Life Savers at Maroubra New South Wales Surfing could almost be called Australia's national sport . And it's to the lifeasavers that all merit must go for making Austrlia's beachers safe . Lifesavers perform a highly skilled public service yet they pay for the privilege for risking their own lives to save others . Their work is purely voluntary and every lifesaver belonging to the Surf Life Saving Association - about 10,000 altogether - proudly pays a subscription to his club The lifesavers' spectaccular beach carnivals , competitions and mass displays are held almost every weekend in the summer and are well worth seeing . From 1907 - whena few young men at Manly New South Wales decided to shoulder the task of making the sport safe and so formed the beginnings of the S L S A - to the end of the 1955 - 56 season , Australian lifesavers had rescued 100,727 persons