Australian surfing great passes aged 71

Australia's surfing fraternity is in mourning on Monday after its first world champion Bernard "Midget" Farrelly passed away at the age of 71.

Farrelly was idolised by young and old during the 1960s surfing craze and made famous by the cool sounds of California's The Beach Boys, becoming a local household name after winning the first official World Surfing Championship on home turf in Sydney in 1964.

"One of the beautiful things I remember that I took from him was that he listed and watched his sister who was a dancer, a ballerina, and he brought that to his surfing,"former surfing world champion Tom Carroll told Australia's national broadcaster. Carroll was just five years old when Farrelly won the crown.

The ensuing victories saw him become the face of surfing in Australia for many years, lending his hand to shaping the early days of the International Surfing Federation (ISF) that grew the sport internationally to finally become part of the Olympic movement last week.

"He did things on a surf board that no one had ever seen before,"Australian Olympic Committee president John Coats said.

"The surfers who compete in Tokyo in 2020 owe him a great deal." Endit