Interview With Mark Paterson In 2021 /

Summary

Mark was born in 1940 and after his education worked for 25 years for Customs and shipping agents at the Fremantle Wharf, in liaison and documentation for clearing goods off the wharf. He loved his job. In 1957 he was only a few years behind the first group of Perth boys to come down, mainly on weekends, to surf at Yallingup. The boys slung hammocks between trees above the beach or slept in their cars, and commonly lit small fires to heat up tins of baked beans and braised steak, and frequented the Dunsborough Bakery. The locals regarded them with suspicion as they witnessed their dedication to catching waves. Local boys who were tradesman and who surfed had a reputation for being unreliable. As the small band of early surfers discovered new surf breaks mainly down the coast from Yallingup–all different and with different attributes depending on weather and wind direction–getting a surf in was not always a walk in the park. There was a need for a high level of fitness often requiring walks through thick scrub, longboards cushioned by a towel on the head, plus all other gear, to perhaps arrive at a cliff top thus adding to the exertion, mainly the climb up again. Mark covers the main surfing breaks from the north near Cape Naturaliste to south at Augusta and comments on each. He explains the evolution of boards, the materials they were made of and their changing shapes. His own journey is covered in some detail and, to a much lesser extent, the heights his sons have reached in their dedication to their sport. In 1989 Mark and Marie shifted from Perth to live at Yallingup in a very comfortable home which has evolved from a modest flat at the base of the big hill above the beach with its imposing houses. Two of their three boys live locally and their daughter and eldest son live in Perth. As a matter of interest, it deserves a mention that the sport of surfing was included for the first time in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. These were held in mid-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.