1986 - 2019

For over thirty years the North Bondi Children's pool was also the home of a 35 metre mosaic artwork. The work was created in 1986 in what has been described as a massive community engagement exercise. Creation of the artwork was led by council worker Lloyd Kelemen alongside a team of council members and artists including Indigenous artist Arone Raymond Meeks, Suzanne Holman and Jenny Orchard. Additionally, an estimated 150 community members also contributed to the project which was installed over many months.

The artwork was composed of thousands of tiles, each tile, mirror and gem was handpicked by local children, volunteers and families, ceramics were made in school art rooms and workshops before being fired in the new Bondi Pavilion Pottery facilities. Mirror fragments were carefully placed to catch the afternoon light at Bondi’s golden hour. Many materials in the work were recycled. The artwork ran alongside the concrete culvert forming a vibrant backdrop for the children's pool. The design depicted the evolution of life with cells and sea life and is said to even include a section which was made from casting dinosaur fossils in the Bondi Pavilion courtyards, these are believed to have been loaned by the Australian Museum.

In an interview with 'The Beast' in 2019, the original project leader Lloyd Kelemen said “It really was a one-off artwork experience...This was a real hey-day of community movement.”

Sadly, it was discovered in 2018 that the concrete across the culvert had developed concrete cancer and despite conservation efforts, the artwork could not be salvaged. It was celebrated with a children's pool party before an expression of interest process was undertaken to replace the artwork.

Courtesy Waverley Library Local Studies Collection.