I bought a rare Porpoise CA-2 scuba from the original owner a few years ago. (See single hose section) This was his certification. It came from the Melbourne City Baths where the first Australian scuba school was started. La Prieur started the first scuba school in france nearly 20 years before.
This certificate in unique as it has rebreather qualifications printed on it. These were lined out if diver did not complete that phase. The Australians had almost been invaded by the Japanese and a record was kept of all divers who were certified in case they needed to be drafted by the Royal Australian Navy. Thus the military rebreather qualifications. The first Porpoise scuba was actually an oxygen rebreather.
This card was the one issued by my diving club when I was a young diver. Later our club's training went commercial and took over from the City Baths course. This card was a pocket sized card.
I began diving in 1960 and got a card like this one. Mine has since self destructed. I did not get an American YMCA C card until 1975. It was hard to get air without one. Steve
I have just read my earlier post. It should read 1976, I was certified in 1976 as a SCUBA diver and not 1996. I put the error down to a) My fat fingers and b)the fact that the key board I'm using can't spell or read my mind 