Auckland, New Zealand in 1978 opened up a kickass skatepark called Skatopia in the Manukau suburb, which was sponsored by Coca Cola. It emulated the park plans from Skatopia in the U.S. Sadly, it was demolished in 1982 but it was a training grounds for many Kiwi skaters while it lasted.
Here’s a promo for a documentary on the NZ skatepark called, “Skatopia ’78: The Summer Years” and some vintage footage from 1979.
I stumbled upon a group photo including Debbie Bragg in 1980 from the Auckland Libraries digital collection, which stated that she was a Skatopia local, and had just “broken the world record for non-stop skateboarding.” I’m not sure if that meant pumping back and forth, or around a track, but pretty cool!
The photo was published in the Manukau Courier, June 14, 1980 on p. 3 and include Debbie with Janek Musialkawski and Phillip Taylor.
Thanks to Instagram, I received two photos of Debbie at Skatopia from Tony Hallam after seeing this post. He lived in New Zealand up until 1981.
Would be awesome to hear from Debbie herself. And here’s a “before & after” photo of the park. Sob!
New Zealand is also home to solid skateboarders like Stace “the Ace” Roper and Maori legend, Georgina Matthews!
Womxn Skateboard History 