Bill Southam (1899-1968)

William Lionel (Bill) Southam was born in September 1899 near Narooma, NSW. He left school at 15 to work as a bank clerk, and later as a bookkeeper. He married Thelma Milstead in 1925, and in the early 1930s he moved with Thelma and their two young sons to the Sydney suburb of Lane Cove. About then he came into contact with the exceptional fishing tackle produced by Hardy Bros, repairing and disassembling their split cane rods. In an article for Fishing World of July 1984, Peter Leuver wrote that Bill borrowed a Hardy Crown Houghton fly rod (9’9” to 10’7” 3-piece!) from a friend, took it home and copied it! 

During the Depression years, with his brother-in-law Reg Bell, Bill Southam had dabbled with making split-cane rods from ‘Tonkin’ bamboo imported from China, where it grows mainly in the coastal regions of Kwangsi and Kwangtung. While working as a draftsman, Bill had entered a competition drawing silhouettes of famous sportsmen, winning £150 in prize money, quite a sum for the time, some of which he invested in Tonkin bamboo on which he could practice at home. The techniques for preparing the bamboo and the later steps in producing fishing rods were developed by trial and error, with a growing demand placed by clients on what was literally a cottage industry. Unlike his overseas counterparts he had no peers or predecessors to learn from and had to go it alone. Southam was a perfectionist; according to Peter Leuver, when he made a rod he wasn’t happy with, he would break it across his knee.

Southam’s first factory was established in 1936 at 77 Longueville Road, Lane Cove, Sydney, where the hand planing of the bamboo sections was largely superseded by the addition of a second-hand machine from the US South Bend Rod Company. The business was now well-established, and Bill expanded into the production of all the components of the tackle; guides, reel seats, butt caps etc were now made in-house, which enabled Bill to ensure that his rods were a premium product of world quality. He also involved himself in other fishing tackle, including at one stage developing the Southam Monty fly-fishing reel. He also produced a successful freshwater lure, the now very valuable Bellbrook Wobbler. 

The business thrived during the 1930s as the Southam reputation for quality grew. The boom in game fishing greatly helped and the leading lights of the sport used Southam split-cane game rods almost exclusively.[1] Famous US angler and author Zane Grey’s visit to Australia in 1936 provided an enormous boost to the sport generally and to Southams directly. Grey tested some Southam game fishing rods and lavishly praised them, declaring them to be the finest rods he ever used, and he permitted Bill to use his testimonial in advertising. As well as making game fishing and surf rods, Southam also sold split-cane rod blanks to other cane rod makers, including Len Butterworth.

Southam didn’t neglect his fishing during this busy period. He found time to fish for trout, go to sea with game fish anglers, compete in casting tournaments and generally keep himself in the fishing community’s eye. As a member of the New South Wales Rod Fishers Society, Bill had access to both the established freshwater fishing community and the growing saltwater game fishing section of the Society.

With World War II many activities in Australia were curtailed. Resources and skills were directed to the war effort, and industrial capacity was strictly controlled. The Southam factory was contracted to provide many items from its machine and woodworking shops for the war effort. After the war, stringent tariffs against many imported goods provided an impetus to local manufacturing, and the small local tackle industry, including the Southam organisation, thrived and capitalised on the renewed thirst for recreational fishing by the Australian population. 

As a rod designer and builder, Southam was immensely interested in the mechanics and physics of casting, and he was by this time building a reputation as a fine tournament caster.  He became one of Australia’s most proficient casters, winning trophies and championships in all casting events. A 1954 Australian Champion of Champions trophy was among his most treasured possessions. He used these connections to further the business, building and field-casting tournament rods in competitions, particularly for freshwater anglers. 

Southam always experimented with different tapers, especially for the fly rods. It was a matter of trial and error until he was satisfied. He would make up dozens of such rods and go to casting and instruction days where he would give them to good casters to try out. Three-times Australian Fly-casting Champion of Champions Kevin Laughton wrote of Bill’s visits to Orange from the late 1940s to demonstrate his rods, and the astonishment of local anglers at the distances (well over 100 feet) he could achieve with them. 

From John Southam’s article about his father in Tight Lines, the Journal of the NSW Rodfishers Society, of August 1973:

“He was devoted to light sport fishing and always believed in the pleasure of fishing rather than a full basket. Also, it was his greatest pleasure to help anyone who wanted assistance in their casting.” Bill and several others taught casting at Sydney’s Centennial Park, and he also taught casters on the footpath beside the Pacific Highway near his Artarmon premises. One recounted: “He had me casting along the gutter, tied my wrist to the butt with a hankie and off we went, cars whizzing past!” 

Bill Southam was later involved in setting up the Lakeside Casting Club and was made a life member. The club originally operated from Queenscliff Lagoon, Manly, and the first Australian Fly-Casting Championships were held there in June 1951. They were organised by Bill, along with Victorians Malcolm Gillies, Theo Brunn, John Brookes and Reg Lyne,[2] all of them formidable casters. A 14-year-old Kevin Laughton won the Australian Accuracy Championship.

By 1948 the Southam factory in Artarmon, Sydney, had 30 employees, making a range of over 30 bamboo rods for all types of fishing. However, by 1960, the tackle business was undergoing a revolution, with the advent of good quality hollow fibreglass rods. The protective tariffs of earlier years were reduced, and the Australian market became more open to imports. Bill was entreated to move over to fibreglass rod production, which he eventually did without much enthusiasm. His heart was in the feel and the lore of the split cane fishing rod, and he was unhappy with the change in direction forced on his company. The premises at Artarmon were redeveloped and in addition to the manufacturing operation Southams established a significant retail operation christened ‘The Fishermen’s Corner’, which became the mecca for anglers on the northern side of the city. Sadly, Bill’s health had deteriorated by this time and, following a series of problems, he died suddenly in November 1968, aged 69.

The business continued under Bill’s son Peter until 1980, when it was sold to another fishing retailer. So passed the Southam tackle organisation, truly able to state that they were indeed “rod makers to Australia’s leading anglers” for over 40 years.

The Southam Fly Rods

As indicated earlier, given the strong influence of British rods on the experience of Australian fly-fishers, the Southam rods offered to them were mostly long and heavy (5 oz to 6.5 oz) by comparison to the cane rods being made from quite early last century by the great US makers. Southam fly rods included the following:

·      the No.1 Balmoral (10ft, 3-piece)

·      the Talbingo (9’4”, 9’6” and 9’9”, 3-piece) 

·      the Abercrombie (9’6”, 3-piece)

·      the Monty (9ft, 2-piece and 3-piece)

·      the No. 1 Fly Rod (9ft, 3-piece)

·      the Ringwood (8’6” and 9ft, 2-piece),[2] the bestselling Southam fly rod

·      the Gem (8’6”, 9ft and 9’6”, 2-piece)

·      the Alpha Trout (8’6”, 2-piece and 9' 1-piece)

The 1954 Anglers’ Guide includes advertisements for bamboo fly rods by several overseas makers, including Hardy, Edgar Sealey, Ogden Smith and James Aspindale in the UK and Arjon of Sweden.

Its page for Southam fly rods includes several of the rods listed above, and two, the Perfection (1-piece 9 ft) and the Bellbrook (3-piece 9 ft, one or two tips) new to us. It is likely that additional Southam fly rods will come to light over time.  

The price of the Southam rods shown, ranging from £9.50 to £16, was about half that of the Hardy range (£18 to £30), though similar to that of the other UK rods listed. A £12.50 Southam Bellbrook with two tips would cost about $540 in today’s prices, compared to a £30 Hardy Crown Houghton (3-piece, two tips, 9 ft 9 in), about $1300 today.

Bill Southam made a number of bamboo rods for Kevin Laughton, Australian Fly-Casting Champion of Champions in 1958, 1959 and 1972. In 1953 he made the 9'5" one-piece tournament rod with which Kevin won at the Australian Fly-Casting Championships in all three years. The rod, fully restored by James Jones, is shown below. Kevin donated a number of Southam rods to the Australian Fly Fishing Museum, including the Gem (9', 2/2), the Alpha Tournament Rod (9'4", 2/1) and the Lake Rod (9', 2/1); all are illustrated below. The Southam bamboo rods still in Kevin's possession are the Hydro (3-piece), the Kiewa (2-piece) and the Alpha (2-piece tournament rod).

Southam also made a remarkable rod that was a complete outlier to all his other known rods: The John Rollo (7’6” 3-piece, 2 tips, 3 oz), hollow-built (the central pith removed to lighten the rod). Of the Hardy rods which Southam would have known, it may have been influenced by the Marvel, 7’6” 3-piece, 2.75 oz, which first appeared in 1925. The John Rollo has intermediate wraps at short intervals along its length, common in rods made into the 1940s to protect the integrity of the rod against failures in the animal glues in use then to hold the bamboo strips together (later synthetic glues were much more durable and rendered intermediate wraps unnecessary, though they were still used by some makers for their aesthetic appeal). 

Until recently we could find little about the John Rollo or when it was made. However, we believe it was named after a renowned blue water angler from the 1930s and 40s, John Rollo, reported to have caught a 903 pound tiger shark off Maroubra, Sydney, in 1940. Given Southam's own close involvement in blue water angling, he and Rollo were surely friends. While the rod could well have been made on commission, it is more likely Southam's tribute to his friend.

In his Angling in Australia – Its History and Writings, Bob Dunn quotes, from Peter Leuver’s 1984 article about Southam in Fishing World, a lovely description of his bamboo rod making that in summary could serve for what is still done today: 

“Southam made his first rods entirely by hand.... When he received his shipment of bamboo, Bill would sort out the good from the not so good and cut them to the desired length. The stalks would then be ‘flamed’ to remove any moisture. He installed an oven for this purpose but found it was best hand done by rotating the cane over a gas flame. Unflamed cane was called ‘white cane’ and was naturally cheaper.

“After flaming, the stalks would be cut into long, triangular sections. Then the nodes were ground off. Now came the precision planing of each strip, which had to be an exact match to all the others.

“A set of six matching sections were selected and glued together, keeping the nodes staggered at different intervals for strength. Then they would be bound tightly together while the glue dried. The whole rod was dunked in hot water[3] and would come out looking like a corkscrew! a skilful tradesman would then straighten the rod out. 

“After letting the thing settle down overnight, the bindings would be removed and the rod blank cleaned, scraped very carefully, sand papered and finally rubbed with steel wool.

“After further careful selection these ‘blanks’ would then go to the finishing room to have the ferrules, guides, cork grips and winch fitting put on before being varnished in a dust free atmosphere.”

Below are images of some of these rods, as well of the one-piece tournament rod Bill Southam made for Kevin Laughton.

[1] Bill’s ‘Blackfish/Luderick’ split cane rods were also highly regarded among that passionate fishing community.

[2] In 1948 Reg Lyne became the Victorian agent for Southam rods.

[3] Recently we found a Southam Ringwood Special, 8’3” 1-piece, 4.75 oz.

[4] Something not done today; its utility then is rather puzzling.

Southam The John Rollo Rod  7'6" 3 oz  3/2  (JJ)

Southam The Special Ringwood Rod 8'3" 4.75 oz  1/0 (FvR)

Southam Competition Casting Rod 9'5" 1/0 (FvR - KL)

Southam The Gem Rod Kevin Laughton 1955 (AFFM)

Southam Special Tournament Rod for K Laughton 1954 9'4" 2/1 5oz 3dr (AFFM)

Southam Competition Casting Rod 9'5" 1/0 (Kevin Laughton NSW 2023)