Life on the West Island - Christmas on the wide brown land

27 December 2024

West Islanders have some time-honoured traditions for Christmas. One is trashing the place, especially its beauty spots. This story from The New Daily reports the outrage from beachside residents, whose multi-million-dollar homes were surrounded by an ocean of rubbish left behind from drunken Christmas day parties on an “alcohol free” beach:

A Sydney mayor is promising measures to prevent a beautiful beach from turning into a rubbish tip again next Christmas. Stunning Bronte Beach, in the exclusive eastern suburbs, was overrun on Christmas Day for the second year in a row by thousands of people.

Despite being an alcohol-free zone, residents said drunk revellers urinated in people’s gardens and caused chaos well into the night. There were also raucous scenes, with police patrolling on horseback to ensure crowds behaved as thousands tried to beat the heat.

Locals woke on Boxing Day to discover the visitors had left behind their waste — beer and wine bottles, cooler bags, plastic bags, food packaging and more. The entire foreshore area was blanketed in rubbish from one end to the other.

Angry locals took to social media to express their disgust at the council’s handling of the Christmas bash which had marred their beach for the second year in a row. “Despite the no-drinking rule, I witnessed groups openly carrying cases of alcohol, cooler boxes, and bags of bottles and cans from early in the morning,” said Romy Stuhler. “Many sat on our road drunk, and some even vomited outside our house.”

Kerri Ainsworth said crowds of drunken people remained in the area late into the night and were urinating in people’s yards. “Loads of drunks and no sign of a police car,” she said.

Irene Lynch said the party was an “absolute abuse of a public facility. Paid for by the locals who wouldn’t dare take our kids down there,” she posted. “Enforcement of the no drinking rules would solve this. Bronte is known as the beach without rules, this doesn’t happen at Bondi.”

Mayor Will Nemesh said Waverley Council had provided an extra 250 bins and a garbage truck worked all day to clear rubbish. Overall, he said reports from police, council rangers, security and lifeguards had been positive. “There was very minimal antisocial behaviour and the extra measures introduced this year have had a positive result compared to previous years,” he said. “That being said I acknowledge our resident and community concerns over the level of rubbish and waste, and I want to assure you that we will be making changes so that this does not happen again into the future.”

“I have spoken to our GM who was also onsite today helping our staff and volunteers clean up the last of the waste and we are committed to ensuring that whoever comes and visits our stunning beaches and parks treats it with respect.”

The mayor praised staff who jumped to action on Boxing Day morning and carted off bags and bags of waste. “Thank you to our amazing staff who worked through the night and into this morning to ensure Bondi Beach and Park was clean by 9am this morning,” he said.

Nemesh urged people to be respectful of local residents and the community. “If you come to enjoy our stunning parks and beaches, please don’t leave your waste behind.”

Councillor Joshua Spicer said while there had been definite improvements since last year, more work still needed to be done. “The Mayor Will Nemesh and I are very committed to getting the park back to its former state as quickly as possible, and we’ll be here for as long as it takes.”

Then there is the tradition of singing respectful and melodic Christmas carols. A good example is Aussie Jungle Bells, written by composing legends Colin Buchanan and Greg Champion:

Dashing Through the bush
In a rusty Holden Ute
Kicking up the dust
Esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side
Singing Christmas songs
It's summertime and I am in my singlet,
shorts and thongs!

Oh, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia
On a Scorching summer's day
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
Christmas time is beaut
Oh what fun it is to ride
In a rusty Holden Ute!

Engine's getting hot
Dodge the Kangaroos
Swaggie climbs aboard
He is welcome too.

All the fam-i-Iy is there
Sitting by the pool
Christmas day, the Aussie way
By the barbeque!

Come the afternoon
Grandpa has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce
Are swimming in their clothes
The time comes round to go
We take a family snap
Then pack the car and all shoot through
Before the washing up.

Already West Island media outlets are reporting other customary Christmas horrors: a rapidly rising road toll; more murders of women by men; drownings of people swept off rocks; and deaths in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race.

Can we with straight faces wish each other a happy new year?