To stay or go? Council debates future of Bondi pedestrian bridge
Bondi residents, community groups and Jewish leaders have urged Waverley Council not to demolish the footbridge at the center of the Bondi Beach terror attack amid fierce public debate over whether the heritage-listed landmark should be preserved or removed.
The fate of the footbridge in Bondi Park remains uncertain following a two-and-a-half hour council meeting convened by Waverley Council on Thursday night, attended by a packed public gallery and under heavy police and security guard presence.
The meeting’s agenda included four items, including consideration of the future of the pedestrian bridge used as a vantage point by father-son gunmen who killed 15 people and injured dozens in an anti-Semitic attack on the first night of Hanukkah on Dec. 14.
The meeting resulted in councilors voting to seek a report on the costs, timeline and approval process for replacing or restoring the footbridge, with a final decision on the future of the bridge not expected to be made until at least the middle of this year.
The meeting follows a structural report commissioned by the council in 2024, which concluded that the footbridge, as well as the southern footbridge crossing Park Drive in Bondi Park, were deemed to have “reached the end of its useful life and should be replaced within a number of years”.
Speaking at the meeting, Waverley Mayor Will Nemesh noted that replacing the bridge would be considered within the scope of discussions about building a permanent memorial in Bondi Park in memory of the victims of the attack. He said the final decision would be subject to further consultation with the community, including the families of the 15 people killed during the attack.
The vote comes a day after NSW Premier Chris Minns added his voice to the debate; While he called for the building to be demolished to prevent it from becoming a “scary reminder”, he also expressed his preference for “families to have the final say”.
Waverley deputy mayor Keri Spooner said it was “too early to make definitive decisions” and called for the response to the attack not to be defined solely by debates around footbridges.
“The council will listen to everyone in our community and nothing will happen until an appropriate time,” he said.
At Thursday’s meeting, councilors also voted in favor of a number of other measures in response to the attack, including holding a civic function in recognition and gratitude to first responders, dedicating wall panels along the Bondi Beach Seawall promenade to community artworks for 12 months, and holding an exhibition at the Bondi Pavilion Art Gallery showing the cultural and community artistic response to the tragedy.
Speaking at the meeting, friends of Bondi Pavilion member Nicolette Boaz called on councilors to honor the heritage value of existing bridges and wider parkland.
“The parklands, the beach, the pavilion and the bridge are synonymous with Bondi and we cannot allow this horrific attack to inflict further damage on us by allowing public heritage to be destroyed,” he said.
These sentiments were shared by Sandy Hollis of the Jewish Museum of Sydney, who advocated preserving the bridges as a memorial to those killed and as “a lasting symbol of what Australia stands for”.
Shua Solomon, President of the Rabbinical Council of NSW, called for the monument to be “a public display of Jewish pride and light”.
Michelle Goldman, chief executive of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, said the December attack “left lasting scars that touch every corner of Waverley, as it touches every corner of the Jewish community”.
He told the meeting: “Jewish communities across Australia have experienced unprecedented levels of antisemitism since October 7, 2003; this has no place here, in our schools, universities, streets, public places and certainly not in Bondi.”
Goldman also called on other councils to follow Waverley Council’s lead by adopting strategies that include commitments to tackle antisemitism in local communities.
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David Barwell is urban affairs correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
