Interview Transcript from Illawarra Stories Wollongong City Libraries Oral History Project – Graham Yates
Interviewer: Edie Swift
Interview date 25 February 2023
Edie Swift: Today is February 25th, 2023, and I’m Edie Swift for the Illawarra Stories Oral History Project and I’m interviewing Graham Yates about the Corrimal Surf Life Saving Club and all its activities. So, if you want to start with all the activities that you do there, but we might talk about Steve, the president, what his activities are.
Graham Yates: Yeah. Well, thanks Edie. Yeah, I’m the – I’m a life member and the club historian, so I – Steve Waddell, the – is our current president of Corrimal Surf Life Saving Club.
Edie Swift: Mmm-hmm.
Graham Yates: And he thought it best to give it to me as the historian to talk about Corrimal Surf Club. Yeah, so we started in 1911.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: So we’re over 110 years old.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: One of the earliest clubs in the Illawarra. And surf lifesaving is part of the New South Wales and Surf Life Saving Australia.
Edie Swift: Mmm-hmm.
Graham Yates: And of course the Illawarra. And we have a vast number of beaches here and basically the Surf Life Saving Club of Corrimal in that community, we protect the beach for um – with the swimmers so they don’t get into trouble, and preventative actions. Yeah, it’s all voluntary and the members; that’s the basis of the club. But we also have a junior, a nipper involvement. We have over 150 nippers ranging from 5-year-old through to 13-year-old. So – and they – they have a point score every Sunday morning. They’ve just wound up now it’s coming up for the NSW championships this weekend. Yeah, we get the – the young ones involved and hopefully as they go on to get their bronze medallion, then they go on beach patrol, and they go on a roster. And um, there’s also – when they get into senior membership, there’s – there’s actually a competition that they can go in and might be board paddling, ski paddling, swimming. So, then they hold carnivals in the Illawarra and Sydney, so there’s also the competitive basis of the movement, but the main priority of Surf Life Saving is to do beach patrols and to protect the community in the water.
Edie Swift: So the life savers are during the week and then the life –
Graham Yates: Yes, yeah.
Edie Swift: lifeguards are during the week.
Graham Yates: Yeah.
Edie Swift: And then the life savers are the volunteers.
Graham Yates: That’s correct.
Edie Swift: Mmm-hmm.
Graham Yates: So you have your professional lifeguards which are basically Monday through to Saturday. But we – every club has a – a couple of – sometimes two or three – all depends on the beach and the volume of people visiting that particular beach, but they’ll have um, the volunteer will come on and help the professional lifeguards on the Saturday. But on the Sunday the professional lifeguards have – have a day off. So, it’s all – on the Sunday it’s all done by volunteers. And also, public holidays; this is done by the volunteers, so –
Edie Swift: Now, what does Steve do who’s the president?
Graham Yates: Steve Waddell is the president of the club. He virtually um, he’s – he’s the – the head figure of the club. He – he oversees everything. When they have a – a meeting every month, he chairs the meeting. So basically um, he manages the club with the rest of the executive. We have a secretary, manager and um, a treasurer. And then you have your junior activities president also. And then all the other little positions underneath like your- your inflatable rescue boat captain, the club captain, ah, yeah, all those other positions underneath. So, Steve heads the club as the – as the president of the – of the surf club.
Edie Swift: Is he elected?
Graham Yates: Yes, he’s elected. All the members – all the members on the committee are elected once a year. So, every club has a – has an – an annual general meeting and that’s – that’s done by um, election, yeah.
Edie Swift: And – and who’s on the – when they meet, who is there?
Graham Yates: It’s um, you have to be a – a club member, a paid club member. So, at the annual general meeting- prior to that, they have nominations. And then ah, they’ll actually call for nominations off the floor, but um, then we have just a general election every year. So – and that’s basically how every club works.
Edie Swift: And – and what are the committee members who are on there?
Graham Yates: The other committee members?
Edie Swift: Oh, yeah.
Graham Yates: Yeah, um, we have, like I said, the junior activities, we have a person that heads – that heads that. The – the secretary of the club, which is basically you handle all the correspondence going in and out of the club. We – we answer to Wollongong Council, that’s our – our local government. So, and then in turn, we also answer to the Illawarra branch of Surf Life Saving and New South Wales and Australia. So, it’s part of a big volunteer network. It’s one of the biggest voluntary organisations in the world, Surf Life Saving, yeah.
Edie Swift: So what do the people do who are – who are involved with the inflatables?
Graham Yates: Yeah, the person that’s the inflatable rescue boat captain or – or director, as some clubs have, you’re responsible for the- the maintenance and the upkeep of the craft and the – the engines and to make sure that’s operational ready for when we have beach patrols. And also, we’re part of a network that’s on call for after hours if they have a- looking for a person in the water or a boat that’s cap – capsized, so we – we have a – a crew that’s on standby for all that.
Edie Swift: And do you compete with other clubs like ah –
Graham Yates: Corrimal does compete.
Edie Swift: Oh, mmm-hmm.
Graham Yates: Yeah, especially the – the junior activities. We have a vast number of juniors that compete in the swim and the board and on the beach, yeah.
Edie Swift: Are they all ages?
Graham Yates: All different ages, yeah.
Edie Swift: Mmm, mmm.
Graham Yates: The under-fives – the – the under-fives and the under sixes don’t compete, but they encourage kids at that age to – um, they come in and start. Um, they have activities for the kids to keep them occupied, but they mainly start competing at seven years old right through to cadet members that are thirteen, just prior to getting your – your bronze medallion.
Edie Swift: So did you have that – were you in that boat competition?
Graham Yates: Yeah.
Edie Swift: They had um, all those um, rowing –
Graham Yates: Surf boats?
Edie Swift: The big surf boats, yeah.
Graham Yates: Yeah, our club hasn’t got a boat crew as such.
Edie Swift: Oh, I see, mmm, mmm.
Graham Yates: But for many, many years um, we had – we had top competition ah, ah, surf boats. And they – they go in the – also the Australian Surf Rowers League, yeah, that I competed – in that for 18 years in the ah, surf boats.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: It’s a very good team event, so –
Edie Swift: Did – is your building new?
Graham Yates: No, it –
Edie Swift: Oh, oh.
Graham Yates: The building was actually built – it’s one of very few clubs –
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: in the seventeen clubs – in the Illawarra that was actually built by club members. Yes.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: And even the extension on the back of the club. The club was- the current building was opened in 1959. And it’s had an – had an extension, a major extension in the eighties, but also built by club members.
Edie Swift: Gosh, when did you do that?
Graham Yates: The extension?
Edie Swift: Yeah.
Graham Yates: Ah, yeah, I actually helped in that. I was – I was a young bloke then, back in the eighties.
Edie Swift: Mmm, mmm.
Graham Yates: We built a – a boat shed. We extended the boat shed on the back and in later years we extended on the – on the top and there’s a – a big gymnasium upstairs for – for our members to use. So, it’s – it’s actually quite a big clubhouse. And to be built solely and wholly by the membership of the club was – was a big feat.
Edie Swift: So do you – did you have problems when it – during COVID? I mean, that was kind of hard, wasn’t it?
Graham Yates: It was for every organisation, not just Surf Life Saving.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: But um, yeah, we So, tackled it and um, we had all the protocols in place and yeah, it was – it was a – a bit of a – a hard task.
Edie Swift: Did they come out, the volunteers –
Graham Yates: Yeah.
Edie Swift: During the Sunday?
Graham Yates: They did, they did.
Edie Swift: Oh, oh.
Graham Yates: And yeah, they – they – they adhered to all the – the health regulations.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: And yeah, we come out the other side, we were okay.
Edie Swift: Have you had some rescues because people don’t realise what it’s like in the surf?
Graham Yates: Yes, we – we’ve had some rescues just recently in the last two or three weeks because we’ve had rough seas. And it was in the media. We had a couple of rescues down at Corrimal. It’s mainly the people that are visiting the area and they’re not –
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: real sure about swimming between the flags. Or some people aren’t um, real strong swimmers and they’ll go out in the bit deeper water and get swept out with the current, so yeah.
Edie Swift: Did you take the boats out there or did they just go with their boards?
Graham Yates: They – they went with the – the boards and they were swimming. Yeah, they swam out to a couple.
Edie Swift: And they were – the people were, okay?
Graham Yates: The people were okay, yeah, they were brought back okay, which was good.
Edie Swift: Oh, that’s good. Yeah. Now, if they have sharks, do you have to know, you know, when the sharks come or –
Graham Yates: Yeah, we’ve got a siren on the megaphone to get the people out of the water, but we haven’t had any sharks at Corrimal for a while so – which is good.
Edie Swift: Mmm, that’s good.
Graham Yates: Yeah, yeah. But yeah, that’s their domain and sometimes there’s sharks out there and you don’t actually see them. But we – we have had shark alarms in the past.
Edie Swift: Do the bluebottle – like, when they come, do you close the beach or –
Graham Yates: Sometimes if it’s very bad, they will close the beach and put signs up ‘Beware bluebottles’. But um, it all depends which way the currents are going, the wind’s blowing. And the – the Portuguese man of war is the most common on the east coast of Australia. And it’s usually the tentacles that wrap around your leg or your arm or your face, and it’s very similar to a bee sting. And some people are actually –
Edie Swift: Allergic.
Graham Yates: are allergic to –
Edie Swift: Yeah.
Graham Yates: Yeah, if they’re allergic to –
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: bee stings, they’re – they’re – it’s quite common they’re allergic to bluebottle stings.
Edie Swift: And they have to get down the medic then and then they – they – do they do the vinegar or what?
Graham Yates: No. We used to.
Edie Swift: Oh, oh.
Graham Yates: We used to use white vinegar years ago.
Edie Swift: Oh, yeah.
Graham Yates: But they found the acid in the vinegar, um, it would sort of deaden it for a while, but we have just like a bluebottle lotion –
Edie Swift: Oh.
Graham Yates: we can actually spray on.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: But the best – the best thing is cold water and ice. Ice is the best.
Edie Swift: Mmm.
Graham Yates: An ice pack. Yeah.
Edie Swift: I see.
Graham Yates: It cools it and relieves the – the sting. But of course, you gotta wash the stingers off.
Edie Swift: Mmm-hmm.
Graham Yates: Sometimes there’s little stingers left on your skin, and you actually can’t see them, so you gotta wash that off and then put an ice pack on.
Edie Swift: Did you – do you want to say anything else? I think you – you summed it up beautifully.
Graham Yates: What we try and do is the nippers that come through, we try and retain. It’s very hard at the moment in any organisation to retain um, young ones, especially teenagers to go through and get their bronze and become a patrolling member um, yeah, of surf lifesaving, so –
Edie Swift: So that’s difficult?
Graham Yates: It’s difficult because they get involved in other things and then they start –
Edie Swift: Oh.
Graham Yates: they might get a job and then they haven’t got time to do beach patrols, so –
Edie Swift: Oh.
Graham Yates: um, yeah, but we lifesaving do have some long-serving patrol members and it’s quite – it’s quite gratifying, you know, that you – you can actually go down and do a beach patrol voluntary and help protect the – the community at your local beach.
Edie Swift: Well, thank you, Graham, you’ve done a beautiful job. Thank you very much.
Graham Yates: My pleasure.