1913 - 1986

‘Bas’ McDonald, a Life member of BSBLSC, worked at Bondi for more than 50 years. He was known as “Mr Bondi” and was awarded the Order of Australia in 1980 for his services to the community and Surf Lifesaving.

For many years the McDonald family ran a beach hire business out of the tunnel under the promenade and Basil was at the beach on Black Sunday. He joined the mass rescue and was recognised for his bravery that day.

An eyewitness account from Tom Meagher tells of how, with quick thinking, Basil and his assistants arrived to help armed with SurfoPlanes. Apparently he heard the alarm from the lifesaving bell. People were getting washed out. His father said, "Quick, get out the back there with those SurfoPlanes and hand them out to the non-swimmers.”

Basil, was the first McDonald family member of Bondi SBLSC; joining in 1928 and was a Club member for 58 years. Following Basil as members of Bondi, in order, came Stan McDonald Jnr, Stanley McDonald, Neil McDonald and Stuart McDonald. The McDonald family have been members of this club for the over 95 consecutive years. Bas was a Patrol Captain, Committee member, Judiciary Committee member, Vice Captain, Vice President, President, Life Member and then Patron. Bas was also the Founding President of the Bondi Junior SLSC.

Bas was also vice president, president, and patron of Bondi Amateur Swimming Club, an honorary life member of North Bondi Surf Club, he was involved in Icebergs and founder of Bondi Junior Surf Life Saving Club, also known as the Bondi Life Boys, (the idea and name came from Bas’s wife Joan). Bas held multiple chairmanship roles in the community; Freedom from Hunger and Red Cross Waverley to name just two. Bas had a personality that endeared himself to other people, he was a very likeable character and highly regarded. During the summer months Bas and Joan ran Mac’s Beach Hire on Bondi Beach and in the winter months he worked in a construction company.

Bas was involved both on the beach front, but intensely with after-work activities and meetings with different institutions in the Waverley area. Bas knew and believed he had responsibilities for all the clubs, to do what he could to assist. Bondi Surf Club, North Bondi Surf Club, Tamarama Surf Club, and Bronte Surf Club gave Bas a bronze statue of a lifesaver in recognition of his support. Bas was awarded the Order of Australia in 1980 for his services to the community and Surf Lifesaving. He and Joan are photographed together; as Bas ‘could not have done everything he did without Joan and Joan deserved the Order of Australia as much as Bas did’.

Basil ensured the continuation of the Stan Mac Relay, an annual 20-person-a-side hotly contested race between Bondi and North Bondi Surf Clubs, which Stan McDonald started in 1943. On Basil’s passing, the Surf Club proposed to change the name to the Stan and Bas McDonald Relay. 2022 marks the 80th consecutive year of competition - considered a world record in the surf lifesaving movement for such an event. Each year the Stan and Bas McDonald Relay draws a huge crowd. Bas was well and truly known. He and Joan had boundless energy, loved by everyone.

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