The title of this artwork is "The Dolphins, Woy-Woy". The artist Oral Roberts explains that Aboriginal people have a special connection with the dolphin.

Along the Coastal Walk ...

Cultural stories speak of the close connection between Aboriginal people and dolphins especially when it comes to dolphins herding fish and making them easier to net.

Here surfing the waves is another special activity shared by both human and marine mammals. From this vantage point you can look out and compare surfing styles as the dolphins, surfers and the occasional whale drop in on each other to catch waves breaking around the point. This break has been described as the ‘perfect wave’ by many surfers including local Aboriginal community members.

Surfs Up!

The Lennox Head and Ballina regions are famous for their long and short board waves where hundreds of people come each year to surf.

Lennox Head was declared a National Surfing Reserve in February 2008, the third site in Australia to be recognised for its significance to recreational surfing and the largest in Australia, it runs 7.2 kilometres from the Surf Club south to Flat Rock. Endlessly photographed, filmed, and fawned over, the right-hand point-break at Lennox Head is one of Australia’s most famous waves.

Deadly Combo

One of our local long board surfers, Melissa Combo grew up here learning to surf with her dad Lee Combo at Missingham Bridge.

Melissa’s family belong to Widjabal and Nyangbul Country from the Bundjalung Nation. This seemed to be a place where a lot of youngsters learnt how to swim and surf before moving up to The Lennox Point for a more challenging wave.

Melissa recalls her first comp with the all girls surf riders here at Lennox Head:

“I started competing when I was about, I think my first contest was like 14, 14 years of age and I went away with all girls surf riders here in Lennox Head, so a lot of the founders of that club took me down to Woolgoolga so we went down there and that was my first surf comp that I ever went in”

In 2013, Melissa Combo recalled some of her early surfing memories in an interview where she noted that:

“Coming from Ballina, living on the coast, [surfing] is something you do every day. Especially having a dad who has been a surfer since he was a young boy. So, I have always been very familiar with the water…..Dad used to take me out in waves, and I would get smashed, it was a bit scary. I think he thought that is the way you do it."

The photo below shows Melissa Combo and her father Uncle Lee Combo surfing a deadly wave together back in 2000. Image courtesy of Uncle Lee Combo.

“My dad’s a craftsman, he can do anything, and he ended up making me my own board. Then Mum sewed me my first board-cover to go with it. I wish I still had that board. Dad made me that board, so it was special. It was around 5’10”. That is very small compared to what I ride now, 9’ plus. I remember that board it was fluorescent orange, with black spots, like Dad just splashed paint on it like a kid would do.”

Surfing Community

Surfing is a passion shared by many in our community Lois Cook has fond memories of her brother whose surfing experiences took him far and wide.

“In the 1960s my brothers learned to surf at Missingham Bridge like a lot of our local surfers, I remember my brother Trevor, an experienced surfer at the age of 17, surfing off the Lennox Headlands. One day he entered the first quicksilver competition in Byron Bay and won the tournament. His prize was 2 quicksilver surfboards and a trip to Hawaii. He didn’t have a car in those days so he would get us girls to hitch with him to his favourite surf spots along the coast.” Lois Cook 2021

Cutout panel artwork credits

Metal panel artwork credits: Digby Moran, Oral Roberts

Lookout metal panel artwork credits: Lois Cook, Oral Roberts.