A definitive history of surfing in Australia, Bombora tells the story of Australian beach culture through our surfing champions, writers, pioneers, entrepreneurs, mavericks, legends, drop-outs and drop-ins.

Global surfing culture is a mix of wildness, grace and cool that is utterly Australian, but how did a nation of people, who mostly couldn't swim, turn a Polynesian pastime into a national obsession and international cultural force?

From the time we first took on the waves in the late 19th century, Australians were hooked on surfing.

Episode one of Bombora looks at the early years of Australian surf history from 1830 to 1964. It charts our first encounters with the surf when swimming in the sea was banned and shows how we were seduced by the freedom of the waves and the beaches. The series takes us into the lives of the larrikins who invented everything from surf skis to shark nets, and also looks at the tensions that arose between 'duty and pleasure', between the growing surf life-saving clubs and those who just wanted to surf.

Using archival footage, it follows the first Australian surfers as they head to Hawaii - the spiritual home of the sport - and introduces the wild men who made it their own, surf legends such as Midget Farrelly, Bob Pike and Nat Young.

Narrated by Jack Thompson, Bombora charts the history of surfing in Australia - the bodies, the boards, the music, the drugs, the fights, the freedom - and shows the cultural phenomenon it is today.

Showing on ABC
 - 8:30pm Thursday, 26 Mar 2009 
 - 8:30pm Thursday, April 2