Bondi () is a suburb of eastern
Sydney, in the state of
New South Wales, Australia, seven kilometres east of the
Sydney central business district, in the
local government area of
Waverley Council.
Geography
Bondi is a mostly medium and high-density residential area centred on
Bondi Road, where the shopping area is situated.
Bondi Beach is a neighbouring suburb and beach on the east side of Bondi.
Bondi Junction is a neighbouring suburb and commercial centre to the west of Bondi.
Tamarama,
Bronte and
Waverley are situated on the south side of Bondi.
History
Bondi is reported to be derived from the
Aboriginal word ''boondi'' meaning ''water breaking over rocks''. It has been spelt a number of different ways over time, like Boondi, Bundi, and Bundye. The current spelling was accepted in 1827. The whole Bondi area was part of an 1809
land grant of to road-builder William Roberts. In 1851,
Edward Smith Hall, editor of the ''Sydney Monitor'', purchased the land for .
In the 1880s, Malcolm Campbell built ''Scarba'', a two-storey,
Italianate house in Wellington Street. It was later the residence of A.M. Loewenthal, an alderman in the local council. It was purchased by the New South Wales Government just before the First World War, then acquired by the
Benevolent Society of New South Wales, who turned it into a children's welfare home known as Scarba House. This lasted until 1986, after which Scarba House became part of the Bondi Centre, which included a retirement village and various other welfare services. It is listed on the local government heritage register. It is now a residence within a large set of apartments on Ocean Street and Wellington Street.
Bondi Public School, located in Wellington Street, was built in 1883. It is also listed on the local government heritage register. Before that, the school ran from St Matthews Church on Ocean Street, which is now one of the sites o
Bondi Anglican Church
Historically, the attractions in the area were Bondi Beach and the shopping centre at Bondi Junction (locally called 'the Junction'). The Bondi of this article developed as a predominantly residential area between the Junction and the beach, with a shopping strip along Bondi Road. Building styles are varied, with examples from the
Victorian period (1840–1890),
Federation (1890–1915),
Inter-War (1915–1940) and contemporary. Terraces of Victorian shops alternate with Federation shops along Bondi Road.
There are a number of active community groups in Bondi. The Bondi Anglican Church is one of the churches and has three sites – at Bondi Junction, Bondi and Bondi Beach. The Wayside Chapel is another church working in Bondi Beach.
Waverley Rugby Club was founded in 1971 and is the local
rugby union club, located in Bondi. Since its foundation, Waverley won the first Division Championship four times (in three of which won the First Grade title); Second Division twice; and Third Division once.
Trams
Tram services to
North Bondi via Bondi Road and Campbell Parade from the CBD operated from either
Circular Quay (via
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
and
Elizabeth Streets) or
Railway Square (via Elizabeth and
Liverpool Streets), to
Oxford Street. The line then passed down Oxford Street to
Bondi Junction, where it branched off from Bronte services, to run down Bondi Road to Fletcher Street, Campbell Parade and then to the North Bondi tram terminus. A feature of this line was the large three-track terminus cut into a hillside at North Bondi, which opened in 1946, as well as an underpass at 331a Bondi Road. Trams entered onto Campbell Parade via the underpass at a point where Bondi Road was too steep. The underpass and cutting have now been filled in, part of which is now public reserve and units.
The line opened in 1884 as a steam tramway to Bondi, then to Bondi Beach in 1894. Electric services commenced in 1902. The line closed in 1960. Current bus route
333 follows the former tram line as far as North Bondi.
A cross country tram line once operated from Bondi to Coogee. The line opened as a steam tramway in 1887, and was electrified in 1902. From 1910, through services operated from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach, and later additionally from Waverley Depot to Coogee beach. This line branched off Bronte Road at Waverley and travelled south down Albion Street and Frenchmans Road, then via Frances and Cook Streets to join the Coogee line at Belmore Road in Randwick. The line was single track throughout, with a passing loop on Frenchmans Road. Initially services ran from the junction at Albion Street in Waverley to Randwick only, this was later extended to Coogee in 1907. It closed in 1954 and was replaced by bus route 314.
[Remnants of the Bondi Trams](_blank)
Bondivillage.com (18 August 2018) Retrieved 23 August 2013
Heritage listings
In addition to those listed above, Bondi has a number of other heritage-listed sites, including:
* 36 Anglesea Street:
Electricity Substation No. 269
* 60 Blair Street:
St Anne's Catholic Church, Bondi
Demographics
According to the
2021 census, there were approximately 10,411 residents in Bondi, with 47.7% born in Australia. The most common other countries of birth were
England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
8.9%,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
3.0%,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
2.7%,
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
2.4% and the
United States of America 2.1%. 69.2% of people only spoke English at home, with other languages spoken at home being
Spanish 4.5%,
Russian 2.9%,
Portuguese 2.8%,
French 2.1% and
Italian 1.7%.
The most common responses for religion in Bondi were
No Religion 45.2%,
Catholic 18.7%,
Judaism 13.7% and
Anglican 5.2%.
Sport and recreation
Bondi is represented in one of the most popular sporting competitions across Australia, the
National Rugby League competition, by the local team the
Sydney Roosters, officially the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club (ESDRLFC) and
Bondi United in the
South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League competition.
Media
Bondi FM, established in the early 2000s and broadcast 24 hours a day from the top of Hotel Bondi, became defunct in 2014. The current local radio offerings include Bondi Radio, Bondi Beach Radio, and Radio Bondi FM.
''
Bondi Vet'' is a veterinary television program focusing on a team of specialist vets, operating from a practice in
North Bondi.
Gallery
Image:BondiBuilding9.JPG, Bondi Post Office, Bondi Road, an example of the Arts and Crafts style
File:Royal Hotel1.JPG, Royal Hotel, Bondi Road
Image:Bondi Road shops.jpg, Shops and dwellings, Bondi Road
Image:Italianate house Bondi.jpg, Victorian Italianate home, Bennet Street
File:BondiBuilding11.JPG, St Matthew's Anglican Church, Ocean Street
File:BondiBuilding15.JPG, Residential building in Spanish Mission style, Denham Street
File:01 Bondi Waverley School of Arts.jpg, Bondi-Waverley School of Arts, Bondi Road
References
External links
Bondi – Sydney.com
Further reading
* Robert Drewe and others. ''BONDI''. Published 1984, then 1993 by
Allen & Unwin ()
* Portia Fitzsimmons. ''Eastern Suburbs Album''. Published by Atrand Pty Ltd, 1985, 1988 ().
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bondi, New South Wales
Suburbs of Sydney
Waverley Council