In the late 1970s, Rob “Wedge” Francis helped his classmates get water out of a disused pool in Pymble, Sydney, with an old trash can.
After that, he said the Australian skateboard “was vertical”.
“We kept throwing ourselves until we discovered the physical mechanics of throwing ourselves against a wall,” he said.
“You felt like a rock star.”
For more than 40 years since they tied sandpaper to their boards to hold on to, the skateboarding culture that Wedge and his teammates helped forge has become an Olympic sport.
But the heart and soul are still the same and these guys in their 60s are still skating, albeit with some injuries.
Matthew Thomas, Rob “Wedge” Francis and Chris Hatten skated Sydney and Melbourne in the 1970’s. (ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)
“Everything else disappears”
Wedge said when he started skating in 1975 it was a “way,” but he still wasn’t in popular culture.
“We didn’t know what it was. It certainly wasn’t defined,” he said.
“Skateboarding culture wasn’t a word until 20, 30 years later.”
Although some had concerns, skateboarding grew in popularity during the 1970s. (Source: Robert Francis)
Without the skate parks or bowls that are commonly seen today, he said that “if you wanted to skate, you practically had to create it.”
“Everything else just goes away,” Wedge said.
“We skated down the street, the local gas station, there was an overflow, then we found a roof of a toilet block.”
Inspired by American skating magazines, Wedge and his teammates began to shift to a more competitive and dangerous form of skating that is commonly seen today.
Pymble Pool Causes ‘Brain Blast’
Matthew Thomas was in a skateboarding competition in Sydney, which appears in the Youth Group music video for Forever Young in the mid-1970s.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to search, up and down arrows for volume. Clock time: 2 minutes 2 seconds 2 m 2 s Australia’s first skateboarding competition, circa 1975 (Source: ABC Archives)
“Everyone was riding super flex [decks]and we were on wooden tables, “Thomas said.
“It wasn’t skateboarding as we knew it.”
Thomas said he later discovered the Pymble pool which took days to “figure out how to skate”.
“This was a brain explosion of the deepest order,” he said.
“His influence on Australian skateboarding is very real.”
Wedge appeared in skate magazines, included here during 1975. (Supplied by: Robert Francis)
The “almost unforgivable” pool drives evolution
Melbourne skater Chris Hatten said the reputation of the Pymble pool has grown, although “by current standards, this pool is almost unforgivable.”
“With five feet of green and three feet of transition, that means you have to climb to the top, your acceleration down is phenomenal and then you have to change direction, 90 degrees, instantly,” Hatten said.
Matthew Thomas said he pushed skaters to modify and develop new boards.
“You couldn’t buy anything. They weren’t in stores. I imported a board from America,” he said.
The Pymble Pool became a popular, though infamous, skating bowl in the 1970s. (Supplied by: Robert Francis / Mark Scott)
“I used to stick sandpaper on the tables to give it grip.
“Wedge came up with an amazing board where he took it out; I think he made the first concave board.”
Even with the innovation, the Pymble pool proved too difficult and Thomas said it “ended my skating career.”
“I got my spine done. I ended up having surgery on my spine,” he said.
Competitions and companionship
More skateboarding bowls were built and competitions were held, including the 1979 Australian Championships won by Wedge.
Skater Peter Aitken in Pymble Pool Bowl in 1978. (Supplied by: Robert Francis / Mark Scott)
“Maybe the first three of us who were competing to win the competition … I would train my teammate so he could beat me,” Wedge said.
“Everyone takes care of each other. There are a lot of unwritten rules. No one gets used to sticking.”
Wedge said he got the “dream job” and became a professional skater, but the broader culture took decades to develop.
“Skaters are everywhere and it has become respectable,” he said.
Artist Jo Travis, also known as N2O, produces works for the Moss Foundation. (ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)
Wedge now runs the Moss Foundation, a charity that will auction art at the Gold Coast Mint Art House on Saturday evening to fund new water wells in Africa.
“The mix of art and skateboarding is a culture of solidarity,” he said.
“Unlike the fact that girls and women have to go to a mud pond to find water for their families, we are helping to reduce disease, but we are also empowering girls so that they can receive an education.”
Catharsis couple
Thomas said the separate skateboarding cultures that emerged in Sydney and Melbourne 40 years ago helped shape the current scene.
“Two cultures develop in exactly the same way,” he said.
“When you go to a bowl or a skate park, there’s a hierarchical order and there’s respect and there’s a transmission, it never ends.”
Hatten said that after going his separate ways, he finally came across old skating teammates like Wedge about 15 years ago and has since stayed close.
“Getting back to grips with all those guys was the most cathartic thing I’ve ever done,” he said.
“His skateboarding styles were the same as 30 years ago.”
Robert Francis was one of, if not the first, professional skaters in Australia. (ABC Gold Coast: Dominic Cansdale)
Wedge said he was still such an enthusiastic skater, but he cared.
“When you get to the big bowl and come in, it might be the last one, especially when you’re 60,” he said.
“I’m skating to stay now. You have to respect that.”
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Posted 1 hour, 1 hour ago, Friday, June 17, 2022 at 11:29 PM, updated 1 hour, 1 hour ago, Friday, June 17, 2022 at 11:58 PM