The news of an unfathomable tragedy often etches itself into memory with a stark clarity. We remember exactly where we were. For many Australians, the horrific events at Bondi Junction on Sunday, December 14, 2025, will be one of those moments.
The Heartbeat of Bondi: More Than a Postcard
For my sister, a Canberra native who built a life in Sydney, the alert came via a family group chat: "things are bad in Bondi but we're safe." Through her marriage, she became part of a family deeply woven into the fabric of Bondi. Her husband and his brothers are the epitome of local life – educated at Waverley College, playing rugby for Randwick, and graduating from nippers to become stalwarts of the Bondi Surf Life Saving Club.
To an outsider, Bondi can seem like a tourist magnet, a revolving door of visitors chasing an idyllic Australian dream. Yet, beneath that surface lies a community as tight-knit and connected as any country town. My brother-in-law can't walk fifty metres along the famous beach without stopping for a chat. It’s a place where, despite the millions of annual visitors, a powerful local identity thrives.
A Tapestry of Cultures, A Century in the Making
This community spirit is no accident. It has been built, in significant part, by waves of migration over more than a century. The Jewish community is integral to Bondi's atmosphere. For generations, including those fleeing the horrors of the Holocaust, Bondi has been a place of safety and settlement.
It’s where a visitor might discover labneh in an Israeli cafe that once was a Greek corner store, a simple testament to the suburb's evolving, layered identity. As home to Australia's most concentrated Jewish population, the fear of anti-Semitism has been acutely felt here in recent years. The profound worry now, for people like my brother-in-law, is that the warm embrace between the broader community and their Jewish neighbours could be damaged long-term by the weekend's violence.
Choosing the Australia We Want to Be
We must all hope this fracture does not happen, and not just for Bondi's sake. The families I know there – seemingly supernaturally tanned, healthy, and embodying an Aussie archetype – have always shown themselves to be welcoming, caring, and tender towards people from every corner of the globe.
They have consistently embraced the Jewish people of their suburb as locals, as friends, as part of the family. For the values we claim as quintessentially Australian – unity, acceptance, and mateship – to hold true, we must all follow that example. This moment extends far beyond one Sydney suburb; it challenges us to actively choose the kind of nation we aspire to be in the face of hatred and fear.
In related developments, distressed neighbours in Campsie are grappling with the actions of the father and son behind the attack, who had been staying in an Airbnb half an hour from their family home in Bonnyrigg. Australian cricket captain Pat Cummins, a resident of nearby Bronte, urged people to donate blood as sporting organisations rallied around the Jewish community and victims. The youngest victim, 10-year-old Matilda, has been remembered as a bright and spirited girl, with her aunt expressing unimaginable grief.
