The Australian Surf Life Saving Championships date from the first ‘New South Wales’ championships, held at Bondi Beach, Sydney on 20 March 1915.  At that event, Bondi SBLSC won the Senior Rescue and Resuscitation (R&R) Premiership, one of just a handful of events taking place. Today there are more than 300 events and over 8,000 competitiors.

With the exception of the two World War years, they have continued uninterrupted at the end of every season.  For most of the early years the titles were held in the Sydney area. In 1947 they switched to Queensland for the first time and then rotated around the various states until Kurrawa Beach hosted the championships in 1995.

For the next twelve years the Aussies called Kurrawa home, here the championships grew from about 5,200 competitors to over 8,400 in 2006, making the Championships the biggest event of its kind in the world. In 2007 to 2009 the Championships were held at Scarborough, Perth.

Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) announced in 2009 a long-term deal that will secure the future of the Australian Surf Life Saving Championships, right through to 2022. SLSA and the Queensland Government signed a Heads of Agreement for ‘the Aussies’, to be held on the Gold Coast for three years from 2010 to 2012.

The 2012 Aussies will take place at Kurrawa Beach on the Gold Coast from 26 March to 1 April 2011.

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