76. AUSTRALIAN MARINE DIVERS 1960 - 1972 in pictures

1964

Fathom mag #3 (1972)  The first Coral Sea trip for divers.

Ron and Val Taylor, Walt and Jean Deas, Vic Ley, and Roy Bisson were aboard.

Fathom No.3 (1972)

1964

1964

Chesterfield Reef trip (1971)

Middleton Reef trip (1972 and 1973)

Kenn Reef trip (1970)  Walt Deas picture of his wife Jean.

Ron Taylor (1964)

self (1965) 

Ron Taylor live narration shows at the Union Theatre (1967-1968)

Riversong captained by Wally Muller (b. 1930)was the one boat sufficiently brave or reckless enough to explore The Swain Reefs (un-chartered until 1965) and Saumarez Reef in The Coral Sea.

Specifications

42 feet in length 12' 6" beam (approx.)

Built-in 1947 by W. Beatie of Mackay Qld.

Timber - Spotted gum  6" heavy planks   1.5" thick deck planks

48 HP Gardiner engine delivered 8 knots.

4500-pound holding capacity freezer (for fillets).

Ron Zangari wrote of the first free divers to The Swain Reefs.

Ron Zangari photographed by Ben Cropp (circa 1962)

Ron Taylor's documentary (1964)  Good quality and sound.

Grey Nurse shark jaws (circa 1964)

Spear fishing aboard Riversong (1964)

New Skindiving Paradise (new edit) Heron Island 1963

Ron Taylor at Fitzroy Lagoon (offshore Gladstone Qld) 1964

South Australian shark bite survivor Brian Rodger. (1964)

Alexander and Roy Muller - sons of Captain Wally Muller.

Grey Nurse shark speared at Wattamolla, Sydney circa 1961

Ted Louis and Dave Rowling (both at the left, top, and below) were the leaders of that era.

        Ben Crop with the poison injecting syringe on a spear.

Ron Taylor, (right), homemade equipment.  Kurnell  NSW

Plongees - a French underwater magazine noted for color covers. A brilliant portrait of the new CMAS World Champion. Ron Taylor held in French Polynesia (Tahiti) 1965

Ron Taylor and his Sydney skin-diving team appear in The Shark Hunters documentary.   

Ted Louis, Blue groper possibly at Jibbon bombora.

 



John Gallagher has been able to add information (May 2019) to ID people in the 'Fish at Heron' group picture, Heron Island 1957.   Mr. Les Price was a film cameraman and 16mm film-making mentor for young Ron Taylor, whose first film was the black and white television 1961-62 special "The Shark Hunters" with Ben Cropp - the first underwater shark hunting movie, at a time when Grey nurse sharks were thought the common man-eaters - thought so by the media.  A time when making any shark ID was difficult for even professional fishermen.

Ron followed with a color film "Skindiving Paradise" in 1965 for the Queensland Government Tourist Bureau despite featuring massive spearfishing scenes at a resort.  An example of the attitudes then.

"New Skindiving Paradise" (2018) is a shorter edited version. (Quality is poorer due to generational losses from the original - this version meets with Valerie Taylor's approval - below).

Valerie in 'New Skindiving Paradise' (2018)

The mini-book "Sharks and other Predatory Fish" (1959) by Peter Goadby offered the first illustrations to help separate dangerous sharks.  Goadby declined a request to reprint the shark drawings in the Fathom sharks issue.

 

75. TERRITORIAL SHARK DISPLAY (Avon Isles, 1971)

Roy Bisson swim flippers record a hasty retreat.

Grey Reef shark (at the time commonly referred to as a Coral Sea Whaler shark by Ron Taylor and I) made repeated charges at us while being filmed by two cameras. 

Shark could have bitten except we concluded the intention was for us to leave the area.  Shark was defending reef territory.  

Most likely explanation was we were first free divers at Avon Isles (commonly referred to by myself is other publications as the Chesterfield Reefs (for simplicity in the 10-pages newspaper series documenting this voyage). 

TSMV Coralita had untaken this expedition to French Territory in The Coral Sea.  Months later Taylor's Innerspace TV series episode titled  Ruby Thatcheri detailed this expedition. as a search for a valueable and therefore rare sea shell known to exist in the region. 

                                       Volute thatcheri (centre)
 

Sea Frontiers magazine (publication of The International Oceanographic Foundation, Miami, USA) published the details in an article by myself.

Despite being injured by a non-lethal defensive spear attack by ny father JM Harding, the small shark persisted with territorial rushes or charges - filmed in 16mm.

Freediving with this shark were  R.Ibara Ph.D;  R.Bisson (Fathom magazine);  JM Harding (senior);  A.Murayama and myself.

TSMV Coralita.  79 feet. Twin engines. Four crew, 16 guests - later reduced to maximum 12 guests.  Launched in 1969.  Pioneered international guests for 10-day live-aboard scuba expeditions to The Coral Sea.  Bay Travel, See and Sea, La Mer Diving Expeditions and others including Fathom magazine (Australia).

Gannet has not seen many human visitors.

As the editor Fathom magazine

Ron and Val examine 35mm footage.

Captain-owner of TSMV Coralita, WG Muller in 1971