I was delighted to help launch a new book last Wednesday that covers the history of Sydney’s southern beaches from Bondi to Cronulla and beyond. ‘Saltwater People of the Fatal Shore’ is a gorgeous and informative coffee table book that has a predecessor detailing the northern beaches in a similar luxurious manner.
Author John Ogden had the ‘official’ launch at the Hazelhurst Regional Gallery in Gymea a few days before with the Hon Linda Burney MP and the illustrious Jack Thompson doing the honours. The unofficial Eastern Suburbs event that I spoke at was also graced by the inimitable H.G. Nelson (AKA Greg Pickhaver) who regaled the crowd with a litany of fascinating factoids plucked from the impressively weighty tome.
But the real star of the show was the one-eyed ‘Oggy’, who lost his right peeper when his surfboard fin knocked it out during a particularly punishing session at Whale Beach. The title of his company, Cyclops Publishing, is a nod to the legacy of that accident which, for a professional cinematographer was quite a blow. Still, his artistic vision remains as powerful as ever and these books are testament to that. Dipping in to them I discovered new and wondrous things about our glorious coastal city while I marveled at the photographs that in themselves spoke volumes. This one seriously sexy Christmas cracker, folks. And there are only 3,000 of them in stock. So if you love the ocean as much as you love the city of Sydney, get in quick and snap one up. You’ll be fully stoked.