A meeting held in Urunga on the 3rd of December, 1946 gave rise to the formation of the Bellingen Urunga Surf Life Saving Club. Mr Nicholas Gleeson, local publican of the Ocean View Hotel, was elected as the club’s first President.
Membership fees were fixed at 5 shillings (50c) for active members and 10 shillings ($1.00) for Associate Members. Harry Bradley, one of the clubs earliest members recalls when the club first took possession of a surf boat in 1948. “We stored the boat along with a reel and other equipment in an old boat shed near where today’s watchtower is located”.
During the record level floods of 1950, a crew made up of Harry Bradley, Ivan Fields, Arthur Paterson, Toby Myers and sweep Billy Telford were used to rescue families from their rooftops in the Raleigh area.
Since those early beginnings our club has seen many changes. A name change to Urunga SLSC took place in 1952. Over the years our clubhouse has evolved from, a roughly built boat shed to the current building erected in 1987 using voluntary labour and funds from State and Local Governments. In between, there have been 3 other buildings – a wooden clubhouse tucked into the headland, a single story brick building constructed in 1966 and a double storey building completed in 1972.