a minute!!....here's Mr J Pullman making concrete blocks on the beach front in 1947!! Very impressive...making his own concrete blocks...under the beach pohutukawas...amazing!!....the Pullman family have a spot in 20th century Northland folklore...........
How cool is this photo...Mr Pullman making concrete blocks right on the waterfront... with a nice little wave peeling off down by the point!! Ha!... Sandy Bay Northland xmas 1946
and here's the Pullmans cottage in 1946... just imagine if that was 2013...and this is your beach..no one to hassle you.........well....thats how it was for them!! awesome!!
this photo was taken from a spot called 'Pullmans Hill' 1946 Awesome....imagine a surfing family having a hill named after them...pretty special!!...
A crowded day at Sandy Bay 1946!! The Wells and the Jackson family with Sandy bay all to themselves...and how cool is that car!!
The Wells and Jackson family...stressed out ...fighting off the crowds...summer of '46....Ha!!!! I wonder if some of us might know those little guys today..they'd be in their late 60's.......let me know!!!.....how many beaches around NZ would have looked empty like this in the 1940's...amazing!!..
A very lonely looking Sandy Bay in the summer of '46....sianara!!!!
Found this really interesting story in this book about the 'Sandy Bay' Pullman family..... .....there's probably other surfing families around NZ with similar stories...let me know!!..
Sandy Bay was originally called McPhee Bay around 1900 Later called Pullman Bay and finally Sandy Bay........
Jack Pullman..sounded like a very hospitable man!! Loved the surfing crowd!!...
The story of the Pullman brothers
another brother Bruce Pullman
Fascinating early surfing history at Sandy's
Great history of Sandy Bay in Northland...awesome!!
this picture would be pretty close to the Pullman brothers surfing in 1940's-50s at Pullman Bay
now....what about the rest of the country...1949 Auckland ferry terminal As a family we would catch the ferry across to Devonport (Takapuna) for a day out (no harbour bridge)..This reminds me a little like the Sydneys ferry service still looks like today!! Heaps of surfers catch the Manly ferry to go over for a surf to Manly!!
Ahipara 'shippies' (in the far north of NZ).... winter of 1935
Ahipara 1910 Back in the early 1900s....this was where they loaded all the Kauri gum...and there's a paddle-steamer(or similar!) behind them, like the one that sunk and gave it the name 'shippies'...or shipwreck bay!!
1910..classic photo of a 'clean' shippies breaking over 100 years ago and the guys have no idea whats going to happen in 50 years time...the first surfboard on those classic waves....cowabunga!!!..
A barge...laden with gum......'shippies' west coast Northland.... about to to pulled out through those waves by the steamer in the distance
Ahipara 'shippies' 1917 imagine rowing this little narrow boat out through the surf at Ahipara ...fully laden with gum...wouldn't want a sneaker set to come thru..would you!!!!
Ahipara 1920 Can't see any shipwreck there...can you!!!.......no, this place was still called Ahipara in 1920....but the wrecks there somewhere!!
Ahipara 'shippies' 1922 it intrigues me why they would take a flock of sheep down to the beach...a swim maybe!!!!...Ha!!......
and here's 'shippies' in all its glory 1925 Waves peeling down the point ...1925....awesome.......as a bullock team makes its way around the rocks....how cool!!!
ever wondered where Greg Alach got his muscles from!!! ....Greg...a local Northland surf boy who had the classic surfie ..build..tan..and blonde hair look of the '60s....you may have known someone like that!!!....well, they have that lucky DNA..as you can see above....Uncle Alach!!!
well now you know where they get their build from..... 1940s NZ premier physical culturist.....good old uncle Mat!!....maybe you've got heritage like this too..lucky b......r Ha!!
Paula, Carol and Rod Haywoods dad (Paul)...in his spitfire..1942 England... some of our parents had a pretty amazing background..'Buddy' was Rods mums nickname..Paul was in combat in Britain'..awesome..the Haywoods were quite a significant family in Northland in recent times..son 'Rod' still has his '62 Atlas woods
Paul a few years later with son Rod.... at our wedding 1971....Rod sure ain't gonna go bald...with all those wavy golden lockes...Ha!!
Paul (on right) looking a hell of a lot like (son) Rod!!!
the 1940s also had a few unusual twists in it.... Like the forming and major promotion of the NZ communist party...when we heard about these people called communists as little kids..it scared the crap out of us....even tho we didn't even know what a communist was..we were just told to stay away from them
and guess where the best wave was in the 1930-40s...Waipu rivermouth....why? Because the Waipu river was an estuary...a harbour if you like, and they would have heavily dredged out the river entrance....hence awesome banks....thats the Waipu bridge on the right!!....sadly..shipping ended early 50s.....Waipu..Bream Bay Northland
Thats the Waipu bridge in the background... Remember....the bridge was the main road to Auckland until the bypass came in around the late 70s....the bridge was our swimming hole..we would jump off it every weekend in the 1950s!
Some of these ships would have quite deep drafts... Im'e sure they would have dredged the river mouth at least 20ft deep....imagine the waves!!!......sadly another lost awesome wave to progress ..(lost...just like Omaha Bch off Wellsford!!)
Whangarei Harbour ...Onetree Point 1949 of course Whangarei and Marsden Point became the local shipping stop-over!!...
Ruakaka-Onetree point 1949 just a rural simple farming community.....
Marsden-point..Ruakaka 2013 ah....progress is a beautiful thing...Ha!!
Can you believe this...Waipu Cove 1947 'Alaia' surfboards were big in NZ in the 1940s and 50s.....interestingly..... Lala is a word found in the Hawaiian dictionary meaning ‘the controlled slide in the curl when surfing on a board.'
Waipu Cove 1947
now who's this little 18mth old surfer (to be!!).... cute little Don edge ...1940.....one of the surfing legend 'Edge' brothers..
Mike Cooney 1948....and has no idea what was in the future...like all of us!!!! I was keen on rugby tho...because my old man played...probably yours did too...
shippies 1946…..there's only one thing missing in this scene……a surfboard!!! some cool dude drove out to shippies….pitched up his tent…and just hung out at the beach…very cool!!!
now thats one cool set-up…..shippies 1946
top of 90 mile Bch 1946…..those old model A's could go anywhere….
Oakura 1949
when your sawing a peice of timber next ...stop complaining..Ha!! on the way to Oakura .....1940
they should have made 'Avitar' in the Waipoua Forest...ha!!
Victoria Street...Dargaville ..1945
Cross-cutting a massive log ..West Coast
Kamo 1949
Bank Street 1946
Whangarei Town Basin 1946
Waipu 1947
Waipu and Bream Bay 1947
Langs 1949
Waipu Surf Life Saving Club 1947
John Burns 1940s...
This website is totally non-commercial.
However i like to tell everyones story and if that includes telling about what you do,then..so be it! We dont have to make the 'golden buck $' in everything we do in life you know...sometimes its nice to do something for nothing!! This website operates under the banner of 'Fair Use', meaning, we believe that freely accessing your history is your right, as long as it is not profited from. There is always someone who wants to make money from memories....'not us'..Memories are sacred, and not to be profited from.
signed....old people
Fair Use Act 1976
Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.Should you wish to share content from this website , please just acknowledge the website...thanks