Waverley Council to act on permanent Bondi memorial

Waverley Council will this week consider establishing a committee to deliver a permanent memorial at Bondi Beach to the 15 people murdered in the December 14 terror attack.

A mayoral minute to be presented by Waverley Council mayor Will Nemesh at Tuesday night’s meeting proposes a Bondi Park Memorial Artwork Committee of 13 members, chaired by the mayor and delegated responsibility for delivering the artwork within a budget of $500,000.

“This is the first significant step towards a lasting and formal commemoration of those who lost their lives, their families and loved ones, survivors, the Jewish community, Waverley and everyone impacted on that horrific day,” Nemesh said.

“We owe it to them to create something lasting, which clearly demonstrates that we will never forget what happened here.

“No single person could ever tackle the enormous task of determining what this memorial should be, but we can build it together. That will require time, patience, care and collaboration. We will not rush this important process.”

Proposed membership includes representatives of Multicultural NSW, the Premier’s Department, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the Rabbinical Council of NSW, Chabad of Bondi and, through Chabad of Bondi, a nominee representing the families and survivors of the attack. Emergency services, Surf Life Saving NSW and members of Waverley’s arts and multicultural advisory committees would also be represented.

The artwork would be placed in Archer Park, where the attack took place, with the exact location to be confirmed by the committee. The delivery timeframe would also be set by the committee.

The minute notes the council was awarded a $2 million NSW government grant covering both the memorial artwork and a parallel upgrade to Bondi Park, including park infrastructure, playground fencing and treatment of the Park Drive South pedestrian footbridge. The process is modelled on the joint public artwork In Them We See Ourselves that commemorates the impact of the October 7, 2023 attacks in Israel on the local community, which was jointly delivered with Woollahra Council and unveiled on July 24.

“Ultimately, my hope is that this memorial says something very simple — we remember,” Nemesh said.

“We remember the people taken from us, those left behind, the survivors and their difficult recoveries, and the courage of everyday heroes and first responders who ran towards danger to help others. And we remember the compassion, humanity and community spirit that prevailed, which hatred can never defeat.”

A second mayoral minute before the same meeting notes a large-scale temporary artwork planned for Archer Park this December to mark one year since the attack.

Sharing Light will see 5000 handmade clay vessels, each housing a solar-powered light, laid out in a grid across the park, illuminating as the sun sets. The vessels are to be made by members of the public at workshops to be held at Bondi Pavilion in September.

The project is led by artists Marisa Purcell and Rena Shein with academic and creative practitioner Vicki Leibowitz, and is supported by Chabad of Bondi’s Rabbi Yehoram Ulman. It has received seed funding from the council’s Local Creative Collaborations program and from Victims of Terrorism Australia, with the artists seeking further support through tax-deductible donations via the Australian Cultural Fund.

The minute also records earlier artistic responses, among them the Sunnukiah chanukiah designed by Joel Adler and relocated from Dover Heights to Archer Park, where it has served as a temporary memorial and will remain until a permanent one is established; Kaddish, a music and spoken word performance at Bondi Pavilion Theatre in March; and Holding Light, an exhibition curated with the Shalom Collective that ran from April 25 to June 28 and drew more than 14,000 visitors, the highest attendance of any exhibition at Bondi Pavilion Art Gallery.

Three artists were also selected to create panels on the Bondi Beach sea wall, one of which is installed, with a second being installed this month.