Welcome to Park Beach SLSC - 1959 to 1975 

Hall of Fame

These members did something special to bring us fame.

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Rex Wright surfed at Park Beach from the 1940s and developed the idea of the surf club. In 1959, with valuable assistance and encouragement from Hobart Carlton SLSC, Rex arranged a surf lifesaving demonstration at the Dodges Ferry regatta.

From there, he gathered local support from Mark Ashton, Arthur Griffiths, local residents, and the Dodges Ferry Progress Association. Rex recruited members and gained land use approval. Park Beach SLSC started patrols in 1960.

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Rex attended meetings and surf carnivals regularly on the north west coast of Tasmania, the hub of surf lifesaving in the state. He liaised with the Hobart Carlton SLSC for their expertise and to borrow the equipment the new club needed.

Mac joined Park Beach in the early ‘60’s having moved from Queensland and quickly established himself as one of the stalwarts of our club. Some highlights that his spanned more than 50 years as a lifesaver include:

• Life member of Park Beach and the inaugural President of Carlton Park SLSC.
• Park Beach secretary 1966 to 1969.
• Club Captain 1969 to 1971.
• President 1978/79
• Co founder of the Mercury Surf Safari which is still the oldest surf craft event in Australia and longest sports sponsorship relationship.
• Driving force behind the emergence of surf life saving in Hong Kong and founding member of Repulse Bay life Saving club that shares the Carlton Park club colours and logo.
• Renown surf boat and sweep
• Highly regarded and active member of the Board of Examiners and more recently official at national events.
• Member of the 1969 Tasmanian State Team at Clifton Beach and manager of 1973 Tasmanian State team at Burleigh Heads.

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Many of the stories of the early years of surf lifesaving in Tasmania usually have a Mac signature.

• The roof of the external dunny being blown off at the Park Beach club.
• The mysterious disappearance of a barrel of beer buried in the sand at Park Beach.
• The legendry footy matches between the southern surf clubs.
• Banana skins in the beds of state team members.

Chris Gueson, or Gezzie as we know him, has been the man behind the scenes of open water swimming for more than 44 years. He has been involved in the sport as an organizer, administrator, official, escort, lobbyist, swimmer, and historian extraordinaire.

Gezzie's legacy will be as the chief architect of - and passionate lobbyist for - the Olympic 10K Marathon Swim he co-designed to be acceptable as an Olympic Games marathon swimming event. He presented the original plan sketched on a napkin, to the FINA Technical Open Water Swimming Committee in 1997. FINA accepted it as optimal blueprint for the good of the sport and ultimately adapted it for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Gezzie, a man of the world, a superstar of sport, and a Park Beach boy.

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Gezzie competed in 20 international marathons and was crowned Australian Marathon Swimming Champion in 1977 and 1981. He co-authored the comprehensive and authoritative Australian Long Distance and Marathon Swimming Manual and helped draft the FINA Open Water Swimming Manual. In Australia, Gezzie was the Secretary of Australian Open Water Swimming Technical Committee between 1988-2001. He received the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 for his efforts. He was the founder of the Australian Long Distance Swimming Federation, which he started to lead from Tasmania in 1973, and a bureau member of the International Long Distance Swimming Federation, which existed between its founding in Paris in 1953 until 1974.

Brian "Daffles" Foley was another Park Beach Boy who made an impression on the world. His made an outstanding contribution to the Masters and Open Athletics in Australia. The wider athletic community admired him as an athlete, an administrator, and an official.

In 1994, the Australian Masters Athletics Board elected Brian as Secretary. He served form 1996. In 2003 he received the AMA Administrator of the Year Award for his outstanding services nationally.

Daffles was an Australian delegate to the World Masters Athletics General Assembly in Brisbane in 2001 and again in San Sebastian, Spain in 2005.

In Western Australia, Daffles served on the Masters Athletics WA committee for 14 years from 1987 to 2001, as President, Vice President, and Secretary. He also served on the organising committee for the past three national AMA championships held in Perth and was an official at the Sydney Paralympics in 2000. He was an athletics official at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.

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As an "A" grade qualified official Brian spent many a season with Open athletes. He was awarded a life membership of WA Athletics during the 2004-05 season having given over 20 years service in this area. Brian still found time over the years to train and compete at a high level, his favorite events being 800m and 1500m. Despite a hip injury slowing him down, Brian still competed at world level in San Sebastian in 2005. Park Beach remembers Daffles as a member of the second bronze squad, a dashing beach sprinter, a handy swimmer, and a strong club man.

Peter Biscoe was an outstanding swimmer and water polo player who brought Park Beach our first two state tiles in 1961. A natural leader, he soon become Club Captain.

Outside the surf club, Peter graduated LLB with honours from the University of Tasmania in 1967 and LLM from Tulane University, USA in 1970.

He practised as a solicitor from 1967 to 1976 and as a barrister from 1976 to 2006.

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Park Beach's Peter Biscoe was appointed Queens Counsel in 1991 and has been a Judge in the Land and Environment Court since 2006.

Dunk represented Tasmania in surf life saving, water polo, and Aussie rules football. His football career continues today in Canada and the US where he has umpired more than 600 games.

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Gil was secretary 1963-64, club captain 1967-69, state beach sprint champion 1964-66 and in the state team in 1966. He was a delegate to SLSA - Tasmania during those years.

After a long absence from surf lifesaving Gil returned to organise the Park Beach reunions in 2010 and 2015 when he wrote a history of the Park Beach surf lifesaving club.

At its Annual Dinner and Awards night in April 20232, Carlton Park SLSC presented Gil with President's Award for 2023 - Congratulations Gil.

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Geoff Joined North Cronulla in 1959 and earned his Bronze Medallion on 8 January 1961.

From 1962 to 1964, Moffo held office as club secretary and was an active competitor gaining a second place at the state championships at Low head. He returned to North Cronulla until 1968 then joined Narrabeen S.L.S.C. where he was Patrol Captain, Honorary Beach Inspector, Treasurer, and President.

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Moffo moved to South Australia in 1980 and joined South Port S.L.S.C. South Port made Moffo a Life Member after he held positions as Secretary, Treasurer, and Senior Vice President. Moffo won three bronze medals for march past at Australian titles, and the Most Valuable Member Award twice. Moffo moved to Normanville S.L.S.C. in South Australia in 2003 where he is still club secretary.

In 2010, Normanville S.L.S.C. recognised Geoff's 50 years of service.

Don is still an active open water swimmer and all-round competitor. He competed at Rescue 2012 the World Championships of Lifesaving in Adelaide, South Australia, from November 7-18, 2012. He won the iron man and board race and was runner up in the surf race in the 60 to 64 age group.

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Don's major achievements include:

• Rescue 2012 the World Championships of Lifesaving.
• Iron man and board race winner.
• Tasmanian Volunteer of the Year.

In 2019, SLSA admitted Don into the Hall of fame.

In 2019, In 2019, the SLSA admitted Mick Watkins into the Hall of fame. Watto completed 50 years of dedicated service to Surf Lifesaving at Park Beach and Carlton Park SLSCs. A fantastic achievement from a true champion of our club.
He may be hanging up his patrolling cap, but his influence will be seen for years to come.

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