The problem I had in the sixties was making satisfactory copies (or duplicates) of our slides (or transparencies). There is an art to it which I never mastered. I'd use daylight film instead of tugsten and the colors would also be excessively blue.

Plus the magazine printers in Australia were almost destroying our originals after even a single use. It was as though they were putting the transparencies on the floor and twisting their shoes over them. All came back ruined.

Maybe it was intended to give their employed photographers future work? Publishers were tougher people then.

Sending precious original transparencies to overseas photo competitions was also a risk. Nikon seemed more reputable than most and they were. I only entered a couple of competitions for fear of losing material. The 1971 Nikon bronze medal was not for the above picture. It was for a 135mm lens shot of some native kids in a canoe in New Guinea, with late afternoon side lighting.

Photo competitions are great for most people, it depends upon who the judges are and what skill or photographic eye they might have, or not have.

To be fair on all, entries must be judged in secret - without the photographer being known by name and reputation. Only then do you have a true competition.




JH on 31.10.06 @ 09:26 AM AEST [link]

THE SIXTIES ..... Aust Skindivers Magazine cover pictures

Mount Gambier silouetting Valerie Taylor. Photo by John Harding


Back to The Sixties

October 2006 will feature original text from Sea Diary (1963) interesting today as it details our first travels with friends in the era of early underwater photography when spear fishing was the main thing everyone did. This was to change a few years later as other opportunities emerged, travel and film making replaced the spearing of fish and sharks as a greater appreciation of the sea began.

This was one of our favorite expeditions. No complete 16mm film record remains today.

Back then we were traveling the coast and paying for petrol and food by selling lobsters we’d catch and fish we’d spear.

It does not happen today, fish and lobsters don’t exist in plentiful supply like they once did.

Today we'd sell photo’s to cover costs for the travels if we were doing it all over again with modern equipment.

Our 1963 planned destination were the islands off Proserpine. We didn’t get there. There was no need to venture past Yeppoon. Anyway I had an accident and returned to Sydney.

Our camping stops over some weeks were: South West Rocks, Woolgoolga, Tweed Heads, Point Lookout, Yeppoon - Keppel Islands, North West Island, Tweed Heads, return to Sydney.

The covers of Australian Skindivers Magazine 1962 to 1969, designed by Jack Evans capture the evolution in underwater photography and our attitudes.

Dead sharks are gradually replaced with live penguins and the mysterious and challenging depths of Mount Gambier's answer to the Silver Springs of Florida.

The Sixties was a most adventurous time for underwater exploring. In 1971 fathom (TM) magazine began and scuba diving instruction replaced spear fishing and shark hunting as the new opportunities as a new chapter in underwater marine awareness began.

JH on 30.10.06 @ 10:30 AM AEST [Aust Skindivers Magazine cover pictures">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....April 1968

Valerie and Ron Taylor with a 16ft sawfish. Film of it's capture and other sensational sequences are included in Ron Taylor's full length movie of the Underwater World. A special preview will be seen at Sydney's Union Theatre in May.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 10:21 AM AEST [April 1968">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE .....January 1968

Benard Gorsky, with Hassleblad camera photographs the prolific coral formations off Cooktown during the Belgian (Great) Barrier Reef expedition. Gorsky, a leading French skindiving article author, is the secretary to the million dollar, five month expedition, which includes Ron and Valerie Taylor, the only Australian film crew. Cover picture by John Harding.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 10:17 AM AEST [January 1968">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....June 1967

Another John Harding cover

I hang suspended surrounded by an immense black nothing, a living breathing creature in a dead world. Ice seeps through my warm flesh, John's bubbles rush tickling past my body racing for the surface. I long to follow but continue moving down this huge intestine toward the very bowels of the earth.

I swim down the shaft of light, it is my guide. It leads through the darkness, it becomes my whole life, this pale, cold beam shining from a molten sun.

It is my umbilical cord to the living earth, without it I would be lost; I would perish, for I am trespassing in the sterile depths of the Sunshine Hole. Valerie Taylor


JH on 30.10.06 @ 10:12 AM AEST [June 1967">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....April 1966

Rodney Fox and Valerie Taylor enter a cave clutching Ron's home-made flares! (Another fine example of Ron Taylor's photography).


JH on 30.10.06 @ 10:02 AM AEST [April 1966">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....November 1966

John Harding captures this delightful interlude in the life of a penguin. Here we see Ron Taylor (World Champion spearman and a top-class underwater photographer) showing Valerie a friendly baby penguin that made friends with the divers on a recent visit to Montague Island on the south coast of New South Wales.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:57 AM AEST [November 1966">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....October 1965

Ron Taylor - World Spearfishing Champion


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:46 AM AEST [October 1965">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ...June 1964

Valerie Heighes appears to be suspended in the ultra-clear waters of the Mt Gambier lakes. Another fine example of creative underwater photography by Australia's top spearman, Ron Taylor.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:40 AM AEST [June 1964">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....March 1965

George Meyer riding a whale shark for Ben Cropp's 16mm movie camera, Montague Island.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:37 AM AEST [March 1965">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ...November 1964

Van Cropp and her 78lb brown spotted cod speared at Hickson Cay, Swain Reefs. This fish is entered for the 1964 Mermaid Trophy. Ben Cropp managed to take the whole capture on 16mm. (This photo by Ben was taken off a colour slide).




JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:29 AM AEST [November 1964">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....October 1964

No wonder John Harding looks a bit grim. Before finally spearing this giant sea-snake after two unsuccessful shots, John had to fight for his life as the enraged reptile repeatedly attacked him. (Full story inside). Photo by Ron Taylor.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:24 AM AEST [October 1964">link]

AUST. SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE September 1964

This remarkable cover shot taken by Ben Cropp shows the clarity of the water through which from about 10ft under he caught his wife, Van Laman, looking down from the boat at a rather dead "bitie" smokied by Vic Ley! Of particular interest is the magnificent highlight on the Mercury outboard and the clear lines of the aluminium runabout "Miss Quintrex". Full story inside!


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:21 AM AEST [September 1964">link]

AUST. SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE March 1964

This 11ft 2in tiger shark was killed by Wally Gibbins with a 10 gauge shotgun head attached to a handspear. Wally shot the monster at Sykes Reef when it swam towards him after he had disturbed it while it was feeding on a stingray. The shark weighed 860 lbs and is the largest ever shot in Australia by a skindiver. (Unfortunately no record can be claimed as "smokied" sharks are ineligible for USFA recognition). Wally who came second to Ron Taylor in the Asutralian Open this year is a familiar sight around the Great Barrier Reef, with his specially designed 15ft "Diver Below" runabout, which is powered by his reliable Mercury motor. Photo by Ron Taylor.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:15 AM AEST [March 1964">link]

AUST. SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE January 1964

A sample of Ben Cropp's dramatic photography showing Ron Zangari spearing one of Queenland's young 13ft tiger sharks (previously caught by professional fishermen off the Swain Reefs).


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:08 AM AEST [January 1964">link]

AUST.SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE March - April 1963

Allan Powers (sic) and his 400 lb groper taken on a nearby island during the Skindivers Convention, November 1963 at Heron Island, Qld. A keen skindiver who can capably handle both an underwater camera and a gun, Allan will be writing a regular monthly article on conchology (shell collecting). Allan has a fine personal collection and his cowries, murex and cones are the envy of many Australian specialists.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 09:04 AM AEST [March - April 1963">link]

AUST. SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....July-August 1963

Van Laman of Dee Why with a 7-ft whaler shark speared by Ben Cropp off Coolangatta using 1 12-gauge shotgun cartridge. This day Ron Cox of the Tweed Heads Porpoise Pool, together with Ben and Van, dived on the shark-notorious Nine-Mile Reef. In her newly adopted sport of skindiving, Van is not scared by the sharks who swim around her.


JH on 30.10.06 @ 08:57 AM AEST [July-August 1963">link]

AUST. SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE cover April1964

A live-action shot by Ben Cropp of a large crayfish being caught by Van Laman off Kirra Reef, near Coolangatta (Qld)


JH on 30.10.06 @ 08:51 AM AEST [cover April1964">link]

AUST SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE ....August - September 1962

This dramatic close-up in 25 feet of water of a ray was photographed by Denis Robinson. This ray is a familiar sight to many divers at Boat Harbour, near Cronulla, Sydney. (Camera used was a Mako Shark with Kodak Tri-X film).


JH on 30.10.06 @ 08:47 AM AEST [August - September 1962">link]

AUST. SKINDIVERS MAGAZINE .....cover April-May 1962

Champion underwater photos taken by Australia's underwater champion. Ron Taylor, uses his camera not his gun to capture the beauties of Australia's underwater world.



JH on 30.10.06 @ 08:41 AM AEST [link]

FLATHEAD ...... spear fishing

Vic Ley enjoyed a nice feed of flathead from this catch


JH on 29.10.06 @ 10:47 AM AEST [spear fishing">link]

SCUBA DIVER FITNESS ...... feeding fish picture

An example of a good respiratory system and high level of fitness.

Dianne Widdowson (hostess diver) feeds trevally at the deco stop under the stern of Coralita skippered by Wally Muller.

We were anchored above wreck of SS Yongala off Townsville.

A one knot current was running. Note exhaust bubbles disappearing. Hard swimming to remain stationery.

All of the team of 12 North American divers aboard were stuffed. Unable to handle the current which some thought was several knots strong.

Admittedly it was our first day at sea and they had just stepped from a long flight.

None reached the stern of Yongala where three giant Queensland gropers were sheltering near the prop and several giant black sting ray were sleeping on the sand.



JH on 29.10.06 @ 10:32 AM AEST [ feeding fish picture">link]

FREEDIVING IN THE 1960's

A Sydney University technician and the lung measuring device

In the early sixties we were all free divers at first.

The less capable spearmen or free divers gravitated to scuba then called lung diving an abbreviation of the trade marked name aqua lung by Jacques Cousteau and the US Divers Corp.

Eventually scuba replaced aqua lung as the generic term.

As free divers we knew little of the physical limitations of our bodies.

I learned the taller and younger divers by nature have the larger predicted lung capacity. Older and shorter people have the smallest predicted capacity.

IN 1964 I did 108 feet, with lead belt and handspear – but did not need to touch the bottom.

I hit a grey nurse shark with a 12 gauge powerhead at Montague Island.

It was a shocking dive – and when still 30 feet from the surface vowed never do this depth as a breath holder again.

The merits of power-heading grey nurse sharks in 1964 were very educational and necessary.

Today there would be a $220,000 fine for anyone duplicating the deed.

If you consider that was bad, consider this, there will be underwater actions occuring today acceptable and necessary that will in forty years from now, be seen as appalling and negative.

Such is the nature of our evolution of knowledge. I have chosen not to hide past actions as little evidence remains in film libraries. Some good may therefore come from this information.

My friend Vic Ley and I went to the University of Sydney Department of Medicine to have our lungs measured for the vital capacity and residual volume. It was a free test and the only place in Sydney that offered it.

We hoped this information may help with an understanding of our limitation with deep free diving.

It emerged my lung capacity was 20% above normal predicted capacities, thanks to free diving.

Emphysema is a shocking disease. Perhaps our free diving introduction to diving will be of benefit.

Another aspect of free diving is it builds the best and strongest scuba diver.

Nobody should be allowed to learn scuba diving before they are able to free dive ten meters deep with ease.



JH on 29.10.06 @ 09:36 AM AEST [link]

KANGAROO ISLAND ..... December 1963 Championships

(Top)JH, with new Australian record parrot fish

(Below)L-R Brian Rodger, Ben & Van, Peter Kemp, Bernie, Ron & Val




JH on 29.10.06 @ 07:42 AM AEST [December 1963 Championships">link]

KANGAROO ISLAND ...spear fishing catch 1963

The Australian Spear fishing Championship was held at Kangaroo Island, South Australia in December 1963 and was well attended by divers from the east coast.

I got a ride down with Ben Cropp and stayed in his tent with new wife Van Laman, returning later with Bob Grounds and John Barlow.

Bob, John and I and were not impressed with the southern weed inhabiting species, as compared with the big pelagics on the east coast.

The lobsters were plentiful, far more so than the east coast. This was a bonus.

Standard dive gear is shown in this vintage picture. Tarzan brand mask and snorkel from France – swim fins by Turnbull in Sydney.



JH on 29.10.06 @ 07:31 AM AEST [spear fishing catch 1963">link]

TATHRA ....... spear fishing catch January 1964

(Top)Bob Grounds and Jack Evans, (Editor Australian Skindivers Magazine)

(Below)John Barlow, John Harding, Bob Grounds

We called at Tathra on the way back from South Australia. Bob Grounds noticed all the abalone and soon found a buyer in Sydney, and so began the commercial industry that exists today.

Had the weather been more favorable we would have explored Gabo Island in Victoria where the abs were even more plentiful and larger - but that is not the way it happened. Gabo Island was discovered by ab-divers a couple of years later.


JH on 29.10.06 @ 07:20 AM AEST [spear fishing catch January 1964">link]

TATHRA New South Wales ....... underwater scene 1964

Three silver trumpeter (tassies) and luderick (rock blackfish)


JH on 29.10.06 @ 07:14 AM AEST [underwater scene 1964">link]

RIBBON REEFS ...... Steve's Bommie (in 1991)

Last time I visited this location (2005) it was all different - I guess due to boat anchors and aquarium collecting.

A popular bommie located ESE of Cooktown near Number Three of the Ribbon Reefs. Along with Pixie Pinnacle and The Cod Hole all three are prime stops for five-day dive trips leaving Cairns and Port Douglas.


JH on 26.10.06 @ 12:47 PM AEST [ Steve's Bommie (in 1991)">link]

TSMV CORALITA ...... International Dive Charter Boat

Twin Screw Motor Vessel Coralita was the first boat to cater for live-aboard divers in Australia. When these pictures were taken on The Ribbon Reefs she was owned by Albie Ziebell. Coralita was almost destroyed in a serious and mysterious accident; was salvaged, rebuilt and has since been refitted and renamed.

(Below) Underwater model Sussanne Schneidewind from Switzerland in 1991


JH on 25.10.06 @ 05:22 PM AEST [International Dive Charter Boat">link]

RIBBON REEFS ....... Clown fish picture

Popularized by the Disney movie, clown fish are having tough times via aquarium nets.





JH on 25.10.06 @ 05:08 PM AEST [Clown fish picture">link]

RIBBON REEF ......... Underwater picture

Sussanne Schneidewind diving from TSMV Coralita in 1991


JH on 25.10.06 @ 04:56 PM AEST [Underwater picture">link]

NATURE: UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHY ...... Fresh water turtles

Freshwater turtles? Yes turtles (not tortoise as I’ve always thought them to be).

Beautiful, clean, fresh water, as found on Queensland’s Fraser Island.

The big sandy island north of Brisbane that acts as a huge water catchments area.

Pure fresh water and many large lakes filled with it.

An island resident referred to the mainland household tap water as poisonous.

This picture was near Central Station – about 20 minutes walk from the car parking area.
.
More than a dozen of these tiny turtles in the shallows, I was happy to have a face mask and camera there.



JH on 24.10.06 @ 05:19 PM AEST [Fresh water turtles">link]

CATCHING PORT JACKSON SHARKS ....... picture

It was that day in November 1963, when earlier that morning we learned of JFK being killed in Texas.

Later that morning Bob Grounds (pictured above) and I launched the 14 foot aluminium boat at Rose Bay and drove down to Wedding Cake Island off Coogee.

We were free-lancing for Marineland at Manly who were desperate for sharks and fish such as blue groper to re-fill their aquarium after an accident.

Port Jackson sharks were fetching the same money as any of the dangerous species and were a whole lot easier to handle.

These sluggish prehistoric remnants could survive for hours out of the water – and did in some cases, with nothing better than a wet bag over them.

As young divers we were anxious for any marine income that would help cover our costs. We dreamed of becoming professional divers, and Bob Grounds achieved that ambition better than most.

He held various state abalone licenses, worked on an SE Asian oil platform as a diver, trained other oil rig divers at his school, and today heads his company seacoatings.com

He travels more often by Lear jet rather than a 14 foot tinnie with 40 HP outboard motor.



JH on 24.10.06 @ 03:28 PM AEST [picture">link]

SPEAR FISHING 1963 .....Picture

Barry O'Brien, Allan Chamberlain, John Harding (Senior)

"Dad and I had a weekend at Point Lookout with Ben, Van, 'Bugs' and Allan. It was the first time we'd been ashore there. After spearing a few fish we explored the village.

It was the era before electricity was connected. The tiny hotel bar was lantern-lit and full of fishermen. For a few dollars we rented a huge house with eight beds for the night.

Boats and diving gear left on the beach unattended and quite safe. Everyone walked about in bare feet.

The entire island consists of clean sand, now mined extensively for minerals. No cheap accomodation today either, quite the reverse. It's now an expensive destination and you would not leave gear unattended on the beach overnight."




JH on 23.10.06 @ 06:14 PM AEST [Picture">link]

BEN CROPP and VAN LAMAN ......Picture (1963)

(Top) Barry 'bugs' O'Brien; Ben and Van Laman in AK 46

(Below) Ben and Van at Shag Rock, Point Lookout November 1963




JH on 23.10.06 @ 06:03 PM AEST [Picture (1963)">link]

SHARKS & DIVERS ...... pictures from movie film

Grey Reef shark makes a high speed rush at Roy Bisson's swim fins


JH on 23.10.06 @ 04:50 PM AEST [pictures from movie film">link]

BIG SHARKS AND DIVERS

Q."Was it really 20 feet? Hopefully not. It was the largest tiger I've ever seen"

I wasn’t going to swim up with a tape measure that’s for certain.

The smaller shark on the bottom was caught by guests on the charter boat, it was said to be nine foot long, but this could have been an exaggeration.

The big tiger shark ate the smaller shark moments after these pictures were taken forty feet away on the surface, late in the afternoon.

Our eyes popped in their sockets at the sight of such power and size.

Maybe it’s rare for sharks this big to exist these days?

Saumarez Reef, where this happened, is located in The Coral Sea, over 200 miles from the coast on the Tropic of Capricorn.

Abalone Diving Hazard

Big sharks are just one hazard faced daily by abalone divers. The shark that will chew them to pieces is a white pointer, faster and with larger triangular teeth.

While abalone divers are making seventy thousand dollars a day (phew), they face the risk of becoming dinner for a shark anyday.

The smarter divers sub-contract the work and don’t even get wet anymore. Just the same they had years of looking constantly into the hazy distance underwater.

i.e. In a best-case abalone diver scenario, if you see the shark, your reaction (whatever that may be) will probably distract it from taking a ‘taste bite’. Any sudden movement of surprise may be sufficient.

With no human reaction at all, a large tiger shark will simply open it’s mouth around you, and then it’s all over.

There are several mysterious incidences of divers simply vanishing off Cairns and Port Douglas. As a consequence not much GBR night diving is done these days.

Examples. Late afternoon and a young man makes a swan dive off the charter boat, splash. He does not surface and is never seen again. People saw him dive, but he has vanished.

Scuba instructor Doug Smith goes spearfishing for the dinner table and simply vanishes. His weight belt and speargun are found nearby underwater, nothing else.

To experienced shark watchers, these disappearances point to a large shark feeding. People who study shark situations are often frustrated when the coroner does not find the cause of death to have been due to a shark.

To others this is understandable and an effort to spare relatives any further grief.



JH on 23.10.06 @ 04:47 PM AEST [link]

TASMANIAN ABALONE BOAT (1988) .... picture

JH on 23.10.06 @ 11:23 AM AEST [picture">link]

BROWN SPOTTED COD ....... photograph

Great Keppel Island, Queensland

A fathom (tm) print




JH on 22.10.06 @ 12:29 PM AEST [photograph">link]

ABALONE COLONY ........ underwater picture

New South Wales abalone on the south coast, showing how they were once found, packing into every available crevice, and grazing in the open.

There are at least eight of the now highly valueable shellfish seen here in this picture from the mid 1960's.




JH on 22.10.06 @ 08:31 AM AEST [underwater picture">link]

ABALONE ..... Underwater "goldrush" of the Sixties

(Top) Tathra Wharf, southern New South Wales, a starting point (1961)

(Below) Typical abalone bed, Tathra (1963)


JH on 20.10.06 @ 12:39 PM AEST [Underwater "goldrush" of the Sixties">link]

AUSTRALIAN ABALONE DIVING (1968) .... magazine pictures

Everybodys Magazine 24 April 1968 pages 8-10

"Divers are being paid 40 cents per pound at Mallacoota, and an underwater goldrush has begun" by Bob Staines. Pictures by John Harding.

1968 to 2006. From forty cents to fifty dollars!

Forty cents per pound was for abalone meat without the shell. Today divers are paid about $50 per pound.

www.abc.net.au/arts/signal/stories/s515782.htm







JH on 20.10.06 @ 12:33 PM AEST [magazine pictures">link]

PRO ABALONE DIVERS .....

An Australian Spearfishing Champion who competed in the World Championships, Cuba (1967). Former president of Sans Souci Dolphins spear fishing club in Sydney.

Johnny Black (above) is one of the first abalone divers to be based at Mallacoota, Victoria in the mid 1960's. He acquired a license in the early days when the town was wild and the abalone diving a tough way to make a living.

Value of the former free license's is today about $7 million which guarantees a gross income of $700K per year.

Licensed divers are permitted to take about 20 tonnes of abalone per year, each. With the value being about $50 per kilo whole weight.

Some Mallacoota locals say a new, better system would be to share a quota amongst, say, more people with each given a three tonne allocation, thereby distributing Australia's natural resource amongst more people. Such a system would distribute the wealth better and may even benefit the town more.

A diver can harvest one tonne of abalone in a single day with good weather, which will earn $70 thousand.

A lottery to decide who the new additional license holders will be, much the same as taxi licenses have been given out, was suggested.

Regulating and watching many more new divers (to ensure any part of their catch is not sold on the black market) would make policing of any new system hard work for state fisheries inspectors.

"A greater sharing of what is really a natural resource owned by all Australians would help and is long overdue" said an un-named Mallacoota resident.








JH on 20.10.06 @ 10:41 AM AEST [link]

AUSTRALIAN SPEAR FISHING in 1960's ..... two pictures

Len McLeod was the Australian Junior Spear Fishing Champion when these pictures were taken. A member of Sydney Sea Hunters he was employed by club president Bob Taylor as a plumber and lived in the inner city suburb of Erskineville.

(above) Blue Groper at Sydney's North Head - (the entrance to Sydney Harbor)
(below) Snapper at NSW championships, Currarong, Jervis Bay in 1961


JH on 19.10.06 @ 10:40 AM AEST [two pictures">link]

SNAPPER AT NORTH STRADBOKE ISLAND fish picture

A decline in reef fish populations has been happening slowly for decades along the east coast of Australia.

Forty years ago tons of snapper were being sent to market every week. The catch today is a fraction of what it was – even with advanced fishing methods of today.

Snapper cutlets sell for $30 per kilo at the Coffs Harbour fish co-op. A healthier choice to artificially colored Atlantic Salmon cutlets sold everywhere.

Pictured: Vic Sumner and a good sized North Stradbroke Island, snapper. Geoff Bull in the background.

Footnote: Both guys are former award winning Australian press photographers in Sydney who helped make fathom magazine look even more professional during the 1970's.







JH on 19.10.06 @ 10:25 AM AEST [fish picture">link]

FISHING FOR SHARKS AFTERMATH .... picture

At Jervis Bay New South Wales, fishermen caught a single Grey Nurse shark (not protected at the time) and many wobbegongs. This evidence remained underwater not exactly out of sight to any diver.


JH on 19.10.06 @ 10:00 AM AEST [picture">link]

AUSTRALIAN ANTI-SHARK DEVICE (1963) .... picture

Twelve gauge shotgun powerhead built by Keith White was tested near Sydney's South Head, by members of the Bondi club affiliated with the Underwater Skindivers and Fisherman's Association.

The wobbegong (carpet shark) pictured, is a very large specimen - used by commercial fishermen today to replace the declining stock of better quality table fish.

Grey Nurse sharks were to become the next target as the 1960's fear of sharks was replaced by a desire to master this often termed fear of the unknown.

An unknown number of sharks (the estimates grow each year) were killed by skindivers until 1972, by then Grey Nurse were hard to find anywhere except in aquariums such as Marineland, Manly.

In 1988 the Grey Nurse sharks made a sudden and amazing return to the locations where they had been formerly hunted. One hundred sharks where previously just two or three may have existed.

The same cannot be said for wobbegong sharks. The decline in their numbers, due to set line fishing, would have effected rock lobster populations as the carpet sharks feed on octopus which prey upon the lobsters. An interesting cycle.








JH on 19.10.06 @ 09:50 AM AEST [picture">link]

AUSTRALIA'S AMAZING FRESH WATER SPRING ...picture

The crystal clear spring known as Picaninnie Ponds. This picture won a major international photographic prize. Horizontal underwater visibility is about 250 feet - as good as it gets.




JH on 18.10.06 @ 02:48 PM AEST [picture">link]

EWEN PONDS (picture) ......Base Camp

Wet suits hang on a farmer's gate for drying. An open fire provided much needed warmth as this was winter in Australia.

Our base camp for filming the vast freshwater spring. Home was in this canvas tent. Wild field mushrooms were in plentiful supply nearby.

This was the first commercial underwater filming project at this crystal water system near the Victoria-South Australian border.

A documentary (1967) The Cave Divers was sponsored by a (cough) tobacco company.




JH on 18.10.06 @ 12:16 PM AEST [Base Camp">link]

AUSTRALIA'S SILVER SPRINGS ......Ewen Ponds

Crystal clear but very cool South Australian springs. About to explore them, John Harding and Tanya Binning (1965).




JH on 18.10.06 @ 12:06 PM AEST [Ewen Ponds">link]

LOGO ............... tiny diver

copyright: Kylie Sands


JH on 17.10.06 @ 02:49 PM AEST [tiny diver">link]

DR ROBERT ENDEAN ....... Great Barrier Reef champion

Bob Endean was a regular at the Heron Island where there is a marine research station.

(The late Dr Robert Endean was the former Reader in Zoology, University of Queensland – pictured here with a crown-of-thorns starfish collected elsewhere in 1969).

Footnote: There was never a crown-of-thorns starfish problem at Heron Island.

Pictures taken underwater on the small bommie off Heron were inadvertently used to illustrate the overall beauty of the entire GBR once.



JH on 16.10.06 @ 11:58 AM AEST [Great Barrier Reef champion">link]

HERON ISLAND ...... June 1962

The island bar opened in the late afternoon back in the sixties. This was the only resort on a Great Barrier Reef coral island in those days. Kay Milburn from Sydney was on holiday then.


JH on 16.10.06 @ 11:25 AM AEST [June 1962">link]

RON ZANGARI (left) BRIAN RODGER ....Riversong 1964

Brian Rodger was the South Australian spear fishing champion who survived a white pointer shark bite through skill and exceptional stamina.

He rarely speaks about it today. The attack occured a considerable distance offshore at Aldinga Reef, South Australia. He saved his own life by making a tornique with his speargun rubber and swimming kilometers back to shore for help.

Brian was invited to join this expedition which worked very effectively around Wreck Island and within the Fitzroy Reef lagoon, just three years after his shark ordeal.

He had to experience bull sharks eating coral trout from his spear on this trip. A bit of a worry when three or four sharks are in competition with each other for food.

Twenty years later Captain Wally Muller (of Riversong) could remember exactly how many hundred kilo's of coral trout were speared during a couple of special days. It was never to be repeated.


JH on 15.10.06 @ 01:32 PM AEST [Riversong 1964">link]

CAPRICORN GROUP 1964

Product of two hours spearing by four divers, Fitzroy Lagoon, Riversong trip.


JH on 15.10.06 @ 01:26 PM AEST [link]

CORAL TROUT ....... typical size being speared

The second Riversong trip was in May 1964. An amazing number of coral trout were caught from the Capricorn and Bunker Group of reefs and islands offshore from Gladstone and Yeppoon. (JH above).


JH on 15.10.06 @ 01:22 PM AEST [typical size being speared">link]

RIVERSONG ...... Legendary pro fishing boat

Ron Taylor (left) and Vic "Snowie" Ley in the Capricorn Group 1963


JH on 15.10.06 @ 01:09 PM AEST [Legendary pro fishing boat">link]

REPLICA SHIP ....... Sailing south, yesterday

She'll cross Bass Strait with the Sydney to Hobart fleet, in late December. This was yesterday at Coffs Harbour. Duyfken is a copy of the famous Dutch ship.
See: www.duyfken.com




JH on 13.10.06 @ 09:13 AM AEST [Sailing south, yesterday">link]

"THE FIRST" GIANT MAORI WRASSE speared in Australia (1963)

In the early days it was a challenge to get close to one of these great, magnificent fish. They would always keep their distance - well away from the range of spear guns.

Vic Ley speared this one on the final day of our trip to North West Island aboard Riversong diving by day, camping on the island at night. The fish was the first large Hump Head Maori Wrasse to appear in Australian Skindivers Magazine known to chronicle any such outstanding catch.

Valerie Heighes (later Taylor) took some of the following pictures using my new camera. I lay on a stretcher under a tree on the island, increasingly delerious with coral poisoning in my leg.

By 1986 I was promoting the protection of these fish with a picture story in People magazine, (Australia). It featured a two page picture of a very large and docile maori wrasse with divers.

So large was the fish the editor had captioned the photo this is not a trick picture. The fish was one of several being enjoyed by visiting photographers at The Cod Hole on the northern Great Barrier Reef.

Years earlier in The Red Sea divers were food-training similiar sized giants. It was to our amazement such things were indeed possible.

The following pictures (this month) are all vintage material, most never have been published before. The intended purpose here is to not simply glorify underwater hunting. It is a record of fish populations, a chronicle of free diving attitudes and 'evolution' and most of all, a record of how fragile life is in shallow waters.

J H


JH on 11.10.06 @ 10:48 AM AEST [speared in Australia (1963)">link]

RON ZANGARI ........ top Queensland diver

We arrived at Yeppoon in time to see Riversong arrive with a group of Rockhampton free diving guys who had been spearing spanish mackerel around the Kepple Islands that day.

Ron Zangari (left) had been deckhand aboard Riversong for the two famous voyages made by Ben Cropp and Ron Taylor to the remote Swain Reefs. That's Ron Zangari with a tiger shark (above) as photographed by Ben.

These were the first divers to explore this vast southern extremity of the Great Barrier Reef where few vessels dared go in this era of almost no navigational aids. It was too easy to get lost there.

Wally Muller of Riversong fame was the only fishermen with the guts to go there. He had legendary status by all who knew him.

Most charfter boats were reluctant to be associated with spear fishermen for fear divers would end up as shark food.

Not Wally Muller, otherwise the following adventure could never have been possible.

(Use SEARCH for more info on WALLY MULLER).


JH on 10.10.06 @ 08:25 PM AEST [top Queensland diver ">link]

PAINTED CRAYFISH ....... tropical lobsters

Happiness is a warm lobster for lunch




JH on 10.10.06 @ 08:00 PM AEST [tropical lobsters">link]

MORAY EEL

JH on 10.10.06 @ 07:56 PM AEST [link]

PERFECT WEATHER ....... 50 miles offshore

Ron Taylor and Vic Ley, champion free divers


JH on 10.10.06 @ 07:53 PM AEST [50 miles offshore">link]

TRIGGER FISH

JH on 10.10.06 @ 02:56 PM AEST [link]

GIANT HUMP HEADED MAORI WRASSE ......the first in Australia

One very proud Australian spear-o



JH on 10.10.06 @ 02:54 PM AEST [link]

MAORI WRASSE ....... The last day

(above) nearby Wilson Island - 50 miles offshore
(below) Filming Snowie's wrasse

Snowie speared his maori wrasse, over 120 pounds, late on the last afternoon at Broomfield Reef.

The fish was kept on ice, photographed in better light the next morning, on the way home at Keppel Island.


1st September Today was our day off from fishing. It was spent in beautiful sunny weather under a cloudless blue sky. Went for a bit of a hobble with Snowie the morning looking for a couple of chooks to shoot.

We didn’t see any cats until the sun went down. There are dozens of wild domestic cats as well as hundreds of chickens that live high in the tree's and fly like eagles (....sort of) to avoid the cats.

I spent nearly all day laying down on my stretcher with this lousy knee of mine. Hope it gets better soon.

Ron, Val and Snow went looking for sea shells. I think Ron is going to make a B&W movie on shell collecting.

The two old shell collectors who are in the hut are nice people. They have been here for three months. I read a bit of a book called The Coast of Coral and got a bit of a laugh at the bits on spear fishing. It was published in 1956.

2 September (No entry, too sick)

3 September (No entry, still too sick)

4 September Wally Muller arrived here again this morning. He analyzed my knee as a touch of coral poisoning.

Luckily he had on this, his return trip, brought along some LEDERKYN SULPHER tablets.

Wal radioed a doctor back on shore and received instructions from him.

I have to drink plenty of water and take a pill every eight hours (on the dot).

Looks as though they intend staying here at N W fishing for another three days.

Boy will I be glad to get out of this bed. I’ve been laying here ever since Saturday.


The End

Footnotes: Valerie took my camera for the next three days and got a few pictures for me.

I was in a bad way with an injured leg. Unable to stand upright due to pain, I had to crawl along the beach to “go to the toilet”, for six days.

The nearby grave of someone buried on the beach years ago was not very comforting when you feel like dying.

I can think myself “lucky” Wally Muller arrived back at the island after three days. When he left he said he’d back back in either three days or maybe 10 days.

Not a chance in the world of my lasting that additional week without treatment. No phone or radio. No help.

I was a bit delirious with cold shivers, in a sleeping bag in the sun. A lump in my groin about the size of a hen's egg was the lymph gland blocking poison from travelling further.

It seems to have been caused by neglecting to treat the numerous injuries received from handling fish, and by coral cuts and scratches - all becoming infected after hours in the tropical water each day. I was under a false illusion that sea water healed or treated injuries. Not with coral. It gets worse.

Imagine the fate of people in shipwrecks years ago on these reefs. Even a small cut can be fatal when untreatable.

Next day at the hospital in Yeppoon they suggested they'd lance my still swollen leg. The sulpher tablets were working and every day now seemed easier.

(A few blow flies within the hospital turned me off spending any time in bed there. No air con in those days)!

I don’t remember additional details. I must have caught a flight back home in Sydney.

Perhaps the sulpher tablets worked without other treatment? This was still a few years before anti biotics were easily available.

A little side-effect of the sulpher treatment is potential kidney damage.









JH on 10.10.06 @ 02:42 PM AEST [The last day">link]

CLEANING OUR BOAT ...... North West Island

Most of the spears were in bad shape after first three days




JH on 09.10.06 @ 03:53 PM AEST [North West Island">link]

Giant groper ....... about 120 pounds

JH on 09.10.06 @ 03:51 PM AEST [about 120 pounds">link]

BROOMFIELD REEF ...fish collection for future science

Many experts of today, doubt former fish population figures

31 August Well the strong southerly winds we expected last night didn’t come. In fact only a light N E has blown all day. We were onboard the Riversong at 7:30am and our skipper Wal took us down to Broomfield Reef again, only this time on the opposite side to yesterday.

We stayed in about 30 feet of water nearly all day. The first impression that we got of the reef wasn’t too good. But within a matter of minutes Ron and Snowie had a big brown spotted cod each.

Ron’s was slightly larger than Snow’s which was 90 pounds and Ron’s about 100 pounds. I got a smaller flourey cod on my first shot. We took a couple of underwater photo’s with our Calypso’s then went on with our fishing.

I watched Ron shoot a nice blue spot coral cod about 40 pounds or more. Snowie and I reckoned it was 50 pounds but Ron said it was probably only forty. I wish he would have broken the Australian record of 50 pounds held by Ben Cropp.

I shot a big maori cod in a cave. The shot was a little too far back though and he snapped the spear line and took off with the spear sticking out of him.

We also noticed a couple of big moray eels about five to six feet long. They were whoppers. I noticed four baracoutta swimming near the Riversong, but unfortunately didn’t have a gun with me at the time.

We got eight cod today – three brown spotted and five flourey cod. Snow says that so far we have speared 40 cod between us. Over half of them, over the 60 pound mark!

I noticed a couple of small reef sharks and Snowie saw a whaler about six foot.

I buggered my cartilage in the right-hand knee cap yesterday while trying to straighten a spear over my knee. Confined to the stretcher tonight.

Snow shot a chook and we ate it for tea.

(Valerie boiled it in seawater. The bullet passed through both legs of the chook)!



JH on 09.10.06 @ 02:28 PM AEST [fish collection for future science">link]

PAINTED CRAYFISH .......JH catching tropical lobster

JH on 09.10.06 @ 12:06 PM AEST [JH catching tropical lobster">link]

SEA SNAKE ....... migrating Stokesi? - dangerous

JH on 09.10.06 @ 12:02 PM AEST [migrating Stokesi? - dangerous">link]

ABOARD RIVERSONG

29 August The wind kept blowing all night and at dawn we arrived on the reef of N W Island. We decided to get stuck into fishing as soon as we had a bite to eat. Loading all our gear in the boat we set off and spent most of the morning fishing around the S E side of the island known as The Fish Tail.

The fish we were after are coral trout and they weren’t very plentiful. It wasn’t long before Ron had a 120 pound Queensland groper in a cave. He called me over in the boat and I gave him another gun and he put a second spear into him.

Back on board we found that the spring on the rewind (recoil spring) starter had broken and we couldn’t get the motor started so Ron and I attempted to row back to the Riversong. Then my oar snapped so we had to call out for help from the Riversong.

Snowie and I thought the motor could never be fixed – but Ron had other ideas. He sat down with the motor and pulled the top to bits and finally when he got to the broken spring took took it out and with the aid of a Porta-Gas stove, shaped a new piece in the busted spring.

Ninety minutes later we set off again to do some more fishing. Ron took some still photo’s of his big cod and also a couple of me holding a couple of painted crays (lobsters) underwater. He also took a couple of shots with my Calypso.

We fished hard during the afternoon to get some more fish to help pay for the trip – but those coral trout were scarce. I got a nice brown spotted cod in a cave but need Ron’s spear also to subdue him (50 -60 pounds).

Saw five sharks today, three reefies (white tipped reef sharks) and two whalers (bull sharks) largest only six feet.

30 August As I sit here and write this by the light of a lantern I can hear the waves breaking not 20 yards away. We found the hut on the island is occupied by two shell collectors (Mr and Mrs Metcalf from Bundaberg) so we set up a rough camp just off the beach.

Since the tent was lost overboard we decided to use a piece of canvas which is usually used to wrap our spear guns up in. The people on the island seem quite friendly as they loaned us a table and informed us that there is plenty of fresh water available.

The forecast isn’t too good. There is a depression moving up from the south and should reach us during the night. Winds up to 50 miles per hour can be expected. I only hope the rain and clouds stay away.

Wally Muller is paying us sixpence per pound for all the fish we shoot – not just sixpence per pound for the fillets as we thought yesterday.

Our fishing day commenced at 7:30am this morning. We were fishing on virgin reefs in the lee of a strong westerly wind. The name of the reef is Broomfield Reef which is about halfway between Wilson Island and North Reef lighthouse.

On our first trip out from the boat we did well. Five big brown spotted cod (up to 80 pounds) Snowie getting the largest. I got three nice blue spotted coral trout averaging over 20 pounds each and also a floury cod.

Ron asked Valerie to take some movie film of the fish coming aboard Riversong.

On our second trip out we got three more cod and some coral trout. In all we got 200 pounds of fillets which equals 600 pounds of (whole) fish. I shot a sea snake and we took pictures of it. It was the first snake seen on this part of the reef. Also (very briefly) saw an eight to ten foot tiger shark and lots of turtles.



JH on 09.10.06 @ 11:53 AM AEST [RIVERSONG">link]

HUT ........ abandoned by turtle canning company

The old hut was being used, so we slept outdoors


JH on 09.10.06 @ 11:13 AM AEST [abandoned by turtle canning company">link]

SPEARGUN HAUL ...... Keppel Islands, Queensland

27 August We went out early this morning – the motor running nice and smooth with the new points installed.

The sea was dead calm and glassy. On the way we could see the sand bottom at various places in about 40 feet of water. The trip took about 50 minutes to Barren Island which is further out from (Great) Keppel Island.

Visibility underwater was about 100 feet and the average depth of water where we speared fish was 35 feet. Cod were appearing everywhere.

We got stuck in the brown spotted cod and coral trout. We swam around to the SE side of the island. Everywhere coral – mostly the mushroom (shaped) type. The water got deeper – probably around 50- 60 feet.

A school of kingies (yellowtail kingfish) swam up to me – I just could not resist putting a spear into one about 30 pounds. He really put up a fight. Fifteen seconds later three whaler sharks flashed in and darted around under me. The largest one, the biggest shark I have seen, about ten feet long. The other two about seven feet in length.

I swam over to the boat and got the kingie aboard.

We went out to Egg Rock and got some coral cod and brown spotted cod. I shot a barramundi cod about 6 pounds. Came back to Barren Island, S E side. Saw another whaler covered with sucker fish. Got a few more cod and coral trout and then moved back to where we fished originally.

Vis was only about 75 feet. Snowie got a nice big trout about 12 – 14 pounds. Then we got a cod each out of a hole. I saw two more whalers flash in but they took off when they saw us.

It was a slow trip back as a NE (wind) blew up. Back on the beach we took a few pictures and then gilled and gutted the fish. Total score 300 – 400 pounds consisting of fourteen cod up to 60 pounds each, twelve coral trout up to 14 pounds, one kingie, a wrasse or venus tusk fish about 15 pounds.

JH on 09.10.06 @ 10:26 AM AEST [Keppel Islands, Queensland">link]

BOAT TOW .......Destination: North West Island

JH on 09.10.06 @ 10:22 AM AEST [Destination: North West Island">link]

THE RIVERSONG ....... Wally Muller's legendary vessel

28 August Today was spent getting things packed and ready for our trip this afternoon.

Yesterday we swapped my barramundi cod for the hire of an old .22 fifle and a box of bullets from the junk shop over the road (from the camping ground where we are based on the beach here at Yeppoon. There are wild chooks on the island where we are going and the rifle is needed to have a feel of wild fowl).

I bought a couple more rolls of color film and we went around to the local Ampol garage and bought 23 gallons of petrol for the Mercury (outboard).

There were a lot of little odds and ends to do. I received another letter from Kay (Milburn - my girlfriend left behind in Sydney).

About 4pm we boarded the Riversong and left Yeppoon (in a choppy condition) far behind us.

Our captain, Wally Muller and deckhand Ray Secreton took us out through the Keppel Islands (we anchored in the lee of an island for tea) and then set course for N W Island. The going was a little on the bouncy side but everyone held their supper down.

I had a good little sleep out on the deck in my sleeping bag on a stretcher. There is nothing better than to lay awake watching the stars fall – an occasional satellite go over and then let the waves rock you to sleep.




JH on 09.10.06 @ 09:18 AM AEST [Wally Muller's legendary vessel">link]

FILMING TURTLE .......Man and Wife rocks

Turtle eating seaweed, Ron T. was a great breath-hold diver who did all of his early filming without scuba.
JH on 08.10.06 @ 02:48 PM AEST [Man and Wife rocks">link]

JH on 08.10.06 @ 02:45 PM AEST [link]

KEPPEL ISLANDS .....New friends; the first day

top: J H with brown spotted cod from Keppel Isles
below L-R Merv Cox, Ron Zangari, Ron Taylor, J H, Vic 'snowie' Ley



JH on 08.10.06 @ 02:36 PM AEST [New friends; the first day">link]

TWO SIXTY POUND COD ......Vic Ley ironman

JH on 08.10.06 @ 02:28 PM AEST [Vic Ley ironman">link]

SPEARFISHING THE KEPPEL ISLANDS ....."Almost drowned"

Rodney Fox was four months from making contact with 'these'

24 August (continued) In Rocky we met Ron Zangari, he will be doing a bit of (spear) fishing with us on Sunday. Merv Cox a friend of Ron Z’s will most probably come along also.

We made our way out to Yeppoon and saw Wally Muller, skipper of Riversong. We leave for Nor’ West Island next Wednesday 4pm. We shall spear fish for a couple of days to pay for our fare.

At present there is a mob of shell collectors on the island, they have been there for four months so the story goes.

25 August Ron Zangari and Merv Cox came with us this morning. We launched the boat off the main beach at Yeppoon without any bother. There area lot of islands about 12 – 16 miles offshore. The one’s we were interested in were the Man and Wife.

We dropped the picked and jumped in the water. Visibility was about 80 feet or more – it is hard to judge but it was very clear.

Got some pictures of Ron filming a big turtle and another of Snowie with a big trevally. A whaler (shark) about six or seven foot kept appearing out of the blue so I took a shot of him.

At one time you could see some big Spanish mackerel in mid-water, and a shark swimming around the bottom and sea snakes crawling about in the coral.

We got stuck into the brown spotted cod. Snowie and I both got one’s up to about 60 pounds and about 220 pounds of cod altogether.

Ron got a cod stuck in a cave, a good 60 feet down. I was helping him dive, to try and free it. Evidently I stayed on the bottom a little too long and blacked out.

The next thing I can remember was Ron grabbing me by the arm. As it turns out, Ron said he saw me sinking feet first and still kicking so he dived down and grabbed hold of my arm.

Anyhow Ron and Snow managed to shift the cod eventually. We had a rather long slow trip home, because of all the weight.

Ron had a bit of bother with the snakes. At one time there, he was bashing the surface with a gun, trying to scare off a snake on the surface.

26 August Today we got the boat ready for a good days fishing but unfortunately we had some trouble with the motor. So we decided to take it to Rocky and have it repaired. As it turned out we had a new set of points installed for a very moderate cost of two pounds and ten shillings.



JH on 08.10.06 @ 02:04 PM AEST ["Almost drowned"">link]

SHARK BITE ....... Rodney four months before accident

22 August The Mercury started easy this morning and it wasn’t long before we were off for the Nine Mile Reef. The sea was as calm as its ever been, it was almost hard to believe it was the ocean.

Clear sunny sky, glassy water. Conditions were perfect. When we arrived at Nine Mile the water was clear enough to see the bottom in seventy feet. There was however, a very strong rip from from N to S. We threw the anchor over and caught onto the ledge.

Ron and Snowie went down with the only two lungs (scuba). I watched them with my mask from the surface. They battled their way down against the current. Snowie came up later and I donned his lung and with a powerhead and spare cartridge descended down the anchor line.

I met Ron halfway and he told me in sign language there were three Queensland groper on the bottom.

As soon as I got to the ledge I went down onto the sand. The current (here) was much less. I saw two cod (groper) about 200 pounds each on the bottom. I got as close as seven feet from one but he flicked out of range of the powerhead (on a handspear).

I spent only a few minutes on the bottom and decided to come up. Valerie took a couple of pictures with the Calypso-Phot (color) when I was about ten feet from the surface.

We went back to Cook Island and Ron picked up eleven pounds of lobsters. We sold them for four shillings and six pence per pound.

Rodney Fox and his wife Kay met us at the boat ramp. They decided to come to Nor’ West Island with us. We will leave Tweed Heads for Gladstone in the morning.

23 August Rodney gave us a hand to pack up the tent and things this morning. We went around to the Porpoise Pool and said goodbye to Ron Cox, Hec Goodall and Barry O’Brien. Then we left a forwarding address at the post office and set off for Gladstone.

Stopped in Brisbane for some anchor rope and a new rig line. Had a steak and salad for tea at a place called Childers. Arrived at Gladstone about 9pm and went to sleep around the wharf (on stretchers in the open).

24 August As it turned out were unable to leave for N W Island from Gladstone and therefore have to go to Yeppoon to see Captain Wally Muller.

Rodney Fox and Kay decided they would go to Heron Island for a few days so we bid them farewell and set our course for Rocky (Rockhampton).

We made the 100 miles without breaking a windshield!

They call it the Crystal Highway up here (because of the broken windscreen glass on the side of the road. The highway is sealed wide enough for one car, so when passing a car in either direction, two wheels are throwing up stones).


JH on 08.10.06 @ 01:41 PM AEST [Rodney four months before accident">link]

LEOPARD SHARK .......Vic Ley with Calypso-Phot camera

JH on 08.10.06 @ 01:34 PM AEST [Vic Ley with Calypso-Phot camera">link]

VIC Snowie LEY ........ holds a large parrot fish

Heading for home, Ron driving the boat

20 August We departed Tweed Heads 4am for Victoria Point where we had trouble starting the outboard. After a new set of spark plus was installed it ran OK. From Victoria Point we headed across Moreton Bay in the plywood boat over glassy calm water.

The sky was blue and sun was shining. The trip across the bay, past Amity Point to Flat Rock is about 25 miles each way. There is a treacherous sand bar near Amity Point.

We anchored at Flat Rock most of the day. I was first in the water. Ron promised us we would see black kingfish and sure enough up from the bottom came three or four big beauties.

(The first I’d seen, these slender and long fish have been mistaken for black sharks by novice divers).

I couldn’t get close enough to them for a shot and to the bottom some 60 or 70 feet they vanished, never to return again.

(Well educated in the hazards associated with divers and spearguns. Some fish do know the difference between a diver with and without a speargun).

There were plenty of sawtail around and also a big black ray.

Then the sharks appeared. The first one I saw swam under me He was only about five or six feet long. Snowie shot a sawtail and another two whalers were trying to take the fish so Snow swam back and got the powerhead off Ron.

He hit one just back from the gills and it shot off into the deep. I took a couple of photos of one swimming under me and another shot of one just swimming away.

I hit one with my big gun and rig and the spear hit just in front of the dorsal but a little to one side. He tore off into the deep water taking my spear, gun and 65 feet of nylon rope and plastic buoy. We didn’t see the gun or float anymore after that.

At one time there I had three whalers swimming around under me, two of them were about six or seven feet long the other was about eight foot. That was the most I saw together at one time.

I grabbed the powerhead and tried to get close to a medium-sized one that kept out in deep water. I would take a breath and dive to the bottom some 60 or 70 feet down and look around. No shark. Then on my way up again he would always come in from 100 feet of water and have a look and turn away. We just couldn’t get near him.

Took the boat around the other side of Flat Rock. Water was much clearer here. Ron and I took a few underwater shots.

We got onto another medium-sized shark and Ron loaded up his powerhead. I managed to dive and take a close-up of him before Ron 'shot' him. He then swam away and when he returned he came straight up from the bottom and came straight at the tip of my spear.

Suddenly Ron appeared and BANG hit him somewhere in the guts. The water was filled with mutilated bits of shark. The (bull) whaler swam off into the deep again and we lost him. Then we all contented ourselves with the spearing of a few more fish.

(Re Ron ‘shot' him. I think this referred to taking a photo. The bull shark that was shot in front of me was not an injured one, to the best of my memory.

At the time I thought it was about to bite. I was anxiously jabbing toward it with my speargun – as advised by European pioneer shark encounter experts Hass and also Cousteau – but this had no effect.

Snowie thought it was a bit funny. He had a profile view. I was watching the shark and not Ron who was swimming in from behind me on my right hand side.

When the powerhead exploded the contents of the sharks stomach filled the water. At the time I felt as though Ron had saved me from being bitten but did not say anything to this effect as that might have been seen to be a bit ‘gutless’.

A far more serious shark encounter was to occur in later years, at Lihou Reef for both Snowie and Ron Taylor, which we’ll document separately).

Snowie got a couple of blues (groper), two nice parrot fish and some sawtail. I got a spanish mackerel less than 20 pounds and the rest of the catch was mainly sawtail.

Got one cray (lobster) at Shag Rock then headed home after a good day diving.

21 August Well there wasn’t much fishing done today. Dirty plugs in the Mercury
Kept us at the ramp for about three hours today. However everyone took off their shirts and we all got a good sun tan in the warm sun.

We had one pound of strawberries and ice cream for dessert tonight.

Snowie and Ron went up the street to the shooting gallery to see who was the best shot, they were betting for milk shakes.



JH on 08.10.06 @ 09:26 AM AEST [Snowie LEY ........ holds a large parrot fish">link]

FLAT ROCK WHALER SHARK ...... with Calypso-Phot, 35mm lens

My first underwater photo of a dangerous shark



JH on 08.10.06 @ 09:17 AM AEST [with Calypso-Phot, 35mm lens ">link]

RON TAYLOR ....... 16mm camera at Flat Rock

Ron Taylor, 16mm Bolex cine camera, housing of own design


JH on 08.10.06 @ 09:11 AM AEST [16mm camera at Flat Rock">link]

LOBSTER ........ Relative: Woolgoolga specimen

The Woolgoolga lobster we sold to Australia's first oceanarium at Tweed Heads, (which paid for a feed at 'The chew and spew' as the surfies called Kev's Diner at Coolangatta) was a similar size to this one which I speared off Sydney's Wedding Cake Island.

A friend cooked this lobster and boiled it almost hollow when all the meat came out through the tiny spear hole that he wasn't aware of. That didn't stop us raffleing it at spear fishing fund raiser that day.

Both Sunday city newspapers had published large picture stories promoting this raffle - to raise funds for the World Spearfishing team to go to Tahiti. (Which Ron Taylor was to win).

Incredibly I met the person who won the lobster. He "was amazed at how empty these big ones are".

It was famous documentary film maker Robert Raymond. I was always too embarrased to tell Bob the true story of why his prize was a bit of a dud. He often talked about it.

Ron Ible took this picture with my camera.




JH on 06.10.06 @ 07:54 PM AEST [Relative: Woolgoolga specimen">link]

EAST COAST SAFARI ..... First day at Cook Island

Vic Snowie Ley enjoyed collecting these specimens


JH on 06.10.06 @ 03:56 PM AEST [First day at Cook Island">link]

EAST COAST SAFARI ..... First big fish encounter

A large Qld groper learned to avoid all divers after this

17 August Ron Cox arrived at our tent about 7am today. The going over the sand bar was easy today. We anchored at Mary’s Rock at Cook Island. Ron Cox and his mate werelung diving (scuba diving) for crays on the southern side. Vis was 60 feet or better with warm water and a cloudless sky above.

There were so many species of fish it is difficult to mention them all. The main one’s being: red mowies, bream, tarwhine, small turrum, two types of makerel, blue and brown groper, parrot fish, cod, black drummer.

Snowie knocked over three blues all about 20 pounds each, a nice parrot fish about 10 pounds, three tarwhine up to three pounds each, two Spanish mackerel and other stuff.

I got half a dozen mowies and then spent the next hour getting some Spanish lobster out of a cave in 30 – 35 feet of water near Mary’s Rock.

We took a couple of photo’s I in the boat and then took our catch back to the Porpoise Pool. We sold our 75 pounds of cleaned fish for 1/6 pence per pound to Ron Cox and sold 5 of the 7 lobsters for 4/6 per pound.

Coxie bought a Balmain Bug that was still alive and placed it in an aquarium.

In all we made seven pounds for the morning.

Tomorrow we look at Nine Mile Reef. Snowie is keen to get himself a big cod.

Ron and Valerie have returned from Sydney. Valerie cooked us a terrific tea tonight. Fried Spanish mackerel, chips and asparagus.

18 August We found Nine Mile Reef without too much trouble. The was a rip running from north to south about two knots, maximum swimming speed about three knots so it was hard spear fishing.

We were diving over a ledge about 60 feet down and most fish were on the sand out of the current.

Ron Taylor shot a nice Samson fish about 50 pounds. Snowie got a kingie about 30 pounds and at one time I was surrounded by a school of kingies all between 30-40 pounds each. I hit one and he took off with the rig (75 feet of ski line with a small yellow buoy attached). We lost him when he was almost in the boat. So much for the single flopper on the spear.

I dived on a large Queensland groper which was on the sand. He turned around and looked at me as I came down. I fired but missed the spine and he took off. I passed my little yellow buoy about halfway back to the surface. It disappeared with 75 feet of nylon rope into deeper water.

I swam back to the boat. Finally we managed to get a rope abound the buoy and slowly tried to pull the cod out of the ledge he was under, the spear bent and the flopper (single) tore off. (above picture)

We speared a couple of nice sawtail each and then shot back to Cook Island where some underwater shots were taken by Ron and I.

Had a bit of a fish here for mowies etc and then went and cleaned our fish and took them up to the Porpoise Pool. We got about 100 pound of cleaned fish.

19 August Everyone was keen again today to get out to Nine Mile Reef and see what was doing.

Out to Nine Mile we went. The sea was nice and calm with no wind. But as there wasn’t any rip the water was too dirty to spear fish so deep. So we tried another place. Didn’t do any good at all there. Three sawtail weighing a total of 16 pounds.

We tried to find Five Mile Reef but it was too dirty to fish there anyway, same at Fido Reef. We shot back to the reef off Kirra Beach. Water here was utterly filthy so we decided to forget the whole idea.

Sold our fish to a fish shop for sixteen shillings which wasn’t too bad.

Spent the rest of the afternoon doing odd things, that is drawing dough out of the bank etc. Tomorrow we go to Point Lookout in search of big fish and cleaner water.

JH on 06.10.06 @ 10:43 AM AEST [First big fish encounter">link]

East Coast Safari (cont.) ..... Nine Mile Reef

JH battles current, aborted Nine Mile dive


JH on 06.10.06 @ 10:35 AM AEST [Nine Mile Reef">link]

OUR DIVE GEAR (1963) - Notes

Wet suit, face mask and snorkel are all TARZAN Espadon brands. La Spirotechnique of France - which was better equipment than anything available today. Why? The masks did not fog, the snorkel was simple and worked without leaking, or falling apart and had extra length for choppy water.

They were designed for snorkeling, not just as a spare item for scuba diving.

The wet suit neoprene rubber was softer and with a nice aroma.

This was the first of the nylon lined wet suits.

Later French equipment became too expensive (in Australia).

Then the cheaper imports began and that's what we have today - inferior gear to 1963. It seems incredible.

Valerie Taylor was to use a Tarzan Espadon face mask for maybe 25 years - until all availability ceased

The spear is a simple point machined on a 5/16" shaft with a single flopper. (A double flopper would be better).

The speargun (not shown) was a piece of silky oak timber, with an Undersee brand trigger. Sea Hornet was not yet available.

The plans "How to make a speargun" were published in Handbook for Skindivers (Ben Cropp 1962).






JH on 05.10.06 @ 06:06 PM AEST [Notes">link]

EAST COAST SAFARI '63 ...... Cook Island and Fido Reef

JH with his first spanish makerel - ever


JH on 05.10.06 @ 05:33 PM AEST [Cook Island and Fido Reef">link]

GREENMOUNT BEACH (1963) ......Coolangatta, Queensland

Blue water, white sand. The border of QLD/NSW




JH on 05.10.06 @ 05:04 PM AEST [Coolangatta, Queensland">link]

JACK EVANS PORPOISE POOL ....... First in Australia

JH on 05.10.06 @ 05:00 PM AEST [First in Australia">link]

EAST COAST SAFARI '63 ...Woolgoolga to Tweed Heads

Tweed River entrance in 1963, Cook Island in the distance

8 August On Ron’s suggested we breakfasted on ham and pea soup, Weetbix and milk. Finally we launched the boat and set course for Groper Island which is about five miles south of Woolgoolga.

The going was a little on the slow side and we were head straight into a strong southerly wind complete with moderate and choppy seas. At times waves broke over the rear of the boat.

We had our first look at coral since we left Sydney. All the formations seemed to be dark green in colour and most of it was mushroom formations. I didn’t notice and staghorn or brain coral.

Fish were scarce. Snowie was using his new big gun and got a purple sea perch and a sweetlip. We saw Ron plant a spear into a kingie (kingfish) about 30 pounds but it was a long shot and the spear tore free. We can sell kingies for sixpence per pound to professional fishermen to put in lobster pots.

Ron was telling us later that he lost a nice flathead also.

Snowie suggested we take a look at the reef off Woolgoolga Bay. Fish were scarce and we were just about to leave when I shot a groper about 15 pounds – he tore free and shot under a ledge – in doing so he knocked forward a spider lobster.

So I put on my gloves and with Ron filming the action on colour film, dived down and pulled the old cray (lobster) from her hole. We took