OC in Profile: The Webber Bros
One day in the mid 1970s, Greg Webber (OC 1977) was at school with his brothers John (OC 1976), and Monty (OC 1979), when they saw across the harbour that water was crashing up against Middle Head. For these keen surfers, that meant something special was happening – great rideable waves at Nielsen Park!
The Webber boys were supposed to be doing ‘filmmaking’ with Mr Stone. But the rare opportunity to surf Nielsen Park during school hours was irresistible. When Mr. Stone arrived to find them getting into their wetsuits, Greg explained “We’re making a surf film!”
All six Webber brothers are renowned within surf culture, principally in relation to their eponymous brand of high-performance surfboards, which they started making in the backyard of their Rose Bay home. But, their passion for surfing has also found expression in journalism, literature, and even film making.
The creative spirit stems in large part from their mother, Diana, who passed away in 2020. Diana’s brothers, Dick and Greg Weight, were part of the famous Yellow House art collective in Potts Point. Diana’s wonderful bronze sculpture of a surf lifesaver stands beside Bondi Pavilion.
Over the decades, Greg Webber’s ingenuity has expanded from surfboard design to surf wave design, through research and development of wave pools, floating reefs, and seawalls. Greg insists that his fascination with wave shape began in early childhood, watching tiny waves break in Rose Bay. But, the potential finally dawned on him, when he took Monty out in a runabout to film the wake peeling faultlessly along the riverbank. Their collaboration resulted in an avant-garde film, which won a cinematography award in France.
Monty has made numerous surf films, and written extensively on surf culture, his most recent book titled Bondi Days: An Obituary. Another award-winning film, Journey On, documents surfing prodigy, Shane Herring, who shot to stardom riding one of Greg’s radical designs.
Dan proposed that surfing be included as a school sport, which was approved in 1981. He and David Gyngell (OC 1983) opened a surf shop at South Bondi in 1986. Dan has been on the front line in the shark debate, critical of the government’s shark mitigation measures. He has also devised a model of the psyche, using surfing as a metaphor. He has an MA in English.
Will and Ben have both worked in the surf industry, shaping and glassing surfboards. Ben won the Australian Junior Championship in 1986 and came fifth in the World Titles the following year.
The Webbers are descendants of the Levey family, who were influential during colonial times. Barnett Levey built Waverley House, and the first theatre in Sydney. His brother, Solomon, married the daughter of William Roberts, who owned the entire Bondi foreshore. Solomon Levey and Daniel Cooper owned Rose Bay, Double Bay, Bellevue Hill and Point Piper. “We didn’t know any of this,” says Daniel, who was interviewed for Secrets of Our Cities. “But you’ve gotta wonder if something of the Levey spirit has echoed down to us. How else can you explain the audacity?”
