SKINDIVERS  COVERS – STORIES BEHIND THE PICTURES The first free divers to ‘hit’ Flinders Reef got there in small boats from the mainland.  A long crossing of Moreton Bay from Victoria Point being the chosen method.  The reward was docile Black Cod, lots of them and very large to about 40 kg. In later years [...]

Grey Nurse shark silhouetted against white water on the surface.  Big Seal Rock. Trevor Collins speared this young Black Marlin at The Group, North StradbrokeIsland, Queensland (1979) The Editor, John H. participated in the spearing of this 73  pound Mulloway off Woolgoolga, New South Wales.  Spotted by his father, speared by John Jr (who let the gun [...]

 

This dramatic-looking picture from 1963 was not suitable for the pages of Fathom. It appeared in a tabloid style variety magazine which ‘lost’ the original transparencies. Large Red Rock Cod, Montague Island at a depth of 60 feet. Ron Taylor at Montague Island soon after winning the World Spear Fishing Championship in Tahiti (1965)

Coins recovered by the late John Gillies a keen amateur salvage diver, were kept secret for decades. John allowed these artifacts to be photographed in 1969 – taking care not to display dates on the coins.  Holes drilled in coins allowed them to be worn  on a chain or string for security against theft.  It [...]

Tathra, on the south coast of New South Wales was a base for several professional abalone divers in 1964 Spear fisherman turned abalone diver, Brian ‘Bruno’ McKenna is best remembered for introducing a young Valerie Taylor (now one of the most recognizable female divers in the western world) to her future husband Ron Taylor when [...]