Bondi Memorial Dawn Service of Reflection
Image: Bondi Memorial. Photo: John McRae
By Rebecca Hernandez
As Sydney’s World Pride celebrations come to a close, the Bondi Dawn Service of Reflection offers a moment of quiet remembrance amidst the parties and parades
Set to be held in the early hours of Saturday, March 4, from 6:30 am to approximately 7 am at the Rise Memorial at Marks Park, Bondi, the short service invites the community to reflect on those lost to queer violence, the progress made in LGBTQ+ rights, and the road that remains ahead.
“It’s so important for us to first, commemorate the horrors of our history, but secondly celebrate the progress we have made in arguably just a single generation,” says Ivan Power, member of the Bronte Lifesavers Club and the Lifesavers with Pride, and organiser of the event.
“It’s a tradition in Australia that we take moments at dawn to remember fights for freedom that we’ve had, we remember people that made big sacrifices and we remember the freedoms people fought for, and it brings so much joy to know where we’ve come from and where we’ve got to in this short space of time.”
Indeed, in gathering to reflect, the Dawn Service of Reflection presents an opportunity for Sydney’s queer community and allies to come together in remembrance, to stand as a people against bigotry and prejudice in all forms.
It was also for these reasons that the Bronte & Tamarama Surf Life Saving Club, in collaboration with the Lifesavers with Pride chose to host the service in Marks Park, once a well-known ‘gay beat’ in Sydney’s east that was also a hotspot for homophobic violence.
“Choosing [Marks Park] allows us to communicate three things; it allows us to commemorate the events and remind people of what happens when bigotry wins; it lets us celebrate what can happen in just a generation; and it reminds us to commit to vigilance, that it’s up to us as individuals to stand together and do individual acts of courage and kindness”, says Ivan.
The Rise Memorial, upon which the service is being held, also commemorates the dark history of Bondi and Marks Park, erected in 2021 to recognize “a spate of homophobic and transphobic violence from the 1970s to the 1990s in Sydney and NSW”, according to the Memorial’s website.
Beyond reflection, the Dawn Service of Reflection will also feature words from community leaders coming throughout Sydney, from ACON’s Nicolas Parkhill to Mayor Paula Masselos of Waverly Council, to the Sydney Morning Herald’s Greg Callahan, who authored ‘Bondi Badlands’, which chronicled the history of the events of Marks Park and is investigations.
“This is something that is genuinely a community effort, and like the other things we put together is very much a grassroots effort that lets the community come together and celebrate and show their power”.
