Part 3 - Picture Us Rolling: Visual Storytellers in Queensland Skateboarding
By Dr Indigo Willing, 2025 John Oxley Library Honorary Fellow | 25 September 2025
Sunshine State’s Subcultural Game-Changers and Olympic ‘Roll’ Models
Dr Indigo Willing, 2025 John Oxley Library Honorary Fellow
Dr Indigo Willing, 2025 John Oxley Library Honorary Fellow
I wish to acknowledge the Turrbal, Jaegera, Yuwibara, Kabi Kabi, Jinibara, Yugumbeh and Kombumerri People who are the traditional owners of the land this skateboarding research is based on in Queensland.
Skateboarding is an urban subculture and scene that has appealed to and welcomed youth and people from the margins for decades in Queensland. Moreover, its appeal has now expanded even further, with skateboarding shifting from its subcultural origins to now also being an Olympic Sport. The ‘Queensland Skate of Mind: Subcultural Game Changers to Olympic ‘Roll’ Models project emerges from my John Oxley Library Honorary Fellowship in 2025 to document this under-recognised and significant part of Queensland’s social, sport and cultural history. This project aims to provide an introduction to key aspects of what makes skateboarding in Queensland special and why it warrants further research. The themes introduced in a series of blogs and videos will encompass a range of stories, memories, ephemera and other contributions from the skateboarding community throughout my 2025 Honorary John Oxley Fellowship.
Thank you to Slam Skateboarding Magazine editor Trent Fahey (all issues are part of the collection at State Library of Queensland) and journalists Nat Kassel and Josh Sabini. Additional thanks to photographers Mike O’Meally, Wade McLaughlin, Robbie Cameron, Jack Cassidy, and Peter Sondergaard, Rachel Torti, Andrew Viles, Toby Mellonie, Jay Musk, Sarge Jhogenson, Daniel Vincent, Mike Lawry, Kane Stewart, Izy Duncombe, Sarah Huston, Andy MacKenzie, Scott Shearer, Mark Brimson, Stu Fogarty, Curtis Hay, Mitchell Roberts and many others. And a special thanks to my fellow We Skate QLD team members, Evie Ryder, Miljana Miljevic, Brooke Manning, Connie Leung, Jingjing Yang, Lil Turek and numerous members of the Brisbane and QLD skateboarding community for sharing their knowledge.
This blog is one of a 7 part series. To view the other blogs, click here.
Part 3 - Picture Us Rolling: Visual Storytellers in Queensland Skateboarding
Brisbane has many skateboarders behind the video camera who have helped the scene grow with videos featuring Queensland skateboarders. Earlier efforts in the 1990s and 2000s include ‘Oh My Dude!’ by Andrew Viles, Ben Ventress and Max Olijnyk, Phrunt produced videos by Steven John Sullivan and Vintage archived by Project Distribution on their Youtube channel.
More recently in the late 1990s and mid 2000s Kane Stewart and others from The Bay Skate, Jashan Prasad (local Brisbane scene), Curtis Hay and John Green (Herstwood Video), Stuart Fogerty (Mobbn Deep, Picture Me Rolling) the late Mitch Byrne (Along the Lines with Stuart Fogerty), Danny Camara (The Lines: The Story of Mitch Byrne, Coolaboration for Volcom), Luke Rigby (Dangerous Posse), Harry Pascoe (Treasury, Sugar Hiccup), Pat Gemzik (Mai War, BNE3), Zack Nolan (Urns, Noogie, When You’re Feeling Existential), John Green and Ethan Miller (for stores such as Parliament), Evie Ryder (Skate Like A Girl), Miljana Miljevic (We Skate QLD themed documentary), Jessica Sherlock (Concrete Denizens also about We Skate QLD) plus Kale Hennessy (Wednesday nights at Pizzey), Padzy (Washed Mafia), Gutty Mitchell (video series), Salvador Emilio Cantellano (Arena Atomica: Skateology), Jacob Van Der Lay, Reuben Bort, and Jack Cassidy for Middle Store, Allira (Stage One) and Sophie Bo, Majeline Dalsgaard (Slabzoo Skateboarding) have filmed and produced creative videos capturing street, park and competition skating in Brisbane, the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast. Younger filmmakers such as Ethan Miller (with some footage of Nixon Osbourne’s part for Creature) and Patrick Staples (using VX camera) also document skateboarding in a way that showcases signature street spots and noteworthy locals in Queensland. Other locals from further north such as in Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns also have videographers documenting their scene.
Oh My Dude by Andrew Viles, Ben Ventress and Max Olijnyk. Posted by Project Distribution
Just Another Female Skate Clip (Gold Coast) by Esther Godoy (2011)
The Bay Skate Mix Tape by Ryan Henderson.(2015)
Mobbn Deep by Stuart Fogarty (2013)
The Herstwood Video Filmed ad edited by John Green (2012)
Trent Riley in Treasury. Filmed and edited by Harry Pascoe (2021)
Brisbanging 2 by Pat Gemzik (2018)
Concrete Denizens by Jessica Sherlock (2022)
Noogie by Zach Nolan (2024)
Spinifex First Nations Tour to Queensland by Nick Hayes, Greg Barnes, Georga Ryan and Rohan Smyth (2021)
Queenslanders Get Ready! by The Rumble Queensland network (2025)
Sooo many awesome memories with Curtis! From skate house experiences at Zilly (Zillmere) to skate trips around Australia in his van, the Chad, going to China together, starting Herstwood Skateboards and watching him flourish in photography…His love for his homies skateboarding and photography is undeniable. He is a bloody good egg.
Other titles that have been discussed by the skate community with me as being amongst their favourites include titles such as Part and Parcel, Northern Lights, ATL/Along the Lines, The Hype Squad, Lifestyle Hammers and Zones 127. There are also compilations featuring women and non-traditional skaters by the formerly active Girls Skate Australia network, founded by Esther Godoy from Melbourne but regularly featuring Queenslanders such as Shanae ‘Sheezy’ Collins, Nikki Rose-Wall and Izy Duncombe.
SWIPE TO VIEW PHOTOS
‘Oh My Dude!’ by Andrew Viles, Ben Ventress and Max Olijnyk. Part of Dr Indigo Willing’s QLD skate history collection.
Photography has played a big role in this transformation. Legendary Sydney-based, Australian photographer Mike O’Meally has worked some of the iconic veteran skateboarders from the Sunshine State like Andrew Currie (former editor of Slam Skateboarding Magazine). O'Meally recalls that in the pre-digital camera days there were a range of challenges capturing skateboarding on film.
When I started working for Slam, they would assign me a certain number of rolls of film to complete. Andrew Currie ended up moving to the States for a while, and I'd only been shooting maybe a year and a half at this point. The dates are a bit foggy, but he asked me to edit the magazine. So I was editing the magazine and shooting as well. And I think I got something like 20 rolls to complete. It's amazing shoot the whole magazine.”
Slam Skateboarding is now edited by Trent Fahey in the Gold Coast who was originally on the Kewday Skateboards (Q-Day) team in the 1990s. Today, the magazine remains the most widely distributed and influential skateboarding magazines in Australia.
Front cover. Slam Skateboarding 35th Anniversary Issue 240, 2024. Anon (1980) Slam. Burleigh Heads, Qld: Morrison Media Services. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
Slam Skateboarding magazines provided for education activity at a World Science Week Brisbane workshop by We Skate QLD sponsored by the QLD Museum. 1. Nixon Osborne.Cover Slam Skateboarding. Issue 244 (2024/2025). Photographer: Sam Coady. 2. Jedd McKenzie. Cover Slam Skateboarding. Issue 239 (2023) Photographer: Wade McLaughlin
Slam Skateboarding magazine regularly features images by Wade McLaughlin, who was born in Nambour and has become one of Australia’s best contemporary photographers.
I'm born in Nambour...we would always go, you know, as a teenager, jump on the train to go skate the big smoke all weekend. Wherever there's large urban development, which is what's necessary for skating. But there's definitely skating all over Queensland.
Andrew ‘Beacho’ Beauchamp. Cover. Slam Skateboarding. Issue 213 (2016/17). Photographer Wade McLaughlin. Anon (1980) Slam. Burleigh Heads, Qld: Morrison Media Services. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
Alex Lawton. Cover. Slam Skateboarding. Issue 217 (2017,2018) Photographer: Wade McLaughlin. Anon (1980) Slam. Burleigh Heads, Qld: Morrison Media Services. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
McLaughlin emphasises how a whole eco-system of people all keep Queensland skateboarding afloat and flourishing, from the warehouses to the front covers:
Many locally owned companies and initiatives just help support people doing things. Like, man, I really owe everything to them as well, because I don't know what I would be doing if I didn't have that local support behind me at the time, I wouldn't have been able to pursue, I suppose what I'm doing now.” - Wade McLaughlin on buiding a photography career.
The history of Queensland skateboarding has also been, for McLaughlin, one of rapid development that he is proud to document.
There’s a crazy history of amazing skateboarders from Queensland. Like, before my time, you know, you had, like, Jake Duncombe, Shane Cross, Sammy Winter, Dave Harris, Stu, like all these incredible skaters. And now you see, like Taniah, the Boggis brothers, Chloe Covell (from Northern NSW but who skates QLD regularly). Like, just the level of skateboarding that has come out of Queensland when there's really not much in terms of, like a big industry and financial support and the right to skate the city architecture like in some other cities. It's pretty it's pretty astounding, really.” - Wade McLaughlin on the quality of Queensland skateboarders.
Rome Torti (1982 - 2014) was a prolific photographer and one of the most respected ones in the history of Queensland skateboarding. Born in New South Wales, Torti moved with his family to the Gold Coast in 1983. There, he became a lifelong skateboarder from a young age, and picked up a camera in high school at Nerang. He went on to take skate photography to the next level with a distinct artistry and technical ability that has captured images of a ‘who’s who’ of Queensland and Australian skateboarders. His remarkable life and artistic legacy is documented in a special article ‘Remembering Rome Torti’ in Slam Skateboarding on 1 June 2022 featuring words by Trent Fahey, Dave Torti, Martin Berg, Luke Attril, Cameron Sparkes, Peter Tori, Jill Torti and Rachel Tori (https://www.slamskateboarding.com/item/5055-remembering-rome-torti).
A book on his photography called Hello Friend is also available to the public to view as part of the John Oxley Library collection at the State Library Queensland.
SWIPE TO VIEW PHOTOS
Cover Hello Friend. Torti, R. (2014) Hello friend : life through the lens of Rome Torti. Australia: Rome Torti. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland.
Other Sunshine State photographers capturing Queenslanders have included David Adair, Darren Kirby, Jashan Prasad, Marcel Lip, Tim Black, Curtis Hay, John Green, Henry Harbeck, Reece Newman, Matthew O’Sullivan and a new generation following like Jack Cassidy, Jacob Van Der Ley and others.
Sarah Huston was also pivotal in creating the Yeah Girl platform which curated one of the first all-women skate photographer exhibitions in the world, held at the Gold Coast at Dust Temple in 2016 (and later at Home of the Arts).
The first year girl exhibition for me personally was pretty special. Because at that time it was rare to showcase women skate photographers. And there was no bigger plan beyond that night. So it's nice to look back on that and see how far it came from there.
Izy Duncombe (nee Mutu) at the Gold Coast and Amanda France at a street spot in Brisbane photographed by Sarah Huston from Yeah Girl exhibition and catalogue. Part of Dr Indigo Willing’s QLD skate history collection.
At the time, there was no regular network or platform to promote women skate photographers either so the Yeah Girl exhibition drew attention to how many existed and their impressive works. Huston states, “it's just sort of became that thing where, once you become aware of something, you see it everywhere…You know, there's more of us out there. And then notice another one and another one…it hadn't even occurred to me how many of us were shooting photos”. In response to this lack of recognition Huston explains:
If we didn’t know, then nobody else would know. So I thought, why not get them all together and celebrate and put spotlight on them. Photos of female non-binary skaters weren't getting the media coverage and it was a nice way to be able to showcase all those skaters.
Queensland skateboarder, photographer and journalist Tessa Fox at Copenhagen. Part of the Yeah Girl women and non-binary photographers’ exhibition on the Gold Coast. Photograph by Sarah Huston.
Other women behind the lens include Tessa Fox (now an international war correspondent and journalist) and the team at Slabzoo Skateboarding who also run a media platform with interviews and features about mostly grom (younger) skateboarders. A range of other photographers such as Riley Pemberton (Death to Discrimination), Isabella Porras and Tamaryn Bremner (independent photographers) and videographers such as Allira (Stage One) have also volunteered their time to documenting events such as the annual We Skate QLD jams. While women and non-binary photographers in mainstream and core skate media are still in the minority, their creativity and craft has contributes to shifting the landscape from being mostly men to having more diversity.
Timothy Lachlan, founder of WCMX and Adaptive Skateboarding Australia and Dr Indigo Willing on the mic at the We Skate QLD 2022 Jam at Fairfield skatepark. Photograph by Riley Pemberton.
Group shot at the We Skate QLD 2022 Jam at Fairfield skatepark. Photograph by Slabzoo Skateboarding.
Videos and photographs are key to documenting of Queensland skateboarding, from competitions to underground scenes and various accomplishments by both mainstream and non-traditional skateboarders. Individuals who have relevant works that could be possible donations are invited to reach out to contribute. In future blogs this project will also explore the Queensland memories of some key photographers in more depth. The next part of this project’s blog series presents an overview of the business and industry side of Queensland skateboarding history.
Dr Indigo Willing
2025 John Oxley Library Honorary Fellow
Read other blogs by Dr Indigo Willing (to be released weekly):
- Part 1 - The Early Subculture of Skateboarding in Queensland
- Part 2 - Queensland Skateboarding Zine-making Tradition
- Part 4 - Good Company, Good Vibes: Queensland Skateboarding Businesses
- Part 5 - Rolling Out the Red Carpet: Skateboarding Icons and Everyday Heroes
- Part 6 - We Skate Too: Women, Non-Binary, Queer and Non-Traditional Skateboarders
- Part 7: Queensland’s World-Class Competitive Skateboarders
To get involved in Skateboarding in Queensland, see We Skate QLD
Watch this video to explore Indigo's research project, and don’t miss the full video highlighting all the 2025 Queensland Memory Awards recipients and their inspiring projects.
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