1961 - present

Filmmaker, writer and artist Monty Webber grew up at Bondi in a family of six surfing brothers. His brutally honest and outrageous writing reveals his experience as a surfer in Bondi during the 1980s and ‘90s. 

He studied art at East Sydney Technical College before taking an apprenticeship with sculptor Michael Snape in 1982. Webber held his first solo sculpture exhibition in 1986 and continued to exhibit drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures.

Webber was recognised as one of the world’s best tube riders in the 1980s, featuring riding the 'title wave' from Billabong's first surfing video 'Surf into Summer'.

For the past 30 years he has written for ‘Tracks’, ‘Waves’, ‘Underground Surf’ and ‘White Horses’ surfing magazines.

Webber also wrote of his surf experiences, particularly in Bondi, during the 1980s and ‘90s. He self-published a collection of 20 funny and often tragic short stories ‘Random Rogues’ and ‘Ratbag Tales’ in 2012, revealing a wild world of crazy characters, mad adventures and sex, drugs and booze.

In 2015, after another collection of stories ‘Tripping Yarns’ was published, Webber released ‘Diagnose This’, about the murder, mayhem, mean spiritedness and madness among surfers.

He published two short novels ‘We Were on Fire’ and ‘Highway 101’ in 2016. The first drew on hilarious incidents from his somewhat chaotic formative years – ‘equal part celebration and critique of Bondi’s hedonistic ‘80s surfing milieu’.

In 2021, Webber published his first novel 'Purple Patch', about a surfboard that repeatedly changes hands.

He shot and edited three volumes of ‘Sarge's Surfing Scrapbook’, a video log of the pro tour, and worked as a cameraman on surf movies, documentaries and music videos. In 1994, while on a trip to West Java, Webber was caught in a tsunami that swept through the surf camp during the night.

In 2000, he filmed and directed the internationally acclaimed surf movie ‘Liquid Time’, winning the Cinematography award at the 2004 St Jean de Luz Surf Film Festival.

Webber filmed and directed two short surfing documentaries 'Journey On' (2013) and 'Tsunami Brothers' (2019). He now lives at Angourie Point, on the NSW north coast, where he surfs, writes, paints and makes films.

Images courtesy Monty Webber, Ryan Chandler, Bill Morris and Deb Morris.