THE DUKE (EVENTUALLY)VISITS AUSTRALIA in Australia
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{ 1912 > 1915} Duke Kahanamoku has Two been invited to swim THE DUKE (EVENTUALLY)VISITS AUSTRALIA in Australia. That’s ‘HAWAIIAN CRACK WANTED’. So read the headline in the Washington Herald on 4 easy. Now if he had December 1912. This was not a story about a drug epidemic in the the young, laidback, mild-mannered Hawaiian who been invited to swim to North Pacific, but rather a small article reporting grew up on the beaches of Waikiki and had only been that the Hawaiian Olympic gold medal swimmer Duke seriously competing in swimming races for a year. But Kahanamoku had been invited to compete in Australia. Duke was obviously big news at the time, and for good Australia it would have It seems remarkable that a Washington newspaper reason. Even before his renown as a swimmer, stories was even reporting on the possibility of a Hawaiian of his surfing prowess were spreading throughout swimmer visiting distant Australia. Remarkable, too, Hawaii. The Mid-Pacific Magazine, published by early been something worth the that despite the determined efforts of many the visit surfing advocate Alexander Hume Ford, carried a wouldn’t occur for another two years. gushing tribute to Duke’s skills in its first issue in 1910: 048 ‘Members of the Amateur Swimming Union SLOW MAGAZINE Duke’s effort.” of Australia have written to James E. Sullivan Duke Paoa Kahanamoku was born on the island of Honolulu Star-Bulletin, of the Amateur Athletic Union,’ the Washington Oahu, within sound of the surf, and has spent half of 1912 Herald continued, ‘extending an invitation to Duke his waking hours from early childhood battling the P. Kahanamoku to visit Australia as the guest waves for sport. He is now 21 years of age, and is the of the amateur governing body, to swim in their recognized native Hawaiian champion surf rider. Duke championships.’ and the members of the Hui Nalu, an organization This appeared to be a complex process. ‘The matter of professional surfers at Waikiki, have supplied the will be discussed by President Kirby and other officials of material for this article on the national sport of Hawaii. the A.A.U. and, following procedure, it will be necessary OPPOSITE: for the Hawaiian Association of the Amateur Athletic It is intriguing that Duke and his fellow Waikiki beach Duke Kahanamoku. Union, through Kahanamoku’s club, to apply to the boys were referred to as ‘professional surfers’, Suitably regal in both national registration committee of the A.A.U for a permit.’ presumably for the small income they earned taking bearing and in name. The formality of proceedings seems at odds with tourists surfing. This may indeed be the first use of 049 048 australia’s century of surf the duke (eventually) visits australia influenced by the so-called Duke kick is native, not to say indiginous [sic], to that ‘Australian Crawl’, which Duke section of the world and the women all use it. had seen employed by Australian swimmers visiting Waikiki. On 11 October 1912, the Hawaiian Gazette reported Duke’s brother, David that a Mr Edward Rayment, director of the NSW Kahanamoku, would go on to Immigration and Tourist Bureau, and another become the trainer for the 1924 foreign dignitary had visited Honolulu and enjoyed a US Olympic Swim Team. In an demonstration of Duke’s aquatic skills. Interview in the September 1950 Outrigger Canoe Club newsletter, Duke Pauoa Kahanamoku held a conference with Forecast, David explained; Mr. Rayment about a visit of the Hawaiian swimming champion to Australia. Both of the visitors spent In about 1910, Duke had watched the afternoon surfing in canoes and watching the some Australians swimming and Hawaiian boys and Outrigger members disporting bodysurfing at Waikiki. He noticed themselves on the surfboards. Neither of them that their style was different. They wished to leave Honolulu. They will both be great ABOVE: Duke takes the term ‘professional surfer’ anywhere in the world, as anybody, realise the prowess of the swimmers Australia’s great seemed to surge through the water with more power. promotionists for the Islands hereafter. the blocks at the a good sixty years before the concept gained currency. you have voluntarily admitted to the final contest. swimmer and good The Aussies did the same overarm stroke (they 1912 Stockholm As far as his swimming career was concerned, Duke You will have done more than win an Olympic event; sport Cecil Healy, called it the crawl) as Duke, but their leg movement But getting Duke to Australia proved to be no easy Olympics on his way always maintained a strictly amateur status to remain you will have shown an unsurpassable example of with the Solomon was different. Duke, like the rest of us, swam with a feat. On 23 May 1913, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin to collecting the gold eligible for the Olympics, often enduring significant sportsmanship for other Olympians to emulate.’ Islands Alick self-taught frog leg movement. So he tried the Aussie reported that the Australian cricket team hoped to medal in the 100 financial hardship as a result. Duke easily qualified for the final and went on to Wickham, pioneer of straight-leg kick, holding on to a surfboard, with make a stopover in Hawaii on their way home from a metres freestyle But Duke’s renown was about to spread much more win the gold medal, with Healy taking silver. Duke was the Australian Crawl his friend Frank Kalani. Since he found it somewhat tour of North America to give Duke a lift back. ‘Duke RIGHT: Duke Receives widely. In 1911, entering his first organised swimming three metres ahead of the field when he appeared swimming stroke unnatural, he modified it, with a slightly bent leg, which Kahanamoku may get a trip to Australia after all,’ his medal from King race, Duke smashed the world 100-yard record by 4.6 to slow and allow Healy to draw close, before taking made his ankles and feet act like swim fins. In the 1912 the paper reported, ‘and the Antipodean swimming Gustav of Sweden seconds. US mainland officials refused to accept the victory by a narrow margin. Healy’s grand gesture Olympics, Duke showed his self- enthusiasts get a chance to see the Hawaiian speed time, questioning the legitimacy of the race, staged had almost certainly cost him the ultimate prize, taught style’s superiority by beating marvel in action in spite of the hitch which prevented as it was between two wharves in Honolulu Harbour. but it cemented a warm friendship between the two. Duke proved a the Aussies. Then it was the Aussies’ his making the trip this spring.’ It is not known what ‘What are you using for stopwatches over there in On the presentation dais, Duke held Healy’s hand popular figure at turn to watch and learn from him. this ‘hitch’ may have been. Hawaii? Alarm clocks?’ they asked Hawaiian swimming highest to show whom he thought the real champion Then they modified their Aussie crawl The Australian cricketers had stopped over in officials. was. In gratitude, Duke promised that he would visit the Stockholm after he visited them Down Under! No Hawaii on their ocean voyage to North America and Duke soon silenced the skeptics by travelling to Australia one day. Thus, surfboard riding’s great Olympics, the wonder he always had a soft spot for had been so impressed by the Duke’s ‘swimming and the mainland and qualifying for the US team for the kickstart Down Under was inspired by an act of selfless Australia in his heart! surfing stunts’ that Australia’s cricket Captain Edgar 1912 Stockholm Olympics, though not without some sportsmanship. Healy went on to claim gold in the 4 x unaffected young Mayne made the offer. Duke naturally thought it was an difficulty. The Maui News reported: 200-metre relay in a fitting bit of justice, with Duke and Hawaiian who It’s worth noting, too, that the excellent plan and was willing to make the voyage. his US teammates in second. strummed his Australian Crawl itself was inspired For reasons unknown, this latest plan did not His first essay gave cause for doubt, as he was forced Duke’s victory over Healy, Australia’s greatest by another great swimmer from the come off either. By this time it seems it had become to retire with cramp. To one unused to turning, and to short-course swimmer, ensured that he became an ukulele poolside to Pacific Islands, the first-generation something of a national campaign among the young small bathing pools, and who had previously known international sports star almost overnight. His fame calm his nerves. bodysurfer Alick Wickham. He nation’s sporting fraternity to get Duke to Australia. An only the ocean for his swimming practice, the new soon spread to the Antipodes, where his triumph was had left his home in the Solomon unnamed cricket correspondent from the Herald gave conditions were decidedly awkward. However, his explained by bestowing almost superhuman abilities Islands to attend boarding school in Duke a glowing endorsement. He was not the first, nor second trial silenced everyone; and he just showed his on the Polynesian race in general. The Launceston Sydney in the late 1800s and rose to would he be the last Australian journalist to develop a heels to all the great sprinters of the eastern part of Examiner, under the headline ‘HEALY’S CONQUEROR prominence as a champion short- whopping man-crush on the handsome Hawaiian: the union. DUKE KAHANAMOKU COMES OF SEMI-AMPHIBIAN course swimmer, as well as setting ANCESTORS’, followed up his performance in a world record for high diving.