Otis Carey can’t really tell you when he started surfing but his connection to the sea is clearly ingrained. “I was two days old when I first touched saltwater,” he says. Recently signed to Billabong on a deal that combines his love of surfing with his passion for contemporary Aboriginal art, he is part of a new generation of Indigenous Australians who have taken to the water to celebrate connections to country and culture, and to stake a claim to Indigenous lands and survival.

Exciting and unpredictable in the water, Carey is a great surfer by any standard. But with every session, he is conscious of the fact that he represents his people and culture. On each of his boards, he paints an Aboriginal flag as a small homage to his heritage. And when he scored the March cover of Tracks magazine, that flag, roughly drawn on the underside of his board, was front and centre.

With roots in the Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung clans of present-day New South Wales, Carey’s connection to the sea runs deep. “My people’s totem is the ocean, so it’s a very spiritual place for me,” he says.

As a child, surfing helped Carey cope with the harsh realities of racism in Australia. “It’s really easy to get into trouble as an Indigenous kid. You’re surrounded by a lot of non-Indigenous people who say a lot of mean things to you because you’re different,” Carey says. “Surfing kept me out of trouble and away from negative things. The ocean is so positive and has a lot of healing elements.”

Indeed, while Indigenous communities continue to bear the burden of Australia’s legacy of colonialism and the continued pressures of racial inequality, surfing has emerged as a way to empower Indigenous youth along Australia’s coastlines.



“I think a lot of people can relate to the cleansing feeling that you get as soon as you jump in the water,” says Yorta Yorta surfer Cormach Evans. Still in his wetsuit, Evans dries off after his heat at the Woorrangalook Victorian Koorie Surf Titles, a family-oriented competition run by Surfing Victoria.



I think you’ll find that the next five years will be the best five years in Indigenous surfing history Soli Bailey

Evans learned to surf as a 12-year-old, through Surfing Victoria’s Indigenous Aquatics program. At the time, the program was run by volunteers, but these days, Surfing Victoria employs two full-time Aboriginal staff members and Evans has grown into a regular on the Indigenous competition circuit. Throughout the year, he participates in events such as Woorrangalook, as well as higher-performance competitions such as Wandiyali in Newcastle and the Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles at Bells Beach.

Now, Evans is a health worker at the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative. Passionate about confronting the intergenerational trauma that contributes to Indigenous health issues, Evans incorporates surfing as a tool in his counselling work. Looking out at the water, he says, “I think for Indigenous people, when they jump into the ocean, it’s a feeling of being connected to culture and feeling a sense of belonging when that first wave washes over you.”

Destiny Murphy, left, competing at the at the Woorrangalook surfing competition in Victoria. Photograph: Surfing Victoria

Naomi Murphy, a Waka Waka woman based in Traralgon, agrees. She brought her daughter Destiny and niece Coco to compete in Woorrangalook’s under-10 division. As a community worker at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Corporation, Murphy has been involved with Surfing Victoria’s Indigenous program for seven years.



“I usually bring a busload of girls from East Gippsland to participate in this event,” she says, “Surfing has so many benefits. Building confidence, learning new skills. All of those things are important because we have such high rates of incarceration among our youth.”



This year, Murphy was unable to secure funding to bring other children from her community. Several other community groups are absent for the same reason. With roughly 75 participants, Woorrangalook is significantly smaller than in previous years, partly because Surfing Victoria now holds regional competitions around the state, but also because resources are increasingly difficult to come by.

Murphy is frustrated by the scarcity of funding. “They’re building a new youth Supermax prison,” she says. “Why don’t you strip it right back and get those kids before they get to that point? Prevention is always better than a cure.”



Surfing Victoria has itself lost $100,000 in funding this year, and may lose another $50,000 in the near future. Still, the organisation remains committed to the program. “We see the merit in it,” says Indigenous surfing officer Jordie Campbell, who grew up in the program before joining the staff. “We’re going to keep doing it for as long as the community wants it.”



Indigenous surfing events are less about competition, and more about fostering connections between “saltwater mobs” – coastal Indigenous nations that have relied on the ocean for countless generations. “Koorie competitions are like family gatherings,” says Carey. And it’s true, Woorrangalook is a multi-generational event, a chance for youth to learn from their elders.



I can see middens at most of the beaches I surf at Amber Harrison, women’s open winner

Women’s open winner Amber Harrison came to the event to compete along with her little sister and her father. Harrison sees surfing as a way to honour her ancestors. “I can see middens at most of the beaches I surf at. Middens are old shell piles from when Aboriginals used to go out to get food like abalone,” she explains. The middens are visible reminders that Harrison’s people have long been tied to the sea. “Seeing those makes me feel connected to the past and what we can change in the future.”



Soli Bailey in action in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain, last year. Photograph: NurPhoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images

With more and more kids like Harrison finding their place in the ocean, the future looks bright for Indigenous surfing in Australia. And as the sport takes hold among saltwater mobs, there are, in fact, a handful of Indigenous surfers making their mark on the wider industry.



The Indigenous surfing world is abuzz with talk of Soli Bailey, an up-and-coming Indigenous surfer who won the Volcom Pipe Pro in Hawaii just a few weeks ago.



Bailey took home the Australian Indigenous surf title in 2015, and has been steadily making a name for himself in the World Surf League’s Qualifying Series. This year may finally be his chance to compete in the Championship Tour. Though all eyes are on him now, he’s watched the Indigenous surf community grow alongside his own career.



“I think you’ll find that the next five years will be the best five years in Indigenous surfing history,” Bailey says.



Otis Carey shares Bailey’s excitement. “It just comes down to talent,” he says, with the easy confidence of a real natural. “We’ve been supporting each other so much, and it pushed us to the point where people have to acknowledge us.”

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