1919 - 2003

For half of last century, Joan Amy McDonald was a familiar face on Bondi Beach, helping to run Mac’s Beach Hire. Her husband Basil had taken over the business from his father, the legendary Stan McDonald, who was one of Bondi’s first lifesavers and its first chief beach inspector.

Joan was born in 1919 and grew up in the suburb of Bexley. She met her future husband, Basil, on Bondi Beach in 1936. They were engaged on her 21st birthday and married in 1942. Joan visited Bondi every Sunday while the couple was engaged and worked at the shop hiring out rubber floats – which were used to rescue people on “Black Sunday” in 1938. It was housed under the Bondi promenade in a tunnel on the north groyne, which was partially demolished for security in World War II.

Joan and Basil took over Mac’s Beach Hire in 1959 when Stan died. Joan ran the business during the week while Basil continued working as a credit officer at Monier Roofing until 1979. From then on, the couple were on the beach seven days a week from September to Anzac Day each year.

Hiring equipment was big business in the days when few people had cars to carry all their paraphernalia to the beach. Beachgoers could hire four types of boards (rubber, foam, fibreglass and boogies), Surf-o-Planes, deckchairs, bathing costumes, towels, beach umbrellas, ‘wigwams’ (sun and wind shelters), spray-gun suntan and, later, sunblock.

In the quiet season, Joan would sew new canvas wigwams and replace canvas on deckchairs. She was also a talented artist and came up with the idea and design for the ‘Bondi Life Boys’ logo, which represented the Bondi Junior Surf Life Saving Club. The deckchairs had an important role in early Bondi: Stan had begun deckchair concerts at the beach and every Sunday night Joan helped put out 3000 chairs, rented out for sixpence each.

Joan, Basil and their three sons lived on Avoca St, Bondi, but spent most of their lives at the beach – even on Christmas Day, when they would shut up shop at noon and go home for a festive lunch.

After Basil passed away in 1986, Joan ran the business with her second son, Neil. She continued to juggle multiple roles with immense drive until her death in 2003. Mac’s Beach Hire closed its doors in 2008.

Courtesy of the MacDonald Family and the Waverley library Local Studies Collection.