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Children from different backgrounds bond during a cricket game. Photo: Jessie Arjangh

Beach Bonanza aims to ease racial tensions

By Jessie Arjangh

Almost two years after the Cronulla riots, community healing has begun with Beach Bonanza. On Friday at Wanda Beach, Cronulla, children from schools from both the Sutherland Shire and the Bankstown area came together in unity to mark the first Beach Bonanza.

“Basically it’s getting together the kids from the Shire and Bankstown to enjoy the beach (and) get the kids mixed,” said Warren Duncan, media liaison for the Community Relations Commission.

On December 11, 2005, the Cronulla riots was an extreme display of the racial tensions existing within Australian society. With the need to relax the social climate, the Community Relations Commission, with help from the Sutherland Shire Council Lifeguards, organised Beach Bonanza as a step towards unity.

“This is part of the work we’ve been doing since 2005, as community healing … we are working at the level of people (and) bringing people together to enjoy the beach,” Mr Duncan said.

The children from the nine schools were divided up into nine different groups in which they participated in a variety of activities, ranging from a surf boat rescue race to kite making.

“It’s bringing people together, breaking down the ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality to show that beaches and parks are meant to be shared,” said Malcolm Kerr, State Member for Cronulla.

“It’s fantastic. Hopefully the kids can take something from this, like tolerance,” said Paul Love, a teacher at St. Charbel’s College, Punchbowl.
Listening to the children, it seems that such aims have been achieved. A student from St. Charbel’s College, Stephanie Wakim, 12, said, “We get to learn about other cultures.”

“It teaches us to respect other cultures and we feel more comfortable around (them),” said her fellow classmate, Celine El-Azzi, 12.

Though tensions may still exist amongst the adults, this is not the case with the children. “Have you had any problems with the kids? Not a single one,” said Mark Simpson, Sutherland Shire Council Lifeguard.

The schools that gathered for this event were the Al Noori Muslim School, Cronulla Public School, Grays Point School, Lakemba Public School, Malek Fahd Islamic School, St Aloysius School, St Charbel’s College, St Felix Primary School and Wiley Park Public School.