Midget Farrelly: Palm Beach raising $150k for beachside statue of surfing legend
A $150,000 bid has been launched to recognise Australian surfing icon Midget Farrelly’s contribution to the sport with a statue next to his home town beach.
Manly
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A high-powered push is on to honour one of Australia’s greatest sporting icons with a beachside statue in Sydney.
Surfing heavyweights Layne Beachley, Kelly Slater and Barton Lynch along with surfing industry and surf life saving leaders, are on a committee to erect a statue of Midget Farrelly — the first surfing world champion — at Palm Beach.
Farrelly, who died in 2016 and lived with his family at Palm Beach for 54 years, was also a leading figure in local surf life saving clubs as well as a renowned surfboard designer and maker.
He was the inaugural world surfing champion in 1964. Farrelly was honoured posthumously by being made a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to surfing as a competitor and industry pioneer and to surf lifesaving.
His wife, Beverlie, has given the statue project her backing.
It would feature Farrelly as a young surfer — around the time he won the world crown — with his arms thrown up in one of his classic surfing stances.
The Midget Farrelly Recognition Committee, formed by Gordon Lang, who founded surf retailer Surfection, and the ex-CEO of Quicksilver, Bruce Raymond, has already started raising money towards the statue.
Mr Lang, a long time friend of Farrelly’s, said the committee wanted to raise at least $150,000 and donate the money to Northern Beaches Council to include the statue in its Public Art Working Group program.
The donation offer will be raised at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
“There is a statue of Duke Kahanamokuh (the father of modern surfing) at Freshwater, there is a statue of Kelly Slater (11 times world champion) in Florida, you’ve got Phar Lap down in Melbourne.
“The suggestion is to put Midget’s statue where the bus terminates at Palm Beach, at the corner of Ocean Rd and Ocean P, l so that when people get off the bus it will be there straight in front of them.
“It will be wrapped around by the ocean the sand, the sky with Midget looking out to sea.”
Mr Lang said he expected that the council would commission a local artist to create the work.
“We’ve already had pledges totalling $50,000, we don't think it will be too hard (to raise the money).”
In a letter to the council Mrs Farrelly said her husband would “probably be embarrassed” by the recognition.
“Midget and our family have spent many years at Palm Beach and this is the place Midget called home, so it is a fitting position for such a statue.
“It will complement the plaque in Manly and the small plinth in the Pacific Club, Palm Beach.
“I fully support the design and erection of such a statue at Palm Beach and believe our friends, along with the surfing, surf life saving and local community are also strongly supporting of this campaign,” Mrs Farrelly wrote.
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