1955 - present

In 1979, Waverley Council asked Rodney Monk to create a community mural in the Bondi Pavilion’s north courtyard. He and his fellow members of the Public Art Squad – David Humphries, Wayne Hutchings, Sherryn Evans and painter Kristine Ammitzboll – first embarked on a research phase, and in that pre-digital age, they had to pore through printed images of the Pavilion throughout its history, examples of advertising material from between 1925 and 1930, posters from the opening of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1932, and various local-history books. The 1920s was an especially rich mine for the type of imagery the team members were drawn to, because at that time, Bondi was the playground of the Pacific and the Pavilion was a stylish entertainment centre. The team members also studied Bondi’s greatly changed current landscape, beach characteristics and beach culture and ultimately came up with the theme ‘Bondi the Beautiful’. The mural became one of Australia’s most photographed walls.

A new age for visual arts was unfolding during the late 1970s, when only about half a dozen Sydney artists were creating murals. Rodney himself had painted only a few murals. In preparation for the north-courtyard mural, the team members ran open workshops at the Pavilion, and local residents – especially young people – dropped in to suggest ideas. Rodney led the production of the mural and collaborated with the other three team members to make all the artistic decisions. Community members helped both develop the concept and paint the mural.

Rodney attended Wollongong Institute of Education from 1974 to 1976 completing Primary School Teaching and majoring in Drama & Art, and in 1978 gave up full-time teaching to focus on mural art and street performance. The main question he posed to himself was, “How can I affect people’s environment through art?” He completed three mural projects with the Public Art Squad before co-creating the design for ‘Bondi the Beautiful’. About 10 weeks in creation, and using gloss paints, the mural was revealed to be based on themes of the environment and appreciation of the earth. The image of the woman holding a sphere of the world was a nod to a 1930s Bondi poster of a woman holding a beach ball and the idea that women hold half of the earth in their hands. This was combined with images of surf lifesavers, a surf reel, flags, birds, dolphins, landscape elements and oceanic themes. The artists were praised for the open and honest approach they’d used to representing Bondi’s beauty and uniqueness.

Looking back over his career, Rodney reflected that ‘Bondi the Beautiful’ led to “an art movement that’s still happening”, so it was an important piece in that people came to understand that the built environment can be a canvas for murals. In his words, “The integrity of the images as a work that everyone owned was always what I was aiming for – not just one person’s aesthetic; it has to be for the community, a ‘backdrop for people’s lives’.”

Courtesy Rodney Monk, the Public Art Squad and Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.