Tamarama, New South Wales

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Tamarama
Sydney,  New South Wales
Tamarama, Sydney, Australia-21Nov2010.jpg
Tamarama Beach
Tamarama, New South Wales
Population1,622 (2016 census) [1]
 • Density5,400/km2 (14,000/sq mi)
Postcode(s) 2026
Area0.3 km2 (0.1 sq mi)
Location7 km (4 mi) east of Sydney CBD
LGA(s) Waverley Council
State electorate(s) Coogee [2]
Federal division(s) Wentworth [3]
Suburbs around Tamarama:
Bondi Bondi Beach
Bondi Tamarama Tasman Sea
Bronte Bronte

Tamarama is a beachside suburb, eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Tamarama is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council.

Contents

Tamarama has a small ocean beach about 1 kilometre south of Bondi Beach and a couple of hundred metres north of Bronte Beach. The suburb is mostly residential and the beach and adjacent parklands have been popular places for recreation such as swimming, surfing, sunbaking and picnics for more than a century.

History

Initially known as Dixon Bay by early European settlers, the name was changed to Tamarama in the 1800s. Tamarama is probably a derivation of the Aboriginal name 'Gamma Gamma' (possibly meaning 'storm'), [4] which appeared on maps of the coastline in the 1860s by the Military or Naval Authority. [5] In the late 1890s a genteel campaign of civil disobedience was undertaken to open up Sydney beaches to daytime bathing. Inspector of schools and writer George Philip was credited with winning the day in Tamarama.

The Bondi Aquarium at Tamarama, circa 1890 Bondi Aquarium c. 1891.jpg
The Bondi Aquarium at Tamarama, circa 1890

In 1887 Sydney's first coastal amusement park, and one of the earliest in Australia, opened at Tamarama. Named The Bondi Aquarium its greatest attraction was a plunging roller coaster that dived and twisted over the beach. People flocked to the attraction, not only for the rides, but for vaudeville acts and aquarium creatures, including seals and a tiger shark. On the evening of 11 July 1891, fire destroyed the aquarium and pavilion, but it rose from the ashes in September the same year, and continued to entertain Sydney's populace. The last identified concert at the Aquarium was a fund raiser for the Waverley Benevolent Society in July 1906.

Ownership and management changed several times throughout its existence, until the site was finally sold by Mrs Margaret J. Lachaume in 1906 to William Anderson who transformed the amusement park, renaming it Wonderland City. In 1906 Wonderland City opened and replaced the Bondi Aquarium as the latest attraction at Tamarama. Powered by its own steam plant, the amusement park featured an airship suspended over the bay and an elephant named Alice available for rides on the beach. There was also a miniature railway operating on a two-mile track over the cliff tops. Frequent battles with local residents over beach access, charges of animal cruelty and an incident with the airship saw a decline in numbers. After a few years of low crowds and poor revenue Wonderland City closed in 1911. In 1920, the NSW Government bought the area and proclaimed it Tamarama Park. There is still a Wonderland Avenue at Tamarama. The first mayor of Waverley (David Fletcher) lived in Tamarama. [6] [7]

Population

In the 2016 Census, there were 1,622 people in Tamarama. 54.5% of people were born in Australia. The next most common country of birth was England at 7.6%. 72.1% of people spoke only English at home. The most common responses for religion were No Religion 40.6% and Catholic 18.4%. [1]

Tamarama Beach

Tamarama Tamarama Beach Sydney.jpg
Tamarama

Tamarama Beach is a small beach between two prominent headlands, with a sand filled valley to the back, surrounded by pleasant parkland and picnic areas. Tamarama is an extremely narrow beach and deceptive for its size. Tamarama Beach is often referred to as Glamarama (or Glamourama), owing to the alleged abundance of glamorous people who sunbathe (often topless), on what must be one of the smallest strips of sand in the state.[ citation needed ] Tamarama Surf Club is located on the northern side, perched up on the headland where it overlooks the entire beach.

Because of its deep water, small size and easterly aspect, Tamarama is dangerous for most swimmers even in a moderate ocean swell. Tamarama is considered the most dangerous patrolled beach in New South Wales, with more rescues per thousand bathers than any other of Sydney's beaches, by the Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club [ citation needed ].

A small swell can produce rip currents of up to 2 metres a second (which is about the speed of the current 50m men's world record). One or two rip currents are always present, making the entire surf zone virtually all rip. When the swell really rolls in, an offshore rock shelf shapes a stunning 12 to 15-foot wave that draws committed board-riders, photographers and onlookers, taking in the grand spectacle from the cliffs above.

Just to the north of Tamarama Beach is the locality of Mackenzies Bay, which is also a part of the shoreline boundary of Tamarama.

Sport and recreation

Tamarama is represented in one of the most popular sporting competitions across Australia, the National Rugby League competition, by the local team the Sydney Roosters, officially the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club (ESDRLFC).

Events

Aboriginal rock carving Rock carving in Sydney Australia 02.jpg
Aboriginal rock carving

Tamarama is in the middle of the "Bondi to Bronte Ocean Walk" which is the most popular coastal walking route in Australia. The beach and parkland form part of the exhibition space for Sculpture by the Sea , a free annual event in late spring and the most popular outdoor artistic exhibition in Australia.

Surf Lifesaving Club

The beach is home to one of the first surf lifesaving clubs in the world, Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club, that was founded in 1906. The Club proudly boasts an enviable record of not having lost a single life to a mishap in the surf in over 100 years of surf life saving patrols. This is a remarkable achievement given that the under tows or "rips" in the surf zone are regarded as being amongst the most dangerous on the east coast of the Australian continent. [8]

On 1 July 2014 Matthew Richell, CEO of Hachette Australia died from misadventure when he was swept up against the rocks of a sea cliff by the surf and then carried back into deeper water where he drowned as a result of being incapacitated by head injuries. He was surfing during a time Tamarama beach is not patrolled by lifeguards and could not be resuscitated by emergency crews. [9] [10]

Memorial

In October 2021 a memorial dedicated to gay men and transgender women targeted in homophobic and transphobic attacks in Sydney from the 1970s to 1990s, was unveiled. [11] The public art is located in Marks Park.

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Bronte Beach

Bronte Beach is a small but popular recreational beach in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Australia. It is 2 kilometres south of Bondi Beach and north of the much larger Coogee Beach. A long distance ocean swimming event is held every December between Bondi Beach and Bronte. The three beaches are linked by a paved coastal footpath along the rocky cliff tops, much frequented by tourists and local runners and walkers. The beach is popular with surfers and despite the non rough surf, less abled swimmers can avail themselves of the bogey hole or rock pool towards the southern end of the beach. At the south end of the beach is a 30-metre ocean pool, one of the best known in Sydney. Also directly opposite from Bronte there are some popular cafes.

Wonderland City was an amusement park located at Tamarama, on Wonderland Avenue near the point at which it joins Fletcher Street, in Sydney, Australia. It opened on Saturday, 1 December 1906 and closed in 1911. At the time it was the largest open air amusement park in the southern hemisphere. The 20-acre (81,000 m2) amusement park was operated by theatrical entrepreneur William Anderson. During its operation the colossal playground had a balloon could go up to about 3,800 feet high. An enormous switchback railway and around the clifftop, a steam-driven miniature railway operated over about two miles (3.218688 km) of track. A large wooden bridge build over an artificial lake, the Alpine Slide would take you to "Rivers of the World", Seal Pond. An open air Roller Skating Ring, American Shooting Gallery. It was operated by electric light powered by its own steam plant, and the whole area was covered with thousands of gaily coloured lamps and described as a Fairy City. The first Surf "Gymkhana" Carnivals was held at Wonderland City organised by Bondi SBLSC on Saturday 11 February 1908. was dogged by controversy for its attempts using high barbed-wire fence blocked access completely to local swimmers from Tamarama Beach. Before being occupied by the amusement park, Tamarama Park was the site of The Royal Aquarium and Pleasure Grounds, commonly called the Bondi Aquarium.

The club was founded in 1903 and the movement has since spread to other parts of New South Wales and the rest of the country. The club rests on indigenous land and whilst there is no clear evidence for the name or names of the Eora people who lived in what is now the Waverley area, most sources agree on the Cadigal, but some sources name the Biddigal and Birrabirragal bands as well.

The Bondi Surf Bathers' Life Saving Club is Australia's oldest Surf Life Saving Club, founded in 1907. The club was officially established on 21 February 1907 at the Royal Hotel in Bondi Beach, Sydney, New South Wales. The clubs aim is to ensure "No Lives Lost" at Bondi Beach and is a volunteer organisation that patrols Bondi Beach from October to April every year.

Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club

The Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club was founded in 1906 and operates at Tamarama Beach, Sydney. The clubhouse sits at the northern end of the beach.

Bondi Beach Cultural Landscape

The Bondi Beach Cultural Landscape is a heritage-listed former Turkish baths, pavilion with dressing cubicles, dining rooms, sunbaking, shops and ballroom and now art gallery, pavilion, theatre and open air cinema located at Queen Elizabeth Drive, Bondi Beach, Waverley Municipality, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The pavilion was designed by Robertson and Marks, with Leith C. McCredie the architect. The Bondi Surf Life Savers' Club, erected c. 1934, was designed by Ross & Rowe. The Bondi Pavilion was designed by John Howie & Sons. The cultural landscape includes the beach itself, Bondi Surf Pavilion, Bondi Park and Bondi Surf Life Saving Club and the North Bondi Surf Club. The landscape was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 23 May 2008.

Mackenzies Bay

Mackenzies Bay is a small inlet in the coast between Bondi Beach and Tamarama Beach in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. It forms part of the shoreline boundary of the suburb of Tamarama. Most of the time, it is a rocky inlet but, at times, depending on prevailing conditions, a sandy beach—known informally as Mackenzies Bay Beach or Mackenzies—comes into existence. Mackenzies Bay is also a well-known surf break.

References

  1. 1 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Tamarama (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 15 March 2018. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. ↑ "Coogee". Electoral Commission of NSW. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Wentworth". Australian Electoral Commission.
  4. ↑ "Tamarama: a brief history" (PDF). Waverley Library. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  5. ↑ "Tamarama". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  6. ↑ "Tamarama: a brief history" (PDF). Waverley Library. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
  7. ↑ The Book of Sydney Suburbs, Compiled by Frances Pollen, Angus & Robertson Publishers, 1990, Published in Australia ISBN   0-207-14495-8, page 33
  8. ↑ https://www.tamaramaslsc.org/ Tamarama SLSC
  9. ↑ Michael Koziol (2 July 2014). "Matthew Richell from Hachette Australia dies surfing at Tamarama beach". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  10. ↑ Magistrate Barnes, NSW State Coroner (4 March 2016). "Inquest into the death of Matthew Thomas Richell" (PDF). STATE CORONER’S COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES. Retrieved 11 December 2017.
  11. ↑ Hurst, Jordan (25 October 2021). "Sydney memorial to victims of gay hate violence unveiled at Bondi". QNEWS. Retrieved 31 October 2021.

Coordinates: 33°53′53″S151°16′5″E / 33.89806°S 151.26806°E / -33.89806; 151.26806

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