Surf museum receives valuable donations from Quiksilver

QUIKSILVER has recently donated 45 rare surfboards to the Australian National Surfing Museum (ANSM).

The latest acquisition means the ANSM now has a collection of more than 200 boards.

ANSM projects and tours officer Gary Dunne said Quiksilver’s generosity allowed the museum to give a much greater overview of Australian surfing history.

“Quiksilver had accumulated a fantastic collection of boards going back 80 to 90 years, representing all the major eras in board evolution in that time.

“It means people can come here and really look and see how boards have changed with authentic and really good examples throughout the eras.”

The boards donated range from the hollow “toothpick” boards that were standard in the 1930s and 1940s, to Simon Anderson’s tri-fin boards from the early 1980s that still influence the way surfboards are made today.

Quiksilver started accumulating the boards about 15 years ago.

The surf company employed renowned surfboard collector Mick Mock to visit auctions and select a range of the boards with historical relevance.

Yet Quiksilver stopped displaying the boards some time ago.

Head of winter sports Jeff Sweeney said the company did not want to have these important pieces of surfing history hidden away in storage.

“We’re happy for them to be on public display because there’s such rich history in the surfboards.”

The ANSM was started through donations and contributions, and Mr Dunne said it was fantastic to see people and companies continuing to help it thrive.

“It’s just an invaluable contribution to the museum.”