1864 - 1944

David Henry Souter was a prolific illustrator, cartoonist, journalist and poet who worked for numerous publications including The Bulletin. He was a long time Bondi resident and President of the Bondi Surf Life Saving Club from 1920-21. He illustrated over 50 books and many of his illustrations are held in the collections of the Art Gallery of NSW and the National Gallery of Australia.

Souter painted six murals, between 1920 and 1934, to hang on the walls of the Bondi Surf Club. With his military and surf lifesaving background, he was ideally placed to draw on the Australian themes of heroism to create these monumental panels. The works depict themes closely associated with our emerging national identity at the time – the diggers at Gallipoli, bush pioneers, the bronzed surfer, and a fit and healthy population enjoying their leisure at the beach. In their original position, the murals were a well loved feature of the Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Clubhouse.

The murals are bold and evocative, all five panels combined reflect themes including heroism, defense, militarism, self-sacrifice, the surf-life saving movement and beach culture in Australia. They depict the call to service and the implications of war back home with a panel showing Bondi beach mainly occupied by female swimmers. The final panel is of particular interest for its depiction of swimwear and the beach culture that had emerged in Australia by the 1930s. This panel also shows Bondi Beach Inspector Stan MacDonald, as well as Bondi inventions the surf lifesaving reel and the Surf-o-plane. This allegorical work depicts the Bondi lifesaver as an icon of Australian manhood.

Souter, along with artists such as Sydney Long and Norman and Lionel Lindsay was part of a movement known as the Australian Classical Revivalists that blended classical figures and pagan spirits with the Australian landscape. Their work was closely linked with the nationalism of the pre-Federation and post WW1 period. The murals are now in the collection of the National Maritime Museum.

Images courtesy the National Maritime Museum.