1944 - present

Born in Clovelly, Lenore has had an eventful life. She attended Sydney Girls High and Sydney University, worked initially as an assessor in the Taxation Office, then went to Arthur Andersens where she met her former husband. She has two daughters and a grandson. Lenore has worked in New Zealand, lived in San Francisco, established a hobby farm near Kurrajong and a dairy farm in Tasmania. After her divorce she returned to Bondi Beach, then worked in Hong Kong and Perth WA, before settling back in Bondi in 2003 where she completed a masters of Analytical Psychology and became active in the community.

A Labor supporter, Lenore was President of the local branch and in 2019 stood as its candidate for the strongly conservative seat of Vaucluse. In a video released as part of her campaign, she described herself as 'a terrier who won’t let go'. It is this attitude which has seen her advocate for many local issues while opposing the destruction of Bondi Beach's iconic heritage identity. Some of her local advocacy work saw Lenore spearheading objections to the NYE concert being held on the beach, to the closing of the Bondi Beach Post Office, to the amalgamation of Waverley Council, and to the attempted 'privatisation' of Bondi Pavilion. Lenore played many roles in this advocacy; as Convener of Bondi Beach Precinct where she has been assisted over many years by Paul Paech, as an active player in Rescue Bondi, an advocacy group set up by Dave Gravina and Gabi Tobias, as a past President of Friends of Bondi Pavilion, with great assistance from Hugh Norton, a passionate preserver of Bondi's Art Deco heritage. Most importantly Lenore took part in the Bondi Pavilion Stakeholder group, set up by Mayor John Wakefield, which was primarily instrumental in getting the Pavilion to where it is today.

Interviewed in 2009 in the Sydney Morning Herald, at the age of 65, Lenore reflected that, along with many other women of her age, she had developed a more philosophical outlook, leading to an acceptance of the realities of life, including a more contented approach. She has been described, rightly, as an indomitable fighter for social causes, and will continue her activism as long as she is able to do so.

Courtesy Lenore Kulakauskas.