Written by Zoe Davies

Roland Barthes’ (2000, 129) describes myth as ‘neither a lie nor a confession: it is an inflexion’. The opposition between fact and fiction in relation to myth should therefore be considered as a series of dominant ideas and values that have become naturalised. In this sense, we can look at hit Australian Reality Television show Bondi Rescue as complying with the idealistic account of an Australian male. The lifeguards are referred to in the series as ‘iconic Bondi blokes’ or ‘cast from a vintage Australian mould’ (Bondi Rescue 2006). Their bodies are constantly on show as tanned and svelte, highlighted in montage sequences of their topless walks, swims or paddles along the beach, which accommodate both the expectations of the audience, and the myths that form them. As Greig, Lewins and White (2003) point out, while notions of social egalitarianism lie at the core of Australian self-identity, this national perception has been built on rather shaky foundations, with claims to a coherent Australian nationhood glossing over major historical and political exclusions around citizenship and identity. White explains, that the combined portrayals of ‘sun-bronzed physique, the masculinity, the cult of mateship, the military associations, the hedonism and wholesomeness of the beach’ (White 1981, 157) construct the myth of the Australian Diggers who, despite being engaged in a difficult task, maintained their sense of humor and the value of mateship.

We can look at the way Bondi Rescue attempts to construct a particular ideology around the cultural space of the beach by highlighting the lives of ‘ordinary’ surf life savers which the program narration describes as “an elite group of watermen that safeguard Australia’s most famous piece of sand…but through thick and thin the boys in blue are still up to their old tricks” (Bondi Rescue, 2006). Roscoe (2001) mentions an inclusion of  national cultural elements as being key to developing a voice that speaks to local audiences – kinds of tokenistic representations make the characters both accessible and loveable which in turn stirs up a sense of nationalism in Australians who treasure the beach and the culture it embraces.

“Both myth and ‘Reality Television are constantly evolving as open and ambiguous spaces of national narratives and ideals, not quite fact or fiction. For television, the inclusion of national cultural elements in format production has been argued as a performance of ‘Australian-ness’ that speaks to its local audiences”. (Roscoe 2001, 475)

The beach has long been associated with the laid back, recreational Australian lifestyle and has held ‘a special place in the construction of national identity…with steady characteristics such as the cheeky resourceful larrikin and a prescriptive, unitary, masculine identity’ (Bonner, McKay and McKee 2001, p270). This is no doubt reflected in Bondi Rescue’s depiction of the lifesavers it follows from day to day, highlighting the emblematic Australian value of mateship and egalitarianism.  Rick McPhee, producer Bondi Rescue suggests that ‘reality is where you construct something, you change something and you impose something on a group of people. (McPhee 2009)

The program was first aired in February 2006 and opens with the 2005 Cronulla Riots that began when a group of volunteer surf lifesavers were assaulted by a group of young men of Middle Eastern appearance. What followed was days of sectarian clashes and mob violence that spread across additional suburbs. At one stage, the violence threatened to spill onto Bondi. In the season opener, the narrator of the program sets the scene of the impending rescue, saying, “Despite racial tensions, the lifeguards don’t discriminate as an Iranian family is swept out to sea”. (Bondi Rescue, 2006). This kind of subtle reference to such a hot button issue immediately weaves viewer’s ideologies and viewpoints into the fabric of the show, and invites the audience to engage with the show from an ideological standpoint. It positions the lifeguards as having the wisdom to rise above the racial tension, and focus of getting the job done. However, this kind of idle reference to such a complex political issue can be problematic as shows such as Bondi Rescue have a clear agenda that does not always have equality and fairness at the forefront. The producers are not necessarily to impart ethical messages or to engage audeinces politically. Their main concern if that the program will have mass appeal while also maintaining the element of entertainment. Bondi Rescue is a particularly light-hearted and playful show that prides itself on ‘the boys in blue’ and the practical jokes they play on each other between saving lives. This attracts the kind of audience who tend to absorb mainstream, commercial media and who cling tight to traditional notions of Australia.

The Bondi Rescue marketing team recently came up with a Facebook campaign that asked fans to post their favourite Bondi Rescue moment along with an explanation behind their selection. This kind of campaign really tends to highlight the values of the audiences and sheds light on the reasons behind a  shows popularity.

Bridey Eggleston posted:

The boys are very resilient and tolerant of the tourists not reading or obeying the signs, not listening to the lifeguards advice, or even just jumping straight into the rips! It shows how hard working they are and what a great team they make! (Facebook, 2013)

Here, we see how the value of multiculturalism is treated by audience who see the tourists as problematic when considering the safe haven of the beach.

Misty Anne commented:

Their humour is great, so is their athleticism and personalities...but this is why they are truly great. I have so much respect for those who work as fireman, like my brother, those who are EMTs and paramedics and now lifeguards as well. And it's all for the same reason...they would give their life for another. They are will to endure hardships both physical and emotional to keep people they've never even met before safe and do everything possible to bring them back. There really must be no more fulfilling type of profession. Love watching you impact so many people, keep it up and don't ever stop! (Facebook, 2013)

This kind of fannish engagement elucidates the power of Bondi Rescue (and reality television as a whole) to engage viewers into the show and impart certain agendas in their psyche without them even knowing.

It is interesting then to look at how the show dealt with the issue of the Cronulla riots. In the pilot episode, a young, dependable, fit ‘newbie’ to the Bondi team is shown courageously saving an Iranian family. The family are dressed in clothing that sets them apart from the other swimmers in board shorts and bikinis. They are also shown in a grasping onto the lifesavers as they desperately flail around in the water. In this sense, they are shown to be completely ignorant of the perils of the sea, something that any ‘ true Aussie’ would innately know about. After they are rescued, the camera focuses on the youngest member of team, Andrew attempting to educate the family about water safety by using a mixture of broken English and exaggerated gestures; “see the little picture of the man swimming with the cross through it... never okay…always red and yellow, red and yellow” (Bondi Rescue, 2006). The clearly shaken and teary woman then thanks him repeatedly. He then exchanges a handshake with the males of the group asking their names “Abdullah and Mohammed? Pleased to meet you, I’m Andrew”. (Bondi Rescue, 2006)

In this exchange we see an opposing side to the narrative of the Cronulla Riots are unfurl as Andrew befriends Abdullah and Mohammed, welcoming them to ‘his country’ by saving their lives and educating them about water safety. It is interesting to note that Andrew, as a young Australian is shown as being ‘a good mate’ to the Iranian men. At the time, opposite images of these two types of people would have been saturating news media. Bondi Rescue cleverly takes the issue of the Cronulla Riots, and uses it to substantiate the myth of mateship and multiculturalism while also maintaining the beach as the ultimate site of Australian Culture. It also establishes a positive culture around the show.

The show points out that “most people that are rescued are tourists or backpackers who don’t have a clue about water safety” (Bondi Rescue, 2006), although, the lifeguards reflect “we learn so much by meeting all these people” (Bondi Rescue, 2006). By characterising the lifesavers as ‘a user-friendly national identity for domestic, and, more importantly, international audiences’ (Waddell, 2003, p40) we see an emphasis on racial equality and acts which encourage a more positive portrayal of Australian beach culture following the riots which seriously divided Sydney’s ethnic minorities.  The lifeguards are portrayed as ‘ideal’ versions of Australian males without prejudice, who just want to ‘get on with it’.

At the time of the riots, the Channel Nine news coverage on 60 Minutes described the event as

“a clash of cultures and at it’s heart was animosity towards one ethnic group which though born here does not feel fully accepted in Australia and does not share this countries permissive attitudes”. (60 Minutes, 2006)

60 Minuets went on to parade live footage of the riots, one piece of tape in particular shows a group of middle aged Australian men yelling into the camera; one yells out “This is what our grandfathers fought for, to protect this (points to beach) so we can enjoy it, and we don’t need these lebos to take it away from us!” (60 Minutes, 2006). Nader Handam is then shown in a candid to camera interview by 60 Minutes protesting –

“I am an Australian, yet when people ask me if I’m Australian they have to ask me three or four times cause they look at me and say no your not Australian, and I ask them, what’s an Australian supposed to look like?” (60 Minutes, 2006)

Both these formats of television show a version of reality, yet not neither of these extreme versions are shown on Bondi Rescue which chooses to remain impartial and politically uninvolved. Bondi Rescue presents an informative façade through the depiction of lifeguard duties and the promotion of water safety, whereas 60 Minutes presents a more journalistic version of events. If Bondi rescue were to show both these versions of reality, the show would become less digestible and have increasingly political overtones which perhaps would not such large audiences. It is this point that we need to explore further as we ask what role reality television can play in social and political discussion, and if we can find a form that combines elements of entertainment with information that will appeal to a mass audience.

Bondi Rescue has displayed a unique ability to align the audience with the lifeguards while simultaneously othering the naïve tourists and effectively presents the lifeguards as ‘mediators’ who protect the natural beauty of beach from an undesirable culture which descends upon it, inviting all different types of cultural engagement. This kind of program could be an exemplification of what Corner refers to as the ‘democratisation of television’ whereby the portrayal of lifeguards as mythic heroes and ‘iconic Bondi blokes’ (Bondi Rescue, 2006) emphasises their discipline as well as their camaraderie and larrikinism and constructs a positive ideology of lifesavers, and a fairly ambivalent view of foreign ‘visitors’ to the beach. Contemporary attitudes of race are present and expressed by vox pop interviews and the situations selected by producers, yet they are juxtaposed with the heroic rescues and liberal attitudes of the lifesavers. In one comment on a YouTube video, a viewer comments that ‘watching Bondi Rescue makes me proud to be Australian’ which in itself makes visible the power of influence present in the show as it reflects inherently Australian values representing narratives of the national identity and culture.



Bondi Rescue becomes its own ‘version’ of reality, one that combines dominant cultural perceptions with elements of factuality and entertainment. The show exists in its own fluid space which blurs genres and conventions from soap operas and documentary combining the informative with the entertaining – a ‘hyper-reality’ to use Baudrillard’s (1983) terms. He describes hyper-reality as encompassing elements of performance; spectacle to create a simulation of ‘a world’. This superimposed reality includes a performance by the lifeguards of national identity that restores and reinforces positive qualities of both the beach and ‘Australian-ness’.



Baudrillard J, 1983,  Simulations, New York, Semiotext[e].



Bonner,.F, McKay. S and McKee. A, 2001, On the beach,  Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, Vol15, No 3, pp 269–74.



Corner J, 2000,  What can we say about “documentary?, Media, culture and society  Vol 22, No5 pp 681-8.



Facebook, 2013,  Bondi Rescue. [online] Available at: https://www.facebook.com/BondiRescueTV [Accessed: 14 May 2013].



Greig A, Lewins C, and White K, 2003,  Inequality in Australia, New York: Cambridge University Press



Hill, A, 2005, Reality TV. London: Routledge.

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Waddell, T, 2003. The not so secret life of us at home and away: Cashing in on beach culture.In Some like it hot: The beach as a cultural dimension, ed. Allan Edwards, Keith Gilbert, and James Skinner, pp40–57. Oxford: Meyer & Meyer Sport.



White, R, 1981. Inventing Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.



Bondi Rescue, 2006 Executive Producers Michael Cordell and Nick Murray. Sydney: Cordell Jigsaw, 2006–

60 Minutes, 2006, Executive Producer Tom Malone. CBS News Production