BEACH PATROL

Hokitika Guardian, 26 January 1939, Page 6

BEACH PATROL

RETIRES AFTER 23 YEARS

HERO OF SHARK RESCUE

SYDNEY, January: 16..

Australia’s oldest permanent beach inspector, Ronnie Bowden, lias retired after 21 years in charge of Cronulla Deach.

For two years before'that lie was permanent life-saver on Manly Beach. . Now 47 years old and-sft. ,siii. tall, Bowden is still the same weight as when he first patrolled the beaches—--Bst. 91b., . His diinminutiye statue earned him the nickname of “Brawn.” It has stuck. : - ’

In his 23 years as a paid beach inspector, Bowue.n made more than 700 major .rescues in the belt. •• - In one season at Manly he made 80 rescues. , •. 7 .... i: .

~ “Th.e rescue of. which I am proudest was made 16 years ago,” he said yesterday. • ,-s • . ■ - ■-r : ‘‘lt necessitated a swim of 600 yards , thro ugh heavy seas, using > all the : line of one reel and half another, which had been attached.

“Six people were carried out. at Cronulla,.; and only myself and a serf club member, Les. Maguire, were on the beach. . '■ . . -.m.

“We brought all back to the safety of shallow water, but one whom I left knee-deep while I swam out to another patient, collapsed from heart failurej and was drowned. t ! f: -J Her body was* recovered several-days later -at Bloat Harbour, seven miles away.”- - . • •• •* • - One stormy night at Cronulla, in 1919, Bowden was summoned to tlie aid of a disabled 16ft. -sailing skiff, which was drifting just beyond the line of breakers. ■ >'. --Y

He peeled off all his clothing, donned the belt, and swam nude to the rescue, with local residenst paying-out the line. Bowden swam in. surf races at interclub carnivals from 1910 until 1935. This is a record.i ■ .' V .;

In a surf race against the world’s swimming champion, Norman Ross (U.S.A.), Bowden ‘gave the locals a thrill by leading all the way. V He stood.up for‘the wade, about, five yards ahead of Ross,. but fell over in), the run. up the beach, and Ross just heat him. . ' . .

In a carnival surf belt' race, Bowden was beaten by a touch by Olympian, Harry M. Hay, later ‘ ‘Boy’ ’ Charlton’s coach. The finish was so Close that only; the judges could decide it. ;V '' • .; In 1920 he inaugurated the Cronulla ‘ ‘Midgets’’—the second juvnile fescue and resuscitation: team in the world. He Was' himself a member of the first, known as 'the “Sk-eeters,” at North Steyne in,.19097 .' v In 1911 he. was hero, , with .another well-known surfer, Steve Dowling, in one of the first shark rescues. ,

A .visitor to North,Steyne, Mr Albert Rebechi, was attacked by a shark in the snrf, and had both legs badly maided. -

Dowjing and-Bowden rushed . into the surf, and dragged Rebechi from the jaws of the monster. 5 . -

After nine weeks in Manly Hospital, the-victim recovered. :• Bowden has never received a meritorious award for his rescues because he is a professional, “paid to save lives.” 7‘f 7.0 1 .7

Sutherland Shire Council lias retained him as an employee, and he has been appointed park inspector.