​Middleton surfing “mecca” needs iconic surf status

Rebecca DiGirolamo, Sunday Mail (SA)

May 5, 2018 9:00pm

​

 

SOUTH Australia could become home to Australia’s largest national surf reserve —

a 40km stretch of coast south of Adelaide that includes the state’s recreational surfing “mecca” — Middleton.

 

The Encounter Coast Surfing Reserve Steering Committee are preparing a submission to the National Surfing Reserve Board (NSRB) to establish a national surfing reserve from Parson’s Beach in the west to Goolwa Beach in the east.

The proposal includes about 22 popular surfing and body boarding spots including Waitpinga, Boomer, Knights and Goolwa beaches, Horseshoe Bay, and Middleton Bay.

“If approved it would certainly be the largest (national reserve) in Australia,” NSRB chairman Professor Andrew Short said.

​

Professor Short said NSR status would not affect how people use the coast, nor did it come with any statutory requirements in SA.

​

However it would give local surfers more of a say on controversial developments, like deep sea oil drilling and tuna farming, in the reserve area.

“We’re not about keeping anyone out of the water but a reserve like this gives surfers who have an historical and cultural connection to the area the chance to become key stakeholders in anything that affects our coastline, our surf breaks and our ability to surf,” Encounter Coast Surfing Reserve Steering Committee chairwoman Nisa Schebella said.

Ms Schebella said the first European surfers were recorded using wooden planks and ironing boards as surfboards 1924/5 from Petrel Cove through to Middleton.

​

“Economically, surfing contributes enormously to the area, especially Middleton,” she said.

“A town like Middleton exists for surfing alone really. It’s a mecca for surfers of all levels from all over Adelaide each weekend.”

SA’s first world-pro surfer Jarrad Howse recalls a childhood of weekends spent in wetsuits surfing Middleton’s break. “It’s an important part of South Australian surfing history,” he said.

“This is the home of surfing in SA,” Middleton local Vance Gordon, 47, said.

​

Vance’s father Jock, 84, and Vance’s sons Fraser, 11, and Sullivan, 9, represent three generations of surfers riding breaks along the proposed reserve site for the past 60 years.

There are 20 national surfing reserves in Australia — two of them in SA (Daly Head and Point Sinclair both in 2013).

To qualify for NSR status, the proposed surfing reserve must have quality waves, be sacred to the local and national surfing community, and have a long surfing history.

​

Nice story about Jimmy MIller..

https://www.westcoastsentinel.com.au/story/1908032/surfing-pioneer-recognised/