Garie Beach

first bikini in Bondi Beach, Australia?

i have a book that says "Miss Pat Riley", in 1946. this is very important to me, does anyone else know where i can confirm this or find anything else about it. it was also on a game show one night, and this was answer, so can someone please help

Public Comments

1. Pat Riley is on this list of.... "any woman who is a first in a field previously dominated by men has the responsibility of opening doors for other women" * Pat Riley ..... the FIRST Australian woman to wear a bikini in 1946 but was ordered by the police to leave Bondi Beach in Sydney http://web.ukonline.co.uk/m.gratton/Ladies%201st%20-%20PQ.htm History of clothing The first woman that wore a bikini in public was the French dancer Micheline Bernardi. She was a model on the catwalk at the presentation for Reard’s swimwear collection. Later that year, it was notified the first public appearance of PAT RILEYwearing a bikini on a public beach in Australia. The first Australian woman to wear a bikini was ordered by the police to leave the Bondi Beach. http://articles.famouswhy.com/history_of_clothing/
2. Bikini arrests on Bondi Beach. The Local Government Act, Ordinance No. 52 (1935) set exact dimensions for swimming costumes which remained in force until 1961. An example of this is that men’s and women's costumes must have legs at least 3" long, must completely cover the front of the body from a line at the level of the armpits to the waist, have shoulder straps or other means of keeping the costume in position. It is impossible to say who was the first woman to wear a bikini on Bondi Beach, what is known are some of the arrests which took place for breaches of the Local Government Act relating to swimming costumes. 1940s & 1950s: the first arrests In 1945 an unnamed woman braved the Bondi promenade wearing a bikini in and according to a Sunday Telegraph report in 1946 'caused a near riot'. Waverley Council Lifeguard (then known as Beach Inspectors) Aub Laidlaw told her she was indecently attired and ordered her to changing sheds at Bondi Pavilion with instructions to put on some more clothes. She was later charged with offensive behaviour. Another newspaper report recounts this same story but with this first bikini girl appearing on the beach in September 1946, yet another newspaper report claims October that year with the girl in the bikini being mobbed by 'hundreds of young surfers'. Aub Laidlaw is remembered that event in an interview with the Daily Mirror 19 April 1984: "I remember the first girl I ordered off was a medium sized brunette from Darren St, Lidcombe. The beach telegraph had got around before I caught up to her and the mob was round her. We had to escort her out the back door of the pavilion [Bondi Pavilion] to a tram."