Bert Allan was a keen fisherman who lived in a house on the beach of Kingscliff. He worked as an Electrician in the sandmining industry. He lodged a patent application for a sidecast fishing reel in 1954. He designed the reel to completely eliminate the possibility of the line being caught between the line spool and back plate which is a frequent occurrence particularly when fine nylon lines are used with known types of fishing reels as at present constructed. He also added a third knob onto the front of the spool. This was so the line could be wound in to take the twists and kinks out of it. The last reel he made was in 2000 for Jeff Overington.
