Today, we mourn the loss of Phyllis O’Donell, the first-ever Women’s World Surfing Champion, crowned in 1964.
Phyllis will forever be known for paving the initial pathway for all female competitive surfers. At a time when surfing was predominantly male-dominated, Phyllis began surfing the banks of Kirra at the ripe age of 23.
Only four years later, O’Donell would be crowned the first female Surfing World Champion. She went on to win eight Queensland State titles and three Australian titles. In 1966, she also became the second woman to be inducted into the Australian Surfing Hall of Fame.
Additional to her competitive surfing career, Phyllis was a founding member of ASAQ (now known as Surfing Queensland) and devoted countless hours to our organisation as a Secretary.
She was inducted as a Surfing Queensland Life Member in 2022, in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the surfing community in Queensland and beyond.
We are honoured to have had her compete along our beautiful coastline, leaving a legacy forever woven into the history of surfing.
