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Maroubra Beach is only a few miles from Bondi, but the working-class Sydney suburb - home to a maximum-security jail and a massive sewerage plant as well as some superlative waves - is a different world.
Maroubra may lack Bondi's glamour, but it has a fame of its own, thanks to a notorious surf gang, the Bra Boys. The gang, led by four brothers, was for many years a byword for tribalism and violence. Now, thanks to a film narrated by New Zealand-born Oscar-winning Hollywood actor Russell Crowe, the Bra Boys' image has been transformed.
Box office takings on the first day of the release broke all records for a locally made documentary. The premiere attracted clean-cut celebrities such as Ian Thorpe, the former Olympic champion swimmer, and Nikki Webster, a singer and model. Crowe joined the heavily tattooed Abberton brothers on the red carpet in Sydney.
The film tells how the siblings, born to a heroin-addicted mother and three different fathers, grew up in poverty and squalor. Surfing was their escape.
They formed a gang, naming it after their neighbourhood and also "bra", street slang for brother. They swore loyalty to each other and their mates, and jealously guarded their waves and territory.
The oldest brother, 34-year-old Sunny Abberton, who wrote and co-directed the documentary, called Bra Boys, became a professional surfer. Koby Abberton, 28, is renowned as one of the world's most fearless big wave riders.
Along the way, the "boys" acquired an iron reputation. Allegations of violence, drug deals and organised crime followed them as they surfed their way to fame and wealth.
In 2003 Jai Abberton, now 32, shot a fellow gang member, Tony Hines, in the back of the head, then dumped his body over a cliff. He spent nearly two years in jail, but was released after convincing a jury that he acted in self-defence, certain that Hines was about to rape his girlfriend and then murder them.
Koby was given a suspended nine-month sentence last year for lying to police about the killing. A charge of being an accessory to murder was dropped by prosecutors.
With the case behind them, and Sunny's film to promote, the brothers are painting themselves as role models. They have set up a charity, Streets to the Beach, to bring children from deprived Sydney suburbs to the surf and show them what they can achieve.
"We were just lucky to live by the beach, otherwise who knows what would have happened?" Koby said in a recent interview. "The beach has been the saviour of so many kids in Australia."
Critics have accused the film of glorifying thuggery, and the type of "localism" that led to the December 2005 Cronulla riots.
But Sunny Abberton said: "There are a lot of misconceptions about us. We wanted to show us in a real and honest light, show our story."
- INDEPENDENT
