Page 141 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sydney

FUR THER AFIELD  139

The crescent-shaped Bondi Beach, Sydney’s most famous beach, looking towards North Bondi
hands were ordered on deck as away, the present lighthouse wide in search of the perfect
The Gap’s rock walls loomed. The was built. Although designed by wave, and inline skaters hone
recovered anchor is now set into Colonial Architect James Barnet, their skills on the promenade.
the cliff near the shipwreck site. it was based on Greenway’s Despite a growing awareness
original and was illuminated of the dangers of sun expo sure
for the first time in 1883. (see p223) and an expansion of
other cultural preoccupations,
beach life still defines the lives
i Bondi Beach of many Australians, who regard
it as healthier than ever.
@ 333, 380, 381. See Four Guided
Walks: pp146–7. People seek out Bondi for
its trendy seafront cafés and
This long crescent of golden cosmopolitan milieu as much as
sand, so close to the city, has for the beach. The pavilion, built
long been a mecca for the in 1928 as changing rooms, has
sun and surf set (see pp56–7). been a community centre since
Throughout the year, surfing the 1970s. Note that Bondi Beach
enthusiasts visit from far and itself is an alcohol-free zone.
Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club
The 1883 Macquarie Lighthouse
overlooking the Pacific Ocean The founding of the surf lifesaving club at Bondi Beach in
u Macquarie 1906 gave impetus to the formation of other local clubs,
and ultimately to a global movement. An early club member
Lighthouse demonstrated his new lifesaving reel, designed using hair pins
and a cotton reel. Now updated, it is standard equipment
@ 324, 325. 7
on beaches worldwide. In 1938, Australia’s largest surf
This is the second lighthouse rescue was mounted at Bondi, when up to 250 people
on this windswept site that is were washed out to sea by freak waves. Five died, but
attributed to the convict architect lifesavers rescued or resuscitated more than 200,
Francis Greenway (see p116). establishing their highly dependable reputation.
He supervised the construction
of the first tower, which was
completed in 1818 and described
by Governor Macquarie as a
“noble magni ficent edifice”.
The colony’s first lighthouse,
it replaced the previous system
of bonfires lit up along the
headland and earned Greenway
a conditional pardon. When the Bondi surf lifesaving team at the Bondi Surf Carnival, 1937
sandstone eventually crumbled

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