Saving Bondi Pavilion film

This Wednesday night the Bondi Pavilion theatre is expected to be packed to the rafters for a film screening that will feature many locals and Australian film luminaries.

The 30-minute no budget film, Saving Bondi Pavilion, follows the community effort to save the much loved local landmark, the Bondi Pavilion.

The Bondi Surf Pavilion was an ambitious 1928 Waverley Council initiative to provide amenities for surf bathers that by the fifties had slid into disrepair and neglect.

Becoming something of an eyesore, by the mid 2000s Liberal Waverley mayor Sally Betts and her team had ideas of asset stripping and privatising the site, thus beginning a hard fought campaign from the local community who wanted it retained and restored.

“We thought that it was disinheriting us from the building that I have always thought of as Bondi’s town hall,” Michael Caton, actor and Friends of Bondi Pavilion activist said.

“At that point the floor that contains the Seagull Room, the bar, the theatre, was going to be a restaurant, and they were also considering getting rid of the radio station, the recording studio and a small hall downstairs.”

Previous local campaigns for the Pavilion and other issues meant that a loosely knit group of activists already existed in the community, but Betts and her Liberal cohorts attempts to override local sentiment provided a sharp focus for a long and innovative campaign.

In 2016 Green Bans were imposed on the site, and environmental warrior Jack Mundey and the Hoodoo Gurus attracted thousands of people to a concert in the Pavilion’s Dolphin Court, with the event being captured for the film.

Mark Gould is a Bondi resident with a long career producing and directing documentaries that include the multi-award winning Tibet: Murder in the Snow and Moulin Rogue Girls.

“We had a meeting around a kitchen table and formed a group and over a two year period we shot 120 community videos,” Mark Gould said.

“We are lucky enough in Bondi to have a lot of people who are tech savvy and who can express themselves well on film, and that’s not just actors,” Caton said.

“It was a classic example of a community getting together and fighting back.”

Gould and the team soon found the power of social media when he began uploading the short clips and got a surprising result.

“One night before going to bed I checked the upload and there were 1000 people and by dawn there was 80,000 people,” Gould said.

“I went, this is something, and then people started signing in and we got one from Sam Neil in New Zealand, and he had written “Save Bondi Pavilion” on a post-it note on his computer screen and then did the most eloquent piece to camera.”

By 2017, Betts and her Liberals had become yesterday’s fish wrap and since that political change the Waverley Council has completed a full upgrade of the Pavilion, adding facilities and implementing ongoing cultural activities that includes the annual Flickerfest.

On Wednesday night, Saving Bondi Pavilion will be presented by Michael Caton.

September 20, 6:30pm