Bondi Junction

Bondi Junction is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia.

Bondi Junction is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of Waverley.Bondi Junction is a largely commercial area which has undergone many changes since the late 20th century. There have been many major commercial and residential developments around the main street and surrounding area, notably a new bus/rail interchange and large shopping mall. Many of the original pubs have been maintained, notably, the Nelson Hotel, so named because of its location on Nelson Street.

Bondi Beach is a neighbouring suburb to the east with a world-famous beach. Bondi and North Bondi are also neighbouring suburbs.

Bondi Junction and the neighbouring area is well known for its famous rugby league team, the Sydney Roosters, still officially known as the Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club. The clubhouse of the team is centrally located in Spring Street, Bondi Junction.

Bondi is an Aboriginal word meaning water breaking over rocks. It has been spelt a number of different ways over time: for example, Boondi, Bundi and Bundye.

The first house in the area was Waverley House, which was builtby Barnett Levey in 1827, on the current site of Waverley Street. The house changed hands many times over the years before finally being demolished in 1904. When Waverley Municipality was proclaimed in 1859, the name was taken from Waverley House.

Henry Hough was first given a grant of land on the site of Bondi Junction in 1832. On his estate, he built a wind-powered flour mill. This was accessed by a track leading off the South Head Road (now Oxford Street), the suburb's main thoroughfare.

In 1854, the first hotel in the area opened. It was named The Waverley Tea Gardens and the surrounding area quickly took that name, quickly shortened to simply "Tea Gardens", which stuck for the next 30 years. By 1878 steam had supplanted wind in milling and the estate was closed. In May 1881 it was subdivided. Streets in this subdivision that exist today are Mill Hill Road and Hough Street. The subdivision of the estate coincided with the opening of the first tramway to the area – steam trams began operation from Taylor Square in Darlinghurst on 12 March 1881.

With the extension of the tram lines to Bondi Beach, Charing Cross and Bronte later in the decade, the term Bondi Junction was coined. It referred to the junction of the Bondi and Bronte tram lines at the corner of the now Oxford Street and Bronte Road.

With the subdivision of surrounding suburbs complete by 1930, Bondi Junction quickly grew into a major entertainment and commercial centre. Tram lines ran to Bondi Beach via Birriga Road, Bondi Beach via Bondi Road, Bronte Beach and The Spot, Randwick and the City at Circular Quay and Central railway station. A tram depot was established on the corner of South Head Road (renamed Oxford Street with the completion of widening works in Darlinghurst) and the present day York Road. Oxford Street quickly became crowded and congested. By the 1960s traffic was at the point that Bondi Junction was one of the worst bottlenecks in Sydney.The suburb was historically divided by the border of Waverley and Woollahra councils. In 2002 the boundary was realigned from Oxford Street to the bypass road (see below), giving Waverley Council full control of the commercial areas of the suburb.