Skip to main content

Christmas Firsts #13 - Bondi Beach




If you are visiting Sydney (Australia) from another country at Christmas time, and especially if you are a backpacker, it has become a tradition to spend Christmas Day celebrating on Bondi Beach.   I can’t work out exactly when this first became a popular destination for Christmas tourists, but by the 1980’s there were numbers like 20,000 international visitors enjoying a summer Christmas Day at the beach.
For years, backpackers and Bondi Beach on Christmas Day were synonymous. The beach was transformed into a drunken party scene, as those from colder climes lived out their fantasy of spending Christmas on the beach under a scorching sun. 


A similar Bondi Beach Christmas Day happened annually until 1995 when a “riot” occurred. Media reports called the affray a “riot” and here is a description of what occurred according to a Waverly Council document.Aggressive drunken revellers mar Christmas Day on Bondi Beach. Lifeguards report being overwhelmed with 146 surf rescues, mainly due to drunken people entering the surf. The trouble begins in the late afternoon when cool weather moves approximately 20,000 backpackers off the beach and onto Queen Elizabeth Drive blocking the road. Aggressive young people (described as ‘male youths from the Western suburbs’) arrive in cars and clash with backpackers. Violence erupted and police attempts to move the crowd saw it turn on them, throwing bottles and trashing police cars. The event was described across the Sydney media as a ‘riot’. In the clean up Council removed 30 tonnes of litter at a cost of $20,000. For weeks afterwards broken glass was reported in the sand. 

In 1996, for the FIRST time, Bondi Beach on Christmas Day was declared an alcohol free zone. Waverly Council, in an attempt to maintain a spirit of goodwill to tourists, and to encourage a more family oriented scene on the beach enforces the ban on alcohol,. However, a party of food, drinks and entertainment is organised in the beach Pavilion for most of the day for about 3,000 people, while the rest enjoy a more peaceful Christmas on the beach outside. So my contention is- the idyllic Bondi Beach Christmas Day, so popular now with young and old alike, FIRST occurred in 1996 with the banning of alcohol on the beach. What is it really like? 


"We absolutely love it," says Natalie William, a 23-year-old backpacker from London ( Christmas 2016)
She is busy frolicking on the beach, showing off her full Santa body suit, hat and beard, as we talk about Christmas Day on the other side of the world.
"Normally, I'd just be at home and it would be cold, probably raining. This is so much better."
But she has to admit, not being able to drink on the beach was a slight disappointment.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

#the100dayproject : Inspiring Women Days 1 - 4

#The100DayProject is a *free* global art project that takes place online 🎨 E very year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating. Anyone can participate . ​The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and document and share the process online. 2026 is my 8th year of participating. I have stitched daily observations, painted my egg cup collection, collaged postcards and envelopes, written poems, explored colour palettes .... this year I am researching, sketching and stitching 100 inspiring women. Fortunately I purchased a piece of beautiful linen, with preprinted outlines of 100 women ... just one issue - the figures are tiny (height 6cm /2.5 ins) My first week started tentatively ... I thought I would start with Empress Wu, after whom I named my creative activity. This is when I discovered how difficult it is to applique and stitch on these very small figures - I used tweezers to put pieces of fabric down, tried t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

 Background Information:  Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start  with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound  silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap.  2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...
8 comments
Read more