Wayne Winchester’s love of surfing began in his early teens and he’d live for the weekends when he could head to the coast to spend hours in the surf. He never dreamed that his hobby would lead to a lifetime career and the creation of a world class surfboard gallery.
“I started fashioning my own boards when I was a teenager and I then started making them professionally in the mid 1970s,” Wayne says. “It was an exciting time as I shaped all sorts of boards just to see how they performed.”
Back when Wayne set up his first Perth-based workshop, Liquid Dreams, surfers were considered society’s dropouts with more surfing enthusiasm than cash so Wayne would often accept old boards as part payment for one of his custom-made boards. As the years passed Wayne realised he had a significant collection of old boards.
“I started to gain an appreciation for these vintage boards and could see their potential as a collection. I have more than 150 of them now and around eighty of them are on display at my gallery. They start from the 1830s with primitive planks from the Pacific Islands up to boards from the present day and there’s a surfboard for every year from 1962.”
Wayne’s carefully curated ‘Evolution of the Surfboard’ exhibition opened to the public earlier this year and already several thousand people have marvelled at the collection. Housed in Wayne’s new Surf Gallery between Albany and Denmark in WA’s Great Southern region, it’s a masterfully curated collection of surfboards, skateboards, photographs and memorabilia presented in a manner akin to a prestigious art gallery or museum. In fact, Wayne took inspiration from Tasmania’s MONA Museum, drawing on its attention to detail and being more than expected.
“I’m also a qualified maritime cartographer, so my need for exacting lines and deliberate details is perhaps a bit OCD, but the results speak for themselves. All the surfboards are treated like valuable paintings and hung and lit accordingly. There’s a room for each decade with written explanations about the changing surfboard design and the evolving surf culture.”
The nod to MONA goes past the physical as, like the iconic Tassie museum, The Surf Gallery is a private venture making it Australia’s largest publicly displayed private collection of vintage surfboards.
“The feedback from visitors has been amazing and many comment on its world class quality and how it’s an unexpected surprise to see such a gallery tucked away on the south coast of WA. We’ve had visitors from all over Australia and some have been past owners of boards. It’s quite emotional for them to see their old board now lovingly restored and beautifully displayed.”
Wayne’s exhibition also works to tell a story, evoke memories and spark dialogue between intergenerational visitors. Grandparent or grommet, hippy or hipster, surf bum or surf pro, you can follow the journey of surfing while taking your own personal journey at the same time.
If you were born in the ‘60s or ‘70s a black and white photo of a Holden station wagon or panel van topped with layers of longboards may have you recalling the days before cars had seat belts. You may also be reminded of nights when you’d reverse into a bay at the drive-in and drop down the tailgate to watch a movie with your ‘steady’.
Or, if you’re viewing the ‘80s collection, the vividly coloured boards will evoke memories of fluro coloured clothes, puffed shoulder pads and power suits. Wayne adds that, “if boards from the ’80s had a hairdo it would be a darn big one”.
And you certainly don’t need to be a surfer to drop in or enjoy the gallery. Wayne’s adjoining Surf Shack is the perfect spot for coffee and cake for tourists passing through or locals catching up.
The Surf Gallery is located at 50750 South Coast Highway, Youngs Siding, Western Australia. Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 4pm.
