Mark Holden’s tribute to Bondi
Mark Holden has recorded a version of Tom Traubert's Blues as a tribute to Matilda Bee Britvan, the youngest victim of the Bondi Beach massacre.
When Mark Holden heard about the Bondi Beach terror attack on December 14, 2025, he cried. Even now, months later, talking about it brings him to tears.
“Even now as I’m writing to you, I’m welling up,” Holden told The AJN. “It was and remains painful that it’s come to this.”
The former pop star, songwriter, Australian Idol judge and barrister has channelled that grief into one of the most deeply personal recordings of his 50-year career.
His version of Tom Waits’ Tom Traubert’s Blues (Waltzing Matilda) is a tribute to Matilda Bee Britvan, the 10-year-old girl who was among 15 people shot dead on Chanukah at Bondi Beach.
Holden, who has Jewish family ties, said the violence had not felt distant or abstract. He lives in Elwood, where nearby, the Adass Israel Synagogue was firebombed, and neo-Nazis have marched in the park at the end of his street.
“It’s unbelievable, but it’s happening,” he said. “Then the Bondi Beach massacre. Matilda.”
In the days that followed, Holden kept returning to Tom Waits’ 1976 song and its chorus, Waltzing Matilda.
“Tom Waits’ lyrics transported me to Bondi Beach. I became a witness to an atrocity,” he said.
Before any recording began, producer Tyler Sunshine reached out to Matilda’s father, Michael Britvan, to share the song and its inspiration and seek the family’s blessing.
Britvan gave his support, and expressed his appreciation and approval again before the track’s release.
“This song holds an incredibly deep and personal place on the album, and one I believe carries a story that deserves to be told,” Holden said. “I want to give a massive thank you to the Britvan family for trusting me to honour their daughter’s legacy. May Matilda Bee’s spirit live on.”
With the family’s blessing secured, the track was laid down at Rolling Stock Recording Rooms in Collingwood, Melbourne.
Andy Martin played piano, Helen Mountfort played cello, and Nilusha Dassenaike arranged and performed the vocal parts alongside Gary and Brad Pinto. Tomas Strode recorded and mixed the track. The accompanying video, created by Alex and Noam Rozen, uses AI-generated visuals, a deliberate choice Holden said was necessary to convey the emotion and sensitivity the subject demanded.
The song sits on Holden’s forthcoming album, Now & Then & Shirley MacLaine, his first full-length release in decades, through his own label, Dream Dealers, with MGM. The album also features original tracks and reimagined songs from across his career, including a collaboration with Anthony Callea.
Holden, 72, returned to music after stepping away from more than a decade as a barrister in the family violence court, a second career that followed his years as a judge on Australian Idol.
“This record is the postcard to my future grandchildren,” Holden said. “It’s a box of photographs. A story about family.”
And at its heart, it’s a song for someone else’s daughter, and for Australia.
Now & Then & Shirley MacLaine is available now
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