Marks Park

Stub — Marks Park is a coastal reserve on the southern headland of Bondi Beach, above the cliffs between Bondi and Tamarama. From at least the late 1970s through the 1990s, the park’s scrubland and cliff-edge paths were a known gay beat. It was the site of multiple deaths documented by the Sackar Inquiry, and is one of the most significant locations in the project scope.

The “Bondi Boys” — a loosely affiliated group of young men who targeted gay men at and around Marks Park — are linked to multiple cases. The area was also the site of violence by the “Tamarama Three” and other perpetrators. ACON’s In Pursuit of Truth & Justice (2018) identifies the Marks Park/Bondi headland area as one of the primary sites of gang-organised anti-gay violence in Sydney during the 1980s and 1990s.

A memorial plaque was installed by Waverley Council in 2003 — one of the earliest formal public memorials to anti-gay hate crime victims in Australia.

Research needed:

• Full description of the beat geography and cliff-edge paths
• Waverley Council records relating to the memorial plaque
• Traditional name for this specific headland (Bidjigal Country)
• Physical marker history and current condition
• Whether additional markers have been proposed post-SCOI (Sackar Ch. 16)
• Oral history leads: PHG may hold interviews referencing Marks Park

Sources: Sackar Inquiry Vol. 2; ACON (2018) In Pursuit of Truth and Justice; Bondi Badlands podcast (Callaghan G, 2021).