The hundreds of people flocking to the surf at Bondi yesterday were confronted with a huge piece of graffiti. The face of Australia's most famous beach had been changed overnight.
The essentially spiritual message stretches for more than 400 metres,covering more than half the wall of the beach.
The Sydney Morning Herald,page 2,October 30,1990.
According to an anonymous caller to the Herald,the graffiti was applied between 2 and 4am. The caller said it had involved 15 people,taken two weeks to plan and cost more than $1,000.
He said the group,which posted lookouts equipped with walkie-talkies in getaway cars,had done test runs at isolated locations and had spent several nights on the beach noting the quiet times.
The graffiti begins at the southern end with"Life is too short to waste on things that do not bring happiness,make others happy and you will be happy too".
The message runs continuously until the other side of the main steps. There is then a long gap until it begins again at the northern end with the words:"Love wasn't".
The caller said the unfinished message was meant to read"Love wasn't put in your heart to stay,love isn't love till you give it away".
He said the quotations were from various sources,including the French philosopher,Voltaire,and the English philosopher,Edmund Burke.
They include"If you want friends,be one,"and"You haven't loved until you have forgiven".
The man said the group came from Newcastle. Members were from diverse backgrounds and age groups,from students to housewives,but were all Christians of various denominations.
A beachgoer takes the graffiti to heart at Bondi,October 29,1990.Steve Christo
"We are genuinely interested in contributing something to society,"he said.
"We were trying to put something up there that would relate to people going to the beach,and take the kind of enjoy-yourself philosophy a little more seriously than just being rowdy."
He said he hoped the public would forgive their"indiscretions"on the grounds that what they were doing was"positive and helpful".
Shortly after 4am,a person they believed was a security guard discovered them on the beach and they decided to cut and run. None of them was caught.
They had hoped to submit their project to the Guinness Book of Records.
"If the Waverley Council would like it finished perhaps they could send out some feelers,"the caller said."We are trying to make the world a better place with the spirit not the letter of the law."
Sergeant Paul Fitzgerald of Bondi said inquiries were continuing.
The Mayor of Waverley,Ald Barbara Armitage,said it was not necessary for people to scribble on walls to get their message across.
General reaction among bathers was positive. Beach inspector Mr Corey Adams said a few older locals were complaining,but others were saying it added to the character of the beach."It is tidy,inoffensive,and different to most graffiti you see around,"he said."It is not hurting anyone."
Rahlee Carrol,17,a Year 12 student at Vaucluse High,said:"Heaps of people will read it because it is there and think about it,so it might serve some meaning or purpose. But I think it looks stupid and ugly."