People of Bondi | Submitted by Annie Parnell

People of Bondi
Submitted by Annie Parnell

Here are four images submitted by Annie Parnell from her family archive.

This from Annie:

“In the first photo my great grandfather, Horace Davidson, from Bondi is on the far right, with some friends, back in the 1920s or possibly even the early 1930s, on Bondi Beach, pre or post swimming. Horace was born in 1869, to Alexander Davidson of Eden, a son of master whaler Alexander Walker Davidson, and died in 1960. So, in this photo he would have been in his 50s. He married Frances Sloane of Molong and they lived in Bondi over the years, with his children Maude, Rene and Roy. He died in 1960 aged 91. Let’s hope I have his genes! My grandmother Maude lived in Plowman Street North Bondi for many decades, until the late 1970s. That’s where where my father grew up and where I lived as a young girl with my grandmother, for a short time, making me 4th generation Bondi!

“My aunt grew up in Bondi and from an early age was a keen beach going girl. Here she is in the second photo with friends in the 1940s. From left to right the girls on the fence are Norma Weston, Monica Kelly, Patty Jupp and Judy Murray (nee Parnell, my aunt). Three of them are still alive. They were all Bondi girls, and my aunt was runner up in the Sunday Telegraph Beach Girl Contest in the summer of 1949!

“In the third photo, the spray tan man is Stan McDonald. He was the beach inspector, and has a very famous Bondi Surf club race named after him, the Stan McDonald Relay (known fondly as the “Stan Mac”.)

“The fourth and final photo was taken at North Bondi. There’s Horace again at left in the back … and Judy in the middle of the front row. My dad (front right with dark hair) looks about 11 or 12 or so, so it was probably about 1939/40. 

“You can see some of the buildings in the background that are still there on Campbell Parade, though the surf club and the adjacent toilet block are now a completely different thing!”