1942

Australian military authorities identified Bondi Beach as being a likely invasion point after the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service mounted a surprise bomb attack against the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Honolulu on 7 December 1941. The authorities fortified the beach by constructing barbed ‘concertina’ wire and other barriers along it. There was limited open space on the beach, so the members of Bondi Surf Bathers’ Life Saving Club’s Bronze Medallion squads had to train in Bondi Park rather than on the sand, and an army officer had to give permission for any beach activity to go ahead.

Bathers and surfers who lived through the period say they had to negotiate their way through a barbed-wire maze, which they affectionately called the rat run, before they could reach the surf via one of two gates. Despite the impediments, Sydneysiders continued to flock to the beach for a swim or surf.

Courtesy Waverley Library Local Studies Collection and Nine Fairfax media.