Groundhog Day As ‘Junk House’ Cleaned Up With Council Dollars Yet Again

By Angela Faherty on May 8, 2014 in News

The clean-up of the ‘junk house’ on Boonara Avenue in Bondi got underway on April 11 following the receipt of a court judgment by Waverley Council from the Land and Environment Court and should be finished by the time this edition of The Beast hits the streets.

The house, which is occupied by Mary Bobolas and her two daughters, Elena and Liana, has blighted residents in the Bondi street for the last 20 years and is thought to contain approximately 200 cubic metres of rubbish, enough to fill a two-metre deep swimming pool with a 100 square metre surface area.

Over the course of two decades, both Council and local residents have condemned the property as a health and safety risk, stating that it attracts rodents and pests and poses a potential fire hazard to neighbouring properties. However, despite fourteen forced clean-ups of the property, the Bobolas family has continued to accumulate rubbish, with the daughters claiming their mother suffers from a stress-related psychological condition that manifests in excessive hoarding.

Dealing with the Bobolas family is a constant battle and the fight to clean-up the property has been a long and costly one. Since 2005, the council has spent a total of $350,000 on cleaning the property and on legal costs arising from the family’s fight to keep the authorities from intervening.

The most recent battle saw the Bobolas family lodge an appeal with the Supreme Court preventing the council from entering the property on March 17 to begin a clean-up ordered by the Land and Environment Court. The women argued that they had not received notification of the commencement of the work and accused the council of running a ‘military campaign’ against them. However, in a victory for Council and local residents, the appeal was dismissed and the clean-up, which was expected to take five days, began on April 11.

While residents of Boonara Avenue welcome the clean-up, many view it as a short term plan and believe the garbage will begin to accumulate again once the Bobolas family are left to their own devices. A particular bone of contention is the fact that so much money has been spent on what is deemed to be a never-ending problem, while others say more should be done to help the family address what is clearly a mental health issue.

Waverley Council has said that once the clean-up is complete, it is committed to working with government agencies and the family in question to ensure this does not happen again.

“We believe there needs to be a whole of government response to this matter, which would include engaging several state government agencies to help with ensuring the rubbish is not accumulated again and that proper support is provided to the family,” a Council spokeswoman said.

However, the council stressed that providing help to the Bobolas family is no mean feat, but insists it will continue to offer support.

“State government agencies and local health services have all offered support services to the family for many years. We cannot force the occupants to accept local support, we can only continue to offer it. We are concerned about their welfare and the conditions they are living in. We have tried on many occasions to reach out to them and we will continue to ensure support is offered to them and we hope that they accept it.

“We certainly have a responsibility to the surrounding residents and community but we also want to provide the occupant with as much support as we can – we understand this is difficult for them and we want to help in any way we can,” the spokeswoman added.

Aaron Pearce, owner of Fat Rupert’s restaurant on the corner of Bondi Road and Boonara Avenue, said the situation is extremely complicated, but added that it cannot continue to escalate.

“The situation has reached a point that no-one thought it would reach. It is the exception to the norm,” he said.

“That said, it needs to be cleaned up as it is unfair to other residents and it is the council’s duty to ensure the property is cleaned up and residents are not placed at risk. However, the mental health issue is a bigger problem and that is where a charity or health authority needs to intervene to address what is clearly a psychological problem.”