In this vintage photo we see five lovely ladies posing on top of some old-school surfboards. The photograph was taken by Ray Leighton between 1938 and 1946 at Manly beach in New South Wales, Australia. The photograph was uploaded to the National Library of Australia’s online photo archives.

According to Wikipedia: The art of surfing, called he’enalu in the Hawaiian language, was first described in 1769 by Joseph Banks on the HMS Endeavour during the first voyage of Captain James Cook. Surfing was a central part of ancient Polynesian culture and predates European contact.

Surfing was brought to Australia in 1915 by Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku. He demonstrated the ancient Hawaiian board riding technique at Freshwater (or Harbord) in Sydney, New South Wales. Duke Kahanamoku’s board is on display in the northeast end of the Freshwater Surf lifesaving club in Sydney, Australia. [Source]