1885 - 1941

Lyster Ormsby was the designer of the nation’s first surf rescue reel, which saved the lives of countless swimmers from 1907. His prototype was made with a cotton reel and hairpins. It was far from his only contribution to the emergence of surf lifesaving in Australia.

Known as the gentle giant, Ormsby was an intelligent man with an affable nature and a born leader. He was born in 1885 in the country town of Orange and moved with his family to Woollahra after the economic depression of the 1890s. He was 24 when he became a founding member of the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club (BSBLSC).

The surf club – the nation’s first – formed in 1906, and Ormsby was its first captain. Soon after, he was responsible for the formation of the Surf Bathers’ Association of NSW, the beginnings of the Surf Life Saving Association, that formalised the genesis of surf lifesaving in Australia.

As the BSBLSC’s first captain – for two years from its formation in 1906 – Ormsby was responsible for organising the first lifesaving duty rosters and was a key figure in the building of the first clubhouse. He drove other surf innovation, including improved training, and was a member of the first instructors’ squad in 1908 and club president from 1921-23.

He is best remembered for his design of the surf line and belt rescue reel, concocted from a simple prototype made of cotton reel and hairpins. The first full-size reel was built by Sergeant John Bond at Victoria Barracks at Paddington in 1906. Later that year it was taken to the Sydney coachbuilders Olding and Parker, who fashioned the final design. The reel was first demonstrated in March 1907.

It allowed a lifesaver wearing a belt attached to a line to reach a swimmer and be assisted back to shore by a crew on the beach, reeling them in. While lifesaving competitions still include the reel, it was phased out of active service in 1994. The Ormsby Patrol at the BSBLSC is named in his honour, recognising his many contributions to Bondi Surf Club and the Australian surf lifesaving movement.

Courtesy Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club, Australian War Memorial and Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.