A season in clubs of modern times differs greatly from 1916 times, when for beach activity it consisted of the Xmas encampment, and potentially for Easter...as far as beach campers (and our 'surf' club history) were concerned.
Based on RLSSQ and QASA parameters, swimming (or 'natatorial') activity was conducted during summer, obviously.
Brisbane baths at that time consisted of the South Brisbane Drydocks (constructed in 1881); Spring Hill Baths (1890); the Booroodabin Baths (1896), and the Towong Baths (1909)...and these were filled from the river. Other enclosures along the river such as Sherwood and Mowbray Park were built on the bank of the river as tidal enclosures.
One needs to keep in mind when considering a 1916 established life saving club's tale, the 1900's restrictions on beach bathing which were only broken down in the early part of that 20th Century...with the first Sydney clubs only established in 1907 (In 2007 we celebrated nationally, the Year of the Life Saver) .
On the beach over that 1915-16 Xmas holiday 'season', two local "reel squads" were formed.
The Bli Bli squad was led by Hjalmari Hannus, and the Maroochydore squad by the newly elected Treasurer, the former log rafting Jack Parry (who also purchased land in the 1915-16 Cotton Tree sales).
HJALMARI HANNUS – FOUNDING (INSTRUCTOR - BLI BLI) MEMBER
Founding member Hjalmari ‘Zola’ Hannus was born in Finland in 1898. He arrived in Australia on 23 January 1900. After a short stay in Chillagoe in Nth Qld Zola came to Nambour’s ‘Finsbury’ settlement at Image Flat. His mother re-married after the death of his father in February 1907, to Johann Anderson in 1910.
The Foundation day Bli Bli squad which he led morphed into the Bli Bli sub-Branch on 13 March 1916 to take a team to Brisbane’s Barry Cup in April 1916, and continued under his instruction and captaincy until he enlisted for WW1 on 9 May 1916.
Severely wounded after fighting in 7 battles, Zola came home 27 May 1919. He died aged 32 on 16 September 1930.JACK PARRY – FOUNDING (ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVE) MEMBER
Jack was elected the first Hon. Treasurer of the Club; was the first Instructor of the Maroochy squad (the Bli Bli squad being the other); was recognised by the Royal Humane Society through the RLSS in London for his part in the first rescue on Maroochydore Beach; and he bought land in the first sale at Cotton Tree. He remained on the committee of the Swimming and Life Saving club in season 1916-17.
John Henry (Jack) Parry was born in Lincolnshire, England, on 14 December 1881. The family emigrated in 1888, and settled in Buderim, where his mother’s brother Price Jones had found his paradise. After the Buderim mill closed in 1888, Jack joined his brother Ted, (14) and father to live and work at Pettigrew’s sawmill in Maroochydore.
From the age of 12 then, Jack worked. As a raftsman with his brother Ted, they guided chained together logs of timber down the Maroochy River from the mouth of Eudlo Creek, ensuring none went down the wrong channel and over the bar. Dependent on the tide this sometimes required an overnight stop on Chambers Island for the lads, to await the next favourable tide.
When the flood of 1893 and the economic conditions of the 1890s saw the closure of the mill in 1898, Jack first went with the family to live on Perren’s Rosemount farm, until his family bought their own property on land where the Nambour Hospital stands today. After his marriage in 1909, Jack bought 40 acres at Highworth, but 2 crop failures required him to return to Nambour where he worked at the mill; operated his own fruit shop; was involved in a family partnership leasing the Royal George Hotel; and worked with Lou Collins, to open the kiosk for Collins at the Cotton Tree camp grounds (1914).
It is no doubt through this last enterprise and his knowledge of the district, that saw 35 year old Jack play such a prominent role in the early foundation times of the club, and other community organisations. Jack was a foundation member of the Nambour District Band, and later, in 1914, was one of the promoters of the foundation of the Queensland Ambulance Transport Brigade (QATB) at Nambour. With no children of his own, Jack was nevertheless recognised as ‘father’ to many local youngsters.
At the real age of 61, Jack enlisted for WW2 in 1941 (putting his age down to do so), and spent 6 years in the army, spending some of the time in New Guinea.
Jack died in Nambour, aged 87, on 17 March 1968.