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“Bondi,” originally “Boondi” is an Aboriginal word which has the same meaning as the word “water breaking over rocks.

Bondi Beach – The Good Old Days

Few people know that Bondi was once a privately owned beach.

On learning the public were "wholly excluded from Bondi Bay", the colonial surveyor - general Thomas Mitchell insisted that access was indispensable for the health and recreation of the inhabitants of Sydney.

Reluctantly Bondi's owner in the 1850's, Francis O Brien made part of the beach a picnic ground. A day at the seaside soon became popular with Sydneysiders, but a "tendency to rowdyism" forced O'Brien to threaten closure telling Waverley Council in 1877 that the beach was "becoming unfit, by reason of immoral practices for the purpose of recreation to families".

His fight against public indecency cost him his beach. On June 9, 1882 the waterfront was resumed by the colonial government and Bondi became a public beach.

Busy in Bondi 1944

In 1902, daylight ocean swimming became legal and a morning dip at the beach became popular and easy, thanks to the Bondi tram.

By 1907, Australia had its first Surf Lifesaving Club, formed at Bondi. Improved ocean safety fostered an egalitarian beach culture that soon became central to the nation's sense of self.

Over the past century Bondi has morphed into the Playground of the Pacific - an iconic place of celebrity, recreation and rejuvenation - a one kilometre stretch of golden sand that is a magnet for locals and travellers alike, and the ultimate setting for leisure.

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