Skateboard

This 1950s skateboard was homemade out of a slab of remu and the wheels of a pair of skates. 

It is thought that the first modern-day skateboards were created in the late 1940s by Californian surfers who wanted something to do when the surf was a bit flat. They called it landsurfing in the beginning.

It wasn’t long before the craze reached New Zealand. It was particularly popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Manufactured skateboards were available by then but some people made their own. This skateboard belonged to William Dunster who was a keen surfer in New Zealand. His father, who was always inventing things, made it for him.

In 1978, surfer Frank Edwards founded Edwards Skateboards and started manufacturing them in New Zealand. He toured the country with a team of skateboarders sponsored by Coca-Cola, demonstrating and promoting the new toy. By the 1980s skateboarding was so popular that many cities throughout New Zealand had established special skateboard parks.