1939 - present

Longstanding Bondi figure Tony Rule was recently recognised for his 70 years of service to the North Bondi Surf Lifesaving Club. Born and raised in Bondi, he has made significant contributions to surf in Australia.

Tony has had a life connected to Bondi. His parents were both Bondi locals who met at the North Bondi Surf Club. He attended Wellington St School with his brother and as a young boy, was a paper boy on the beloved Bondi Tram. Here, he his morning work would sometimes make his as much as 20 cents, which was a good amount for the 1940s.

Tony went onto to work at the Pitt St Butchers where he first met Barry ‘Magoo’ McGuigan. Later he would become a comrade of Barry with the Board Riders, organising competitions and judging together. Tony joined NBSLC when he was 14 years old, in the post-war period, encouraged by Phil Coles, and stayed because of the camaraderie. “People spend a lifetime at a club because of friendship”.

Rule was also one of the founding members of the South Bondi Board riders, which is regarded as the first board riding club of Bondi Beach. He also helped setup the as well as the New South Wales Board riders Association, helping to establish the tone of surfing and surf culture in Australia. In Tony's words: "The President was Billy Bushell. He never rode a surfboard he just sat on his Ly low [lilo] near the water. Ray Young photo with the surfboard with the two dices on the board. Ross Kelly who lived in a terrace house opposite the Council Chambers. Denis Colette, as far as I know was the President of the Masters Tennis Association and myself Tony. Barry Ross was one of the instigator’s in forming the Board riders Association but sadly was killed when his rope broke going fishing down the cliff at North Bondi Golf course".

More locally, the group was formed to help combat regulations which saw surfboards being confiscated by Beach Inspector Aub Laidlaw and locked up at Council Chambers. As such, he was also one of the early judges in a blooming surf competition culture where he would award other notable figures including Midget Farrelly.

In 1958, after the death of his father, Tony would help his mother at Bondi Menswear. Here, his youth and connection to surf culture would help transform the premises into Bondi’s first surf clothing store, specialising in new trends such as board shorts and selling new fashion trends such as the denim jean.

In his later years, Tony still works closely with the NBSLC, he is a friend of Tony Abbott, the ex-Prime Minister. Abbott was the guest of honor at the Annual General Meeting of the North Bondi Surf Club in 2015 and awarded a pin to Tony Rule for his 60 years of service. Rule alongside fellow awardee of the 60-year of service pin, Keith Snell, made a grand entrance in their old costumes, following a bagpiper. In return Abbott was presented with a red swimming costume from the surf club, North Bondi emblazoned on the rear P.M. Rule is now a farmer in Macksville NSW.

Courtesy Tony Rule.