BIRTHDAY BILL
A big year is coming up for one of Noosa’s most famous characters.
Noosa icon Hey Bill Watson has been a regular at the beach for 50 years and in February he’s having a special birthday party to celebrate turning 70.
ON January 14, 2020, Bill “Hey Bill” Watson will mark an amazing 50 years of service at Noosa Main Beach, where he started selling oranges back in 1970. Then, on February 7, Bill himself will be celebrating his 70th birthday.
He’s decided to combine these two anniversaries with a third one.
“I’m going to have my wake as well, and get them all out of the way at one go,” he said. “There might not be anyone around by the time I go.”
Hey Bill has planned a special party at Rococos on February for “close friends” to drop in.
It has been “a long haul” for the man who was born on the beach in front of North Bondi SLSC in 1950.
“Over the years I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d still be here,” he said.
“At age 20 I thought I’d start some food on the beach — now it’s 50 years later.”
Hey Bill left Sydney aged 13 and hitched – with some difficulty due to his then-long hair – to Noosa, up to Darwin, then back to Noosa via Gympie, “where the boys in blue were following me”.
“I was doing 98mph; I got to Cooroy, saw the sign for Noosa and when I got close, turned the lights off and coasted in.”
Now that’s called escaping to Noosa.
He started out selling oranges on the beach and later got hold of some syringes so he could inject some of them with vodka as a little extra.
He quickly became famous for his “Noosa nectar”, and ever since he’s been a daily visitor, ready to have a chat, offer tourism advice and sell his wares.
Today, his business is a little more orthodox, selling snow cones, shaved ice and of course his famous Hey Bill water bottles, and still on Noosa Main Beach.
“I go down to the beach every day, and every day it changes – the view, the wind, the sand and the people. It’s just paradise.”
Unless there’s rain, Hey Bill, with his quad bike and connecting trailers, is out there working his “patch” between the Noosa surf club and the river mouth.
“I used to be there from sun-up to sundown in my younger days, but when you get a bit of age on you, you start to pull up a bit.
“I only work from 6.30am to 5pm now,” he said with a smile.
Hey Bill has always been a strong advocate for Noosa tourism and, in the ’70s and ’80s, made trips interstate to promote the region using money out of his own pocket, and closed up shop while he was away.
“I’ve been promoting this place before people even thought of coming here.
“I remember the inaugural jet that came up from Melbourne in the early ’80s. That was a big deal – a really big deal.”
With such a long association with Noosa, Hey Bill is fairly happy with the way development has progressed, even though it’s meant chaining himself to a tree every now and then.
“I’ve always been anti-highrise. I spent eight days in Nambour lock-up in ’71 when they were going to build the first highrise.
“A mob from the Gold Coast had come up and were going to build a 14-storey joint where Sandcastles is now.”
He’s pleased he took a stance, helping retain some of the natural elements that drew him to the region.
Hey Bill is as aware as everyone else of the challenges Noosa faces in terms of traffic congestion coming into 2020.
He has an easy solution, and reckons Noosa missed the boat when a bridge from Noosa Woods to Noosa Sound was kyboshed in 1971 after three attempts.
“Let them keep driving,” he said.
“Eventually, people get a park. If you try to remove some cars, there will just be plenty more to fill the gap.”
But nothing will change in the big romance Hey Bill has with Noosa.
“I’ve met a lot of good people here,” he said.
“Noosa is the most beautiful woman in the world.”
So next time you’re at the beach and see our Noosa icon, sing out “Hey Bill, happy 70th birthday!”