Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly
Born
Bernard Farrelly

(1944-09-13)13 September 1944
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died6 August 2016(2016-08-06) (aged 71)
Royal North Shore Hospital
NationalityAustralian
Other namesMidget
Occupation(s)Surfer, designer, shaper, board maker
Known forFirst world surfing champion. Farrelly Surfboards
Height5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
SpouseBeverlie
Children3 - Priscilla, Johanna and Lucy.

Bernard "Midget" Farrelly AM (13 September 1944 – 6 August 2016) was the first world surfing champion.

Farrelly, was the first Australian to win a major surfing title, the 1962 Makaha International Surfing Championships, the unofficial world surfing championship of the day.[1] In 1964 he won the inaugural World Surfing Championship at Manly Beach in Sydney.[2][3][4]

Farrelly was also the first president, in 1961, of Australia's oldest surfboard riders club, Dee Why Surfing Fraternity, which still operates under the same name today.[5] He presented a ten-part television series about surfing in Australia, The Midget Farrelly Surf Show, for the ABC in 1967.[6]

Farrelly was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985 and into the Surfing Walk of Fame at California's Huntington Beach in 2007.[7] Farrelly died on 6 August 2016, aged 71, from stomach cancer and liver failure.[3][8][9]

Farrelly was posthumously inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Warshaw, Matt. "Makaha International Surfing Championships". Encyclopedia of Surfing. Carlsbad, CA: Surfer Magazine. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  2. ↑ Carroll, Nick (2000). "Midget Farrelly profile". Surfline. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
  3. 1 2 Warshaw, Matt (7 August 2016). "Remembering Farrelly". Surfer. Carlsbad, CA. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Warshaw, Matt. "Farrelly, Midget". Encyclopedia of Surfing. Carlsbad, CA: Surfer Magazine. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  5. ↑ 1960 Dee Why Surfing Fraternity, www.dysf.com.au. Retrieved 7 August 2016
  6. ↑ Matt Warshaw, The Encyclopedia of Surfing, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005, pp. 193–94.
  7. ↑ "Midget Farrelly". Sport Australia Hall of Fame. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  8. ↑ "Australia's Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly, surfing's first world champion, dies at 71". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Limited. AAP. 7 August 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  9. ↑ Bungard, Matt (8 August 2016). "Australia's first world surfing champion, Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly, dies aged 71". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Adamski, Kat (12 June 2017). "Boardriding pioneer Bernard 'Midget' Farrelly honoured for his service to surfing and surf lifesaving". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 June 2017.


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