Midget Farrelly

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

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.

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. 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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