Bondi Icebergs caught in Aboriginal land claim as calls grow for new law to protect iconic Sydney sites

One of Sydney’s most famous and scenic landmarks is subject to a claim by the local Aboriginal land council.

The La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council confirmed on Friday that it has lodged a land claim over the world-famous Bondi Icebergs pool and licensed club in the city’s east.

Located at the southern end of Bondi Beach, the venue is recognised as the most photographed swimming pool in the world and is in use all year round.

The Bondi Icebergs website states that it is the only licensed swimming club in the world.

It is also one of Sydney’s premier celebrity dining hotspots and has previously attracted the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Mick Jagger, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, along with home-grown stars Margot Robbie, Kylie Minogue and Chris Hemsworth.

The La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council told 2GB that it is waiting for an answer from NSW Lands and Property Minister Stephen Kamper.

It added that the claim was lodged in 2009 and that it looks forward to it finally being determined.

‘We remain willing to work constructively with Bondi Icebergs while the claim is being assessed,’ its statement read out by 2GB breakfast host Ben Fordham.

The land council added that the uncertainty surrounding the site is driven by the NSW government’s failure to determine land claims within a reasonable time frame.

It’s one of more than 44,000 unresolved land claims in NSW, according to Fordham.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council and Bondi Icebergs for comment.

Fordham urged Kamper to urgently step in and fix the ‘shocking’ system by introducing a law to prevent iconic sites from being subject to Aboriginal land claims. 

‘Now we need to remember this is one of Sydney’s most iconic sites,’ he told listeners.

‘There are more than 44,000 unresolved land claims in NSW and all it takes is a technical breach by a tenant for a land claim to be judged successful.’

He added that every surf club in Sydney’s east has a land claim on it.

‘That’s just further proof showing why the government has to fix this chaos,’ Fordham said.

‘The minister will have to bring in some legislation to protect these valuable public assets. 

‘They shouldn’t face fishing expeditions from land councils, bowling clubs, tennis centres, and now Bondi Icebergs.’

Bondi Icebergs can be subject to an Aboriginal land claim because the site sits on Crown land owned by the NSW Government. 

Under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, Aboriginal Land Councils can lodge claims over Crown land if they believe it meets the legal definition of ‘claimable Crown lands’. 

The claim does not mean the Land Council will automatically get the land. 

The NSW Government must first determine whether Bondi Icebergs was legally entitled to use the Crown land when the claim was lodged and whether the site is exempt from being claimed. 

If the land is ultimately found to be claimable, it can be transferred to the Aboriginal Land Council. 

The 2009 Bondi Icebergs claim remains unresolved due to a huge backlog in the NSW Aboriginal land claims system, with each claim requiring a legal assessment before the government can approve or reject it. 

‘For land to be claimable, it must… not be lawfully used or occupied and not be needed for an essential public purpose,’ the Aboriginal Land Rights Act states.

‘If the land is found to be lawfully used, occupied, or likely to be needed for an essential public purpose, the land claim is refused.’ 

A similar battle over the former Waverton Bowling Club on Sydney’s lower north shore ended with the NSW Government losing its fight against an Aboriginal land claim.

The club went into liquidation and closed in 2019, ending its licence to operate on the Crown land, before two Aboriginal land claims were lodged over the site the following year.

The NSW Government initially rejected the claims, arguing the land was being lawfully used and occupied and was needed for the essential public purpose of public recreation.

The Aboriginal Land Council then took the case to the Land and Environment Court.

In its appeal, it argued that the use of the site by members of the public had not been lawful and that North Sydney Council had ‘no right to use the land.’

The Land and Environment Court overturned that decision in 2022 and ordered the land to be transferred to the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council.

‘I accept that North Sydney Council had a genuine desire to obtain the land for the purpose of open space (however) I am unable to be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the claimed land would have a real chance or possibility to become open space,’ Justice Sandra Duggan ruled at the time.

Nathan Moran, chief executive of the NSW Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, said the traditional owners occupied the land prior to colonisation.

‘It’s a tremendous thing to have any land claim approved – the site is huge and it’s a realisation of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act that provides crown land for recompense for the waters, minerals and lands we occupied prior to colonisation,’ he told the Daily Telegraph.

‘This is all we get under those land rights arrangements – it’s not justice, it isn’t equitable but it is recognition.’