Fountains, feisty fish and friendships
Fifty years at the Auckland University Underwater Club
By Alison Perkins

Big things happened in 1961. John F. Kennedy was sworn in as President of the United States, South Africa withdrew from the British Commonwealth, construction began on the Berlin Wall, Fidel Castro declared communism in Cuba and a Soviet cosmonaut became the first human in space. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key was born, as was film director Peter Jackson and US President Barack Obama. Significantly for us, it was the year that the Auckland University Underwater Club was formed (AUUC).

Scuba diving is a young sport. Attaining fifty years as a recreational dive club is a big triumph for AUUC. While much may have changed in the world in the last fifty years, for AUUC, much has remained the same. A 1974 issue of the club newsletter, Flotsam, states “we collect together all the bods around varsity who are interested in snorkelling, SCUBA diving, underwater photography, the seas and their protection from abuse… and who would benefit from club trips, training, NZUA affiliation, social events and actively supporting conservation and ecology.” We couldn’t have summed it up better ourselves.

In 50 years we have developed some crazy traditions, our favourite is the Fountain Crawl. As part of graduation week celebrations club members dress up in their wetsuits, imbibe liquid courage through their snorkels in the form of the cheapest champagne money can buy and parade through Auckland, taking a dip in all of the fountains along the way. When confronted in the streets, we politely tell people we’re from the Auckland University Tramping Club.

Sometimes harmless fun bites. Who can forget our youtube sensation ‘Hayden vs Puffa Fish‘. Ed and Hayden had pounced on a poor defenseless porcupinefish, causing it to swell up like a basketball. Hayden thought it would be amusing to wave his finger near the fish’s beaky jaw. Clamping down with a force generally used for crushing shellfish, the fish enacted its revenge. Hayden’s muffled screams of pain are drowned out by Ed’s hysterical guffaws, reverberating through his regulator. The video was purchased by the Animal Planet Network for their entertaining, educational ‘Untamed and Uncut’ series. You can almost picture the narrator saying in a deep voice “when pufferfish attack.”

Through hailstorms and raging ocean swells that render you a nauseous mess, members of AUUC have formed friendships that last a lifetime. In June, former President Simon Freeman will marry his dive club belle Lauren in the United States. This is a story repeated many times in the club. The romance of the sport is not lost on divers. Veins fizzing like champagne with bubbles of nitrogen, the boat gently rocking,  the pleasant aroma of dank wetsuit in the air, and everybody is already wet. The shared experience of gazing upon the wonders of the deep blue ocean are enough to get any diver excited.

Our members have gone on to become marine science rock stars. Dr Roger Grace, who trained people to dive in the club in the 1970s, is now one of New Zealand’s great underwater photographers, working for Greenpeace and supporting marine conservation. Dr Malcolm Francis, who was treasurer in the 1970s, is now a fisheries scientist and fish biologist working at NIWA. In 2008 he was awarded the prestigious New Zealand Marine Sciences Society Award for his “continued outstanding contribution to marine science in New Zealand.” Secretary of the club in the 1970s, Dr Richard Willan is now the Senior Curator of Molluscs at the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in Australia. A worldwide sea slug expert, the delightful white and yellow nudibranch Cadlina willani is named for him.

Whether diving in the frigid waters of Lake Taupo in the middle of winter, or sharing the waters of the Poor Knights Islands with a majestic Bronze whaler shark, or tickling a toxic sea slug under a silt-shrouded jetty is your thing, AUUC can take you there. We can’t wait to dive into the next fifty years of fountains, feisty fish and friendships.

Take a Walk Down Memory Lane

Brian Winstone – Founder of the University Underwater Club

Brian’s brother Keith Winstone recalls how Brian came to be in the University Underwater Club.

Life Members

A list of the club’s Life Members (at least the ones we know about).

Honour Roll of AUUC Presidents

The list of club Presidents from 1961 to present day.

Flotsam – AUUC Newsletter

Downloadable copies of the club newsletter.

Recollections – Dr Garry J. Tee

Dr Garry J. Tee joined AUUC in 1969. He has shared with us some of his favourite photographs from his diving days.

Underwater Club Trips I Recall – Keith Winstone

Keith Winstone reminisces about club trips in the 1960s.

Underwater Ride on a Sunfish

Members of AUUC ride a sunfish at the Poor Knights Islands – article from the Weekly News around June 1969.

Winstone Memorial Collection

AUUC presented 66 books to The University of Auckland Library as a memorial to founder Brian Winstone. This page shows the Voyager listing of those books.