• Title
  Beachobatics and jitterbug photographs, Bondi Beach, 1936-1941, 1943 / by George Caddy
• Creator
  George Caddy
• Call number
  PXD 1038
  
• Level of description
  fonds
• Date
  
  July 1936-10 June 1941, 1943
• Type of material
  Graphic Materials, Photographs
• Reference code
  826062
• Issue Copy
  Digitised
• Physical Description
  60 photographs - digital, black & white, PSD file
  60 photographic prints - digitally printed on Somerset Photo Satin 100% cotton rag - image 40.6 x 40.6 cm, paper 50.5 x 50.5 cm, mount 64.2 x 52.2 cm
  
• ADMINISTRATIVE/ BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY
  
  George Caddy (1914-1983) was a gifted amateur photographer who recorded his friends and acquaintances on Bondi Beach from 1936-1941. (There is one photograph of his fiancee Betty York taken in 1943). A rare modernist, he used a medium format film camera to make images of beach culture and dance. He took the only known images of the popular entertainment "beachobatics" or gymnastics on the sand, by members of the local Graham Men's Gymnastic Club.
  
  Reference:
  Library correspondence file
• Collection history
  George's negatives were chiefly unpublished. When he died in 1983, the remaining 290 negatives, of at least 900 originals, were kept by his son Paul with his father's possessions until he approached the Library with them.
• Scope and Content
  1. Two women enter Town Hall Station near Murdoch's Department Store, July 1936 (N53)
  2. Road works, Pitt Street, July 1936 (N54)
  3. Long Bay toastrack tram, Eddy Avenue, July 1936 (N58)
  4. J.Prentiss (?) and another gymnast in the air, Bondi Beach, 4 October 1936 (N144)
  5. Roya Geale, Alf Stanbrough and unidentified woman, Bondi Beach, 28 November 1936 (N199)
  6. Alf Stanbrough, Vic Whitehead, Roya Geale, Frank Cottier and Jack Goldberg, 6 December 1936 (N209)
  7. Marie Perry, 17 January 1937 (N222)
  8. Rescue, Ben Buckler, 20 February 1937 (N241)
  9. Dodge Ambulance, North Bondi, 20 February 1937 (N242)
  10. Chest strength and breathing exercise, 20 February 1937 (N243)
  11. Alf Stanbrough, Frank Cottier, Max Stewart, ... , Ken Cumming, 4 April 1937 (N260)
  12. St Andrew's Cathedral and illuminated Town Hall, Coronation week, 11 May 1937 (N280)
  13. Graham Gym Club, Bondi Beach, 12 December 1937 (N352)
  14. Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club reel team marchpast, 3 April 1938 (N365)
  15. Alf Stanbrough supports Bonnie Nixon and Max Stewart with Wal Balmus, 14 August 1938 (N425)
  16. Max Stewart, top, supported by Vic Whitehead; four balancers Jack Goldberg, Kurt Tauber, Wal Balmus, Frank Cottier, 4 September 1938 (N432)
  17. Kurt Tauber, Wal Balmus, Frank Cottier, Max Stewart balance off Vic Whitehead and "Bluey" Simons, supported by Alf Stanbrough, 4 September 1938 (N433)
  18. Alf Stanbrough supports Bonnie Nixon and Hazel with Wal Balmus on top; Jack Goldberg observes, 25 Sept 1938 (N457)
  19. Hazel & Wal Balmus, 30 October 1938 (N463)
  20. Launching the surfboat Bondi Weekly, purchased for North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club by Harry Goldstein, proprietor of the Bondi Weekly, 6 November 1938 (N471)
  21. John Kelly, Frank Cottier, ... (?) on Bondi SLSC reel, 2 January 1939 (N478)
  22. Wal Balmus balancing on ... (?), 2 January 1939 (N485)
  23. Norma, 12 March 1939 (N506)
  24. Alby Jenkins and unidentified, 2 April 1939 (N515)
  25. Ern Breills, Charlie Lusty, Wal Balmus, Frank Cottier (obscured), Max Stewart and Jack Goldberg, supported by Alf Stanbrough, 9 April 1939 (N528)
  26. Wal Balmus, Vic Whitehead, Frank Cottier, Jack Goldberg (face obscured) and Max Stewart balance on Alf Stanbrough, 16 April 1939 (N539)
  27. George Caddy with 1870's Dallmeyer studio camera, 7 May 1939 (N556)
  28. Group in overcoats outside Lido Club, 16 July 1939 (N575)
  29. Balance canes, Arthur Coots and daughter Pauline, 17 September 1939 (N570)
  30. Horsing around outside Tiny's Cafe, North Bondi, 2 October 1939 (N581)
  31. Max Stewart, Charlie Lusty, Frank Cottier and Jack Goldberg balance off Sim Holman, Vic Whitehead and Ken Cumming, supported by Alf Stanbrough, 8 October 1939 (N586)
  32. Max Stewart handstands atop Frank Cottier, held up by Alf Stanbrough and Vic Whitehead, while Jack Goldberg and Charlie Lusty handstand off Sim Holman and Ken Cumming, 8 October 1939 (N587)
  33. Bonnie Nixon watches Charlie Lusty and Max Stewart balancing off Frank Cottier and Jack Goldberg (planche), supported by Vic Whitehead on Alf Stanbrough, 8 October 1939 (N591)
  34. Zelma Tilley, 10 October 1939 (N633)
  35. Recreating an advertisement for Agfa film in U.S. Camera 1936, -- 29 Oct 1939 (N606)
  36. Alby Jenkins supports Bonnie Hawkins and Wal Balmus, 5 November 1939 (N610)
  37. Max Stewart, Alf Stanbrough and Wal Balmus in jack-knife position, 5 November 1939 (N613)
  38. Sim Holman watches Eve Holman, Max Stewart and Vic Whitehead supported by Alf Stanbrough, 5 November 1939 (N615)
  39. Bondi Beach promenade and North Bondi Surf Club, 12 November 1939 (N638)
  40. Wal Balmus, Bonnie Hawkins and unidentified, 19 November 1939 (N652)
  41. Hope Holmes of Vaucluse, 12 December 1939 (N670)
  42. George Caddy dancing with unidentified woman to a portable gramophone, 20 January 1940 (N717)
  43. Miriam Levy and Valmae Maher in "brassiere type" & "Canadian" costumes, 3 February 1940 (N738)
  44. Valmae Maher, 3 February 1940 (N739)
  45. Men in the latest costumes, 10 February 1940 (N741)
  46. Valmae Maher with George's camera, 10 February 1940 (N742)
  47. Pat McRae and George with his Autograflex camera, Ben Buckler, 31 Mar ch 1940 (N788)
  48. ... , ... , Pat McRae below houses, Brighton Boulevard, Ben Buckler, 31 MArch 1940 (N790)
  49. George with Voigtlander Bergheil camera, with roll film back and flashgun, 30 June 1940 (N852)
  50. George dancing outside dance hall, North Bondi, 25 August 1940 (N878)
  51. ... and Alf Stanbrough cast Bonnie Hawkins to Wal Balmus, 22 September 1940 (N889)
  52. Max Stewart balances on surf flagpole, 6 October 1940 (N890)
  53. Sunbathing under the promenade, 6 October 1940 (N895)
  54. Roya Geale, 5 January 1941 (N935)
  55. Backlift, John Henry, 5 January 1941 (N939)
  56. Roya Geale in chenille beach jacket, 5 January 1941 (N940)
  57. Two women near the obelisk in Ben Buckler park, 19 January 1941 (N947)
  58. George and champion dancer Mavis Lang jitterbug, Trocadero, 16 March 1941 (no neg. no.)
  59. George and Pearl Scott dance the sidethrow with splits, 10 June 1941 (no neg. no.)
  60. Betty York, fiancee, ca. 1943 (no neg. no.)
• System of arrangement
  Date and photographer's original negative number
• Copying Conditions
  Out of copyright:
  Reproduction Restricted: Prints are only available to order as Digital Archival Prints from the State Library of New South Wales, Library Shop.
  Approval for reproduction required: All reproduction requests require prior written approval from Paul Caddy.
  Please acknowledge:: State Library of New South Wales, courtesy Paul Caddy.
• Published Information
  Exhibition catalog: Bondi jitterbug : George Caddy and his camera. Sydney : State Library of New South Wales, 2008. A selection of photographs published in: Steve Meacham. "Muscle beach party", Sydney Morning Herald, November 29-30, 2008, Spectrum p.13, and SMH online. No. 13 published in the Wal Balmus article "Our youth can save Australia" in Health & Physical Culture, 1 February 1939. No. 36 published in: Health & Physical Culture, 1 December 1940¶No. 59 published in: Daily Mirror, 10 June 1941. There is a photograph of Mr Graham performing a beachobatics balance with two women in: The old tin shed : Sydney Stadium 1908-1970 / Terry Smith. North Sydney, N.S.W. : Eric Spilsted Publishing, 1999
• Variant title
  
  Captioned from Curator of Photographs' notes on the Library correspondence file
• General note
  
  Reference:
  Sydney Morning Herald, 22 February 1937 (no.8)
  Digital order no:Album ID : 845993
• Alphanumeric designations
  
  Photographer's original negative numbers in parentheses in Contents
• Attributions / conjectures
  
  For a discussion of whether the portrait at no. 41 is Hope Holmes, see: Pix 19 Nov 1938
  For a portrait of Pat McRae (no. 47), see: Truth 4 Feb 1940, p.13
  For portraits of Cherry Wheatley, see: Truth 3 Mar 1940 (at the Trocadero) and Health & Physical Culture 1 Oct 1941 (at the Tivoli)
• Date note
  
  Digital scans, 2008, of original negatives, 1936-1943
• Name
  Caddy, George
  Bondi Weekly (surfboat)
  
• Subject
  Sydney Town Hall (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Eddy Avenue (Sydney, N.S.W.)
  
  Ben Buckler (N.S.W.)
  Trocadero (George Street, Sydney, N.S.W.)
  Photography--New South Wales--20th century.
  Dance--Social aspects--New South Wales--Sydney.
  Jitterbug (Dance)--New South Wales--Sydney--Photographs.
  gymnastics
  Acrobats--Australia.
  Adult Females
  Adult Males
  
• Topic
  interiors
  portraits
  dancing displays
  gymnastics
  acrobats
  rescues
  surf-lifesaving
  cameras
  swimsuits
  
• Exhibited in
  
  Bondi jitterbug : George Caddy and his camera - State Library of New South Wales (1 December, 2008 - 22 February, 2009)
• Open Rosetta viewer
  IE16756282

View Media Files

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

Show more