Black Sunday Rescues

A police alarm had gone out and men from the surrounding district were speeding to the scene along with doctors and ambulancemen. But as usual it was the lifesavers who bore the brunt of the job. Every reel was in use and many club members worked without belts. Some commandeered floats from people on the beach and took them out for exhausted surfers to cling to.

One lifesaver manned a surf ski to brig in patient after patient and a surf boat was battling over the wild break, to help those victims scattered farther out to sea.

While the water was still being cleared, club members worked in relays to try and resuscitate the unconscious. Unconscious surfers were laid in rows, like the wounded brought in from a battlefield.