A surf life saving club that experienced an astonishing rescue and endured a devastating clubhouse fire is poised to mark a century of community service.
Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club will release a limited-edition book on Saturday, November 19, to start a summer-long celebration that will also include historical reenactments and a gala dinner.
MOOLOOLABA Surf Lifesaving Club, 100 YEARS 1922-2022, involved three years of research, writing and design.
Jim Hoban, who wrote much of the book with his wife Sue, reflected on the club’s amazing history, including an amazing rescue in the 1960s.
“Mooloolaba is generally regarded as the safest beach on the Sunshine Coast but in certain conditions it can be treacherous,” he said.
“This led to some epic rescues, particularly in the days before motorised rescue craft.
“One of the most extreme examples was a three-hour rescue carried by two members in 1961– one of whom had only recently obtained his Bronze Medallion – in 20-foot seas.
“Members of the public lined the foreshore and the headland.
“The rescuers and the patient were washed about a mile out to sea as repeated efforts to get surf boats out through the break failed.”
The club called neighbouring Maroochydore and Alexandra Headland SLSCs to help but their boats could not break through either.
Local lifesavers Dave Houston and Darryl Payne eventually managed to bring the tourist back to shore, with the help of a reel and extended line, and with the assistance of a member from Alexandra Headland.
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The club grew out of the Mooloolah River Sports Club, which staged carnivals for Buderim farming families who holidayed at Mooloolaba.
At the sports club’s meeting in 1922, Percy Jakeman raised the issue of beach safety, as the nearest doctor was “15 miles away over bad roads” at Nambour.
So, the sports club provided patrols that summer before the Mooloolah River Sports and Life Saving Club was established.
They built the only surf lifesaving clubhouse north of Kirra in 1923.
The club gained its first surf boat in 1930 and operated with relative success for coming decades, before it experienced a devastating event.
“One of the darkest days in the club’s history occurred in March 1979, when a fire broke out in the kitchen and destroyed much of the old clubhouse,” Mr Hoban said.
“A mammoth fundraising effort by a much-reduced core of members followed, which in just 18 months raised enough to allow the club to rebuild.”
The MSLSC became just the second surf club in Queensland to capitalise on a relaxation of gaming and liquor laws, in 1992, to set up a Supporters Club that is now the major source of fundraising for surf lifesaving activities.
The lifesaving club boasts 1425 members, with Mooloolaba lifesavers completing 14,000 volunteer patrol hours and performing more than 1800 preventative actions and rescues per season.
The Surf Club Mooloolaba Supporters Club has more than 260,000 visitors annually and more than 50,000 members.
Mr Hoban said the club benefited from several major contributors.
It was essentially founded by W.F. Bell (a Buderim farmer, who was the inaugural president of the sports club and then the lifesaving club), Percy Jakeman (who served as president for 27 years), Vince Crosby (a long-time treasurer), and Frank Venning (who helped establish the club as the head of the Royal Life Saving Society of Queensland).
“By far the most influential and enduring figures in Mooloolaba’s history was lifesaving legend Arthur Parkyn,” Mr Hoban said.
“He joined in the mid-1920s and went on to serve the club for the next 80 of its 100 years.
“And one of the greatest contributors was Joe Western, who joined in 1960.
“For 30 years of his 61-year membership, he was an active competitor while also serving in key administrative roles. His wife Judy was also a key figure during the tough years after the fire.”
The book launch will coincide with the unveiling of a 100-year Historical Walk in the Supporters Club. The celebrations will continue with a historical re-enactment 1st Patrol and Surf Sports display on January 14 and a Gala Dinner on May 6.
The book is $50 and available to pre-order online via Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club or from the club’s office from next week.
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