Chris Morgan and Christie

Chris Morgan and Christy Nice

If you’ve lived in a neighbourhood long enough you will come across people who you know but don’t know. And that’s how it was with Chris. We’ve seen him around for years but it was great to finally meet him properly when he was spending time with his daughter Christy who was visiting him from the Gold Coast.

My story is that I was born in Hall Street opposite the post office and have lived in Bondi all my life attending Bondi Beach Public School and Vaucluse Boys High. I have run on the beach for over 50 years and used to swim big distances across the bay.

Only finishing work as of last week, I now spend the first hour of my morning hydrating myself and preparing for what exercise I will do on the day.

I was born in 1955. I was 41 years with the fire brigade serving in the city, inner west and finally Bondi. Prior to that I was a beach inspector for Randwick Council.

The biggest changes I’ve noted have been the demographic. When I grew up Bondi was a working class area with an assortment of many ethnicities. Ali [Ed: Chris’ partner]and I recently noticed a difference in the buildings particularly in Hall Street where I grew up.

The main change to the beach is the cleanliness of the water. Till about the 80s I guess there used to be an open stormwater drain in front of the skate park at the south end that was putrid and when surfing raw sewage and used condoms would float across your surfboard.