In 1909 the Newport ‘township’ was located on the shore of Pittwater, near the wharf. The surf beach and adjacent land was privately owned, part of the Farrell farm.
Despite this, a surf lifesaving club was formed at Newport in December that year. The driving forces were the various families that had built weekenders in the vicinity.
Newport was not the first surf club on the Northern Beaches. That honour had gone, not surprisingly, to Manly two years earlier. However, Newport does have at least one claim to a surfing first – the first women’s belt and reel surf rescue team.
As soon as the club was formed, so too were a men’s and a women’s belt rescue team. The teams trained alongside each other, probably sharing the same gear.
The women’s squad included Annie and Elsie Brennan (daughters of Professor Christopher Brennan), Muriel Bulfin (from the Newport School and Hotel), Alto and Olive Corner and Doris, Francis and Winn Hope.
Later in that inaugural 1910 year, both teams competed at a surf carnival at Dee Why. This was another pioneering move, being apparently the first known participation of a women’s belt and reel team in a surf carnival anywhere in the world.
The seas were very large and, as is often the case at Dee Why to this day, there was a lot of seaweed in the water. This played havoc with the swimmers’ lines, weighing them down and making the swim for the ‘beltmen’ very difficult and dangerous.
It would have been an interesting gathering back at Newport that evening. The women’s team had made it to the buoys, but the men’s had not.
Richard Michell is the vice-president of the Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Historical Society and the secretary of Friends of Dee Why Lagoon. Visit mwphs.com and fodyl.asn.au respectively.