The surf club is honouring 100 years of surf lifesaving and community stories, writes Brigid Collaery.
Over the past year, we’ve been gathering photos and stories from community members about Coalcliff Surf Life Saving Club. What has emerged are some fascinating stories about this vibrant community surf club.
Before 1970, the surf club was mostly made up of working families from south Sydney suburbs who first had tents, and then shacks, as weekenders at Coalcliff. In the club’s early days, very few families had cars so most would travel down to Coalcliff on the steam train on a Friday afternoon after school. Jimmy Dalmer, the club’s longest-serving current (and still very active) member, described his mum preparing the bags and food for the weekend on a Friday while the kids were at school, and the family meeting up with his father at Mortdale or Hurstville station before climbing aboard the steam train to Coalcliff for the weekend. Many of the families hailed from Botany, Tempe and Mascot, Kogarah, Bexley and Rockdale.
At its peak, there were 110 shacks at the Coalcliff ‘camp’, so the population at Coalcliff really swelled on the weekends from the 25 or so coal-miners’ households. Jimmy and his wife Jenny, whose family was also part of the surf club from when she was a child, describe Friday nights with everyone getting together in the club house. There was a record player, a piano and table tennis. During the day, everyone would be swimming and surfing and the active patrol members (men and boys only back then) would be doing their surf life saving training and drills. On Saturday nights the clubhouse would fill for dancing and fun, and the adults would play Housie (Bingo).
Once you were at Coalcliff, everyone would just join in whatever was happening at the beach, and the clubhouse was really the hub of the community.
The only fresh water available was from the surf club tanks and you had to be a club member to access the water, so every family was a member!
On a Saturday morning, the ‘Iceman’ would beep his horn at Roby's shop on Paterson Road and the kids would race across the beach with a sugar bag to collect a block of ice for the ice chest to keep food cool for the weekend.
Shack life was busy with carrying water back from the tanks, washing in tubs, filling the kerosene fridges and stoves, and cooking on a primus stove.
The shacks were rustic with painted hessian walls lined with unbleached calico.
There were community pan toilets in two locations at Coalcliff and the ‘shit-carters’ would come by in a truck to take the cans away.
On Sundays, everyone would be on the 5pm steam train back to their suburb. Jimmy recalls the train driver would sound the horn when nearing a tunnel so passengers could close the windows to avoid coal soot blowing back into the carriages.
In 1967, this idyllic weekend lifestyle came to an end for most of the camp families when, despite 15 years of opposition from the Coalcliff shack community, Council ordered the demolition of the shacks. It was the end of an era.
After that, active club members built a bunkhouse behind the surf club so they could continue to come down for weekend patrols.
Only a few of the families bought places at Coalcliff. Jenny’s parents, who were close to retirement at this time, bought a house in Coalcliff so her family were lucky enough to move down there permanently. To this day, those who spent their weekends at Coalcliff in their younger years keep in touch and visit Coalcliff. Some former members have had their ashes scattered at this ‘place in the sun’ that is full of happy memories.
Today Coalcliff is a small, active surf club despite the camp being long gone. This centenary year, we have plenty on to keep us and the community busy. One of the great things about surf clubs is their intergenerational nature, which is very special in what can be quite a ‘connected’ but disconnected society. At Coalcliff, we have five-year-olds up to 85-year-olds actively involved on the beach and in the club in some way.
In February, we’re kicking off with the Dave Winner Beach to Bombie Swim on Sunday 4th of February, which is open to the public and is also the first swim back after the break for our Ocean Swim Club. We welcome all members of the public to join the Beach to Bombie Swim, at which there will also be a special Lifeguards category.
Our centenary dinner will take place on Saturday, 17 February at Panorama House, and anyone connected to Coalcliff is welcome to book a ticket. The next day, Sunday, 18 February, our Ocean Swim Club will be doing a Rainbow Swim – and there’s still more!
Come and join us and check out our events at www.coalcliffslsc.com.au
