1963, Pearl Turton at Palmy from the “Surf and Underwater Girls Series” newsreels

Dug up from the bowels of the British Pathe Reuters Historical Collection by PLB’s archive detective Ian Lording.

Six minutes of gold here, but for the life of us we can’t get the sound to work, which is a bummer.

Nevertheless, it has everything from the local milkman (glass bottles) to Pearl and her mates (and brother Ron?) cruising the dirt roads of Sydney’s Palm Beach in the Morris Major for a bit of surfing  - just a shame the producers couldn’t have waited for a better day - and a catch up with Pearl at work.

And it's all topped off with a jaunt way north to the Barrier Reef for a spot of diving and shell collecting.

A newsreel for British cinema and TV, they had a pretty good budget by the looks – the Poms were rather enamored with Oz beach culture at the time. And fair enough!

TAKE THE TRIP HERE

The run-down from the British Pathe site:

SHORT SUMMARY:

YOUNG AUSTRALIANS LINE PEARL TURTON, TYPICAL OF THE SYDNEYSIDERS WHO START EVERY DAY REALLY EARLY.

DECRIPTION:

 SHE'S BEEN RIDING SURF-BOARD FOR TWO YEARS, AND, AT SIXTEEN, IS ALREADY A CHAMPION.
SOME SIXTY-THOUSAND SUCH BOARD, IT'S ESTIMATED, ARE USED ON AUSTRALIA'S BEACHES... AND PEARL TURTON OWNS HER OWN. SHE TALKS ABOUT THE QUALITY OF WAVES, THEIR SIZE, THEIR POTENTIAL, HOW THEY CAN BEST BE MASTERED. HERE IS THE THINKING OF THE AUSTRALIAN OUTDOOR GIRL.

THE BOARDS, LIGHT AND EASILY MANOEUVRED, COST ABOUT 40-POUNDS EACH. THE AUSTRALIAN SURFING ASSOCIATION HOPES THAT SYDNEY MIGHT BE THE VENUE FOR WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS NEXT YEAR.

THEN COMES HER WORKING DAY - AS A COSMETICIAN IN A SYDNEY PHARMACY. AND IN THE TROPICS, TOO, THERE'S THIS GROWING RUSH TO THE SEA. HERE IN QUEENSLAND, WE FIND ANOTHER SYDNEY GIRL, VAN LAMAN, WHO JUST ABOUT LIVES IN THE WATER.
SHE'D GONE TO HERON ISLAND, OFF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF FOR THE RECENT CONVENTION OF UNDERWATER ENTHUSIASTS. THEY WERE NUMEROUS CONTESTS... AND THE CHANCE TO SKIN-DIVE, SPEARFISH, PHOTOGRAPH, AND COLLECT SHELLS.