The idea of mermaids has caught people’s interest for hundreds of years.
It could be their beautiful tails, the fact that they spend their life in the sea or folklore that says they lure sailors to their death.
Whatever the appeal, there has been a steady climb in the interest of mermaids.
FEMAIL spoke to one woman, who has been coined ‘Bondi’s Mermaid’ for the past 22 years.
Lizmania, who said ‘mermaids never age’, has been hand-sewing her own tails and making her presence known on Bondi Beach since 1995.
Lizmania, who said ‘mermaids never age’, has been a mermaid on Bondi Beach for 22 years now (pictured)
‘I’ve been called a mermaid all my life, I was a state swimmer and would swim for four hours every day,’ Lizmania told FEMAIL.
‘During training we to tie our ankles together so that we would dolphin kick. It was to train and strengthen our muscles but young girls have always called me a mermaid, I think it’s my long hair.’
Lizmania has always had a love for the ocean and when she was young her dad was a lifesaver in Newcastle.
‘When I put the proposal to council for me to be a permanent mermaid on Bondi the next day I was on page three in the newspaper,’ she said.
‘I’ve been called a mermaid all my life, I was a state swimmer and would swim for four hours every day,’ Lizmania told FEMAIL
Lizmania has always had a love for the ocean and when she was young her dad was a lifesaver in Newcastle
Although she has an affinity with mermaids, Lizmania believes that the beautiful mythical creatures are cursed.
‘I lost my legs for two years. I stepped on massive nails and in Greek mythology every time a mermaid walks on land it feels like she’s walking on nails,’ she said.
‘I had to deal with that pain every day and for that time I couldn’t feel my feet. I didn’t walk for two years, I was stuck in a room in a full time pain clinic and now, even though I can walk, I have this terrible disease in my legs.
‘But the moment I put my tail on I don’t need my feet, I slap my fin and grab people’s attention.’
Although she has an affinity with mermaids, Lizmania believes that the beautiful mythical creatures are cursed
‘I lost my legs for two years. I stepped on massive nails and in Greek mythology every time a mermaid walks on land it feels like she’s walking on nails,’ she said
Lizmania also sews tails for her dog, who follows her everywhere
Lizmania said that she puts on her mermaid gear every day and even if she’s on the beach without it, people still recognise her.
She hand sews all of her tails and at this moment in time she owns six, with plans to make more.
‘They take a long time, they’re a labour of love and are hand sewn. The fin itself is a structure,’ she explained.
‘My dog also has two mermaid tails that I’ve made him. I got him to help me to get out and do physio and he comes with me everywhere.
‘All of my tails are different colours, I’m constantly making them. There’s about the same amount of work in a top as there is in a tail because of the beading, it takes forever.’
Lizmania said that she puts on her mermaid gear every day and even if she’s on the beach without it, people still recognise her
‘They take a long time, they’re a labour of love and are hand sewn. The fin itself is a structure,’ she explained
When Lizmania is on the beach she also likes to tell those who come up to her the about what inspired her to become Bondi’s official mermaid.
The story she speaks of is about the two mermaid statues that used to occupy a rock on Bondi Beach, which was what inspired her to become a ‘real’ mermaid herself.
People told Lizmania that one of these statues was stolen and the other washed away. The more she began to do research the more obsessed she became with the story.
‘I tried to do as much research as I could but I would only get so far, I kept hitting dead ends,’ she told FEMAIL.
‘I’m a firm believer that when something is meant to happen the world will show you the way and one day I ended up meeting this woman who was helping me out with some work I needed doing and she said: “I don’t know why but I’m going to tell you about the mermaids that were on Bondi Beach”.
She hand sews all of her tails and at this moment in time she owns six, with plans to make more
When Lizmania is on the beach she also likes to tell those who come up to her the about what inspired her to become Bondi’s official mermaid
‘I tried to do as much research as I could but I would only get so far, I kept hitting dead ends,’ Lizmania told FEMAIL
‘A shiver went down my spine, these mermaids had consumed my life,’ she continued.
Lizmania then found out that the woman in front of her was a model for one of the statues, Lynette Whillier.
The mermaid statues were modelled on two local women: Jan Carmody, who was Miss Australia Surf in 1959; and Lynette, champion swimmer and runner-up in the same contest.
The sculptor, Lyall Randolph, was, according to Lizmania, an Australian ice skating champion, an inventor and an artist.
The mermaid statues were modelled on two local women: Jan Carmody, who was Miss Australia Surf in 1959; and Lynette, champion swimmer and runner-up in the same contest
Lyall created the mermaids from bronze-coloured fibreglass that he then filled with cement
‘This man was homeless but this is what he spent his life doing, he loved Bondi Beach and he tried to make it a better suburb,’ she said.
‘His whole inspiration was to clean Bondi up and as this was the 50s he was decades before his time.’
Lyall created the mermaids from bronze-coloured fibreglass that he then filled with cement.
Lyall initially tried to sell the idea of the mermaids to Waverley Council, but the Council refused to pay for them. So he erected them on The Big Rock at his own expense.
‘The sculptures cost 4,000 pounds, he could have bought a house in 1958 with that but he was dedicated,’ Lizmania explained.
‘His whole inspiration was to clean Bondi up and as this was the 50s he was decades before his time,’ Lizmania said
One month after they appeared university students dynamited mermaid Jan from the Big Rock and removed her as part of a Commemoration Day prank.
She was restored and now resides in the Sydney Artefacts Conservation, while heavy seas claimed Lynette in 1974.
‘I can’t say much but they will be back there very soon, I want to pay tribute and get them back out there and around the world, everyone should know Lyall’s name, he was such an amazing man.’
Recently there has been some tension on the famous beach as another woman has also started calling herself the Bondi Mermaid, swimming instructor Eve White (pictured front)
She has adopted the name The Bondi Mermaid for her Mermaidfit aquatic fitness classes
Recently there has been some tension on the famous beach as another woman has also started calling herself the Bondi Mermaid, swimming instructor Eve White has also adopted the name The Bondi Mermaid for her Mermaidfit aquatic fitness classes.
‘There’s an imposter but she’s being taken care of, there’s only one Bondi Mermaid,’ Lizmania told FEMAIL.
‘She can be a Bondi mermaid but not The Bondi Mermaid — I’m the original.’
‘There’s an imposter but she’s being taken care of, there’s only one Bondi Mermaid,’ Lizmania told FEMAIL
Eve told The Daily Telegraph that her love of swimming daily at Bondi, where she grew up, led to her nickname.
‘I don’t want to step on anyone’s fins but I’m keeping the name, my family and friends have called me by it for 22 years,’ she said.
‘If she wants to take me to court, so be it, but I’m in talks with my team about whether we adopt the name as a business.
‘I’m digging my fin in the sand on this one.’