AJ Macarthur Onslow – Foundation President 1919/20 to 1938/9
-The grandson of John Macarthur, the man responsible for Australia’s wool industry, Arthur John, known as Jack, was the founding President and personally responsible for the formation of Terrigal Surf Club.
-A Boer War veteran, he was wounded and repatriated in 1900 and then he walked with a cane for the rest of his life. He owned significant property at Scone and, as was the fashion at the time, holidayed at Terrigal.
-Always an active man, when he retired from raising stock, he moved permanently to Barnhill Rd, Terrigal. He looked for an activity where he could support his community and reclaim the camaraderie he experienced in his wartime service.
-So, he gathered young men around him and began to protect the beachgoers at Terrigal but did not have the expertise with all the lifesaving techniques of the day, so, when his daughter completed her Royal Lifesaving Bronze Medallion in Gosford in 1919, Jack invited the Instructors to Terrigal and the fledgling club became affiliated with Royal Lifesaving.
Jack was the inaugural President of Terrigal Surf and Lifesaving Club, as it was known, and continued in that role for 20 seasons, building the club till 1938. He was known as “a tower of strength”. (Central Coast Express, 19/08/1934)
His wife, Christian Lesley, was a huge contributor to Terrigal Surf Club, and initiated the Balls that soon became a fixture for the whole region. She was renowned as a great hostess.
She passed away in 1948 and Jack died in 1952.
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