Taking a trip down surf memory lane

The exhibit looks to engage people learning about surfing culture for the first time to those reminiscing on days gone by.

The Australian National Surfing Museum (ANSM) recently unveiled a new exhibition looking back at the vehicles surfers have used to chase waves over the decades.

Museum co-ordinator Evelyn Whitelaw says visitors have responded very positively to Waves and Wheels – A Celebration of Surfaris in the short time it has been open.

“It’s been fantastic. You hear people just walking in and going ‘Wow,’ because it’s a really bright, colourful and dynamic exhibition. So, visitors are absolutely loving it.”

The exhibit includes a range of artefacts, images, objects and film footage showing the many intriguing ways surfers have moved from tarmac to sand.

This includes some unique relics, including the door from a funeral hearse that was used by a South Australian boardriders club and a tyre from the first vehicle ever to drive into Bells Beach.

Also featured is footage from surf movie maker Jack McCoy shows weird and wonderful clips of surfers and their cars.

Others share their own unique stories with visitors through listening stations.

There are also many vintage photographs and models of cars used to get surfers and their boards to the beach.

The museum even provides a “panel van experience”. Here people can enter a model “surfmobile”, complete with a dog, a screen showing a video of a trip down the Great Ocean Road, and classic surf music from the 1960s.

Surf Coast Shire councillor Martin Duke said the exhibit captures a wonderful slice of history.

“The classic surf wagon or panel van was a huge part of Sixties surf culture. The Waves and Wheels exhibition takes you back to that time and tells some fantastic local stories.”

Tomorrow (Friday, January 3), the ANSM is also hosting a special curator talk and screening of Pacifico. The film, directed by Robert Sherwood, follows Australian Surfers Christian Gibson and Chris Gooley on their epic six-month road-trip from California to Patagonia.

This event will take place at 7.45pm, with tickets available from eventbrite.com.au.

The exhibit will run through to December 2020.

The museum is open 9am-5pm seven days a week.