Congratulations to Michael Malley!
We're proud to share that Michael has been named Iceberg of the Year by the Bondi Icebergs Swimming Club — an organisation he's passionate about and has been involved with for many years.
Michael was genuinely surprised, touched, and honoured to receive this recognition from the club he loves.
A well-deserved acknowledgment of his dedication both in and out of the water!
#malleyslawyers #bondiicebergs #IcebergoftheYear #ProudMoment
Lapping Pool - How Bondi Icebergs morphed from somewhere to swim into a place to heal
Local Bloke – Michael Malley
Photo: Grant Brooks
Michael Malley was born and bred in the Eastern Suburbs. He is the principal solicitor at Malleys Lawyers in Bondi Junction. Michael shares his local favourites with The Beast…
How long have you lived here? I have lived in the Eastern Suburbs all of my life.
What’s your favourite beach? I spent most of my youth at Tamarama, where I surfed all year round, so it’s my sentimental favourite. These days I spend a lot of my recreational time at Bondi Beach, and I have to say Bronte has a great park and beach, too. They are all wonderful.
What’s your favourite eatery? My wife is a great cook so I have to say my favourite eatery is at home.
Where do you like to have a drink? The Bondi Icebergs Club is without doubt my favourite place to go. I have been participating in winter swimming on Sundays with the ‘Bergs for the last 15 years and I love it.
Do you have a favourite sporting team? I grew up supporting Easts Rugby Union. My dad played for the Beasts in 1963 with Jock Cornett as captain and Dave Brockhoff as coach. I played a few games for the club in the 1980s and my brother had a few seasons playing first grade.
What music are you into at the moment? My musical listening tastes are eclectic. At any one moment I might be listening to classical Beethoven or Mozart, the next I might be listening to The Rolling Stones, some old punk tunes, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift or the up-and-coming bands on Triple J.
Who is your favourite person? My wife, Renee, is my favourite person, as well as my children, Maddie and Max.
What do you get up to on the weekends? I spend time with family and on Sunday mornings during winter I swim at the Icebergs. On the odd Saturday arvo I go to Woollahra Oval to watch Easts and catch up with some friends.
What do you do for work? I am the principal solicitor at Malleys Lawyers at Bondi Junction. We focus on compensation law, accident law, wills and estates, family law property disputes and settlements and conveyancing. I’m on the Injury Law Specialist Accreditation Advisory Committee of the NSW Law Society and I’m vice president of the Eastern Suburbs Law Society. I’m kept pretty busy.
What’s your favourite thing about work? I love it that it’s local and that I help three generations; my parents’ generation, my generation and the next generation. It’s a fact of life that at one stage or another we are all touched by a legal issue.
Do you have a favourite quote? I don’t really have a favourite quote. I think people like quotes because they tend to reveal an inner truth. “Count your blessings” is a very good thing to keep in mind.
Any other words of wisdom for readers of The Beast? As Spock once said, “May you live long and prosper”
I used to swim with Copyright Guru Moose and went to few bucks parties with him
Taken Before His Time - Bondi Farewells a Brilliant Man
Words James Hutton and Louise Bryant Photo Eugene Tan
It was an ordinary Sunday winter morning at Bondi Icebergs.
The weekly relay teams were lining up when a new swimmer appeared poolside. It was Hollywood star Owen Wilson, hoping for a quiet lap or two.
But 'Moose' Moore was short a swimmer, so he did what any true Icebergs member would do
- he roped Wilson in. The movie star did as he was told, swam his leg and helped Moose's team to victory. Later, when asked on national television how he was enjoying Bondi, Wilson replied,
"Yeah, I swam with some guy called Moose!"
Variety even reported the encounter on its website.
"On a private visit to the famous Bondi Icebergs swim club, Wilson accepted an impromptu invitation to join a team at the weekly winter meet, where he swam a leg of the relay in the chilly ocean pool without losing ground to competing teams," wrote Michaela Boland.
That was typical Moose - a joiner-inner, raconteur, bon
24 The Beast November 2025 Issue 250
vivant, keen ocean swimmer and friend to many. A very gifted wordsmith and storyteller, he eventually lost his words to dementia and, after a long battle, died peacefully on September 18 with his loving partner Louise by his side.
One of his advertising mates described him as "very clever, quietly crazy, irrational, unpre-dictable, argumentative, inspi-rational, sometimes annoying, charming, extremely intelligent
- and everyone loved him."
Moose's story resonated far beyond Bondi. He was the subject of two major features in The Australian, a segment on A Current Affair and a personal essay by Louise in Vogue Australia during Dementia Action Week. His journey also inspired Think Again, a national dementia-awareness campaign launched by News Corp, urging Australians to think about their brain health and take action.
Moose is survived by Louise Bryant and his daughter, Phoebe
Bondi Iceberg - They met every day at the pool for years – until the coffee cup ‘incident’
