Central Coast Council votes to install memorial for Luca Bennett at North Avoca Beach after Christmas Eve tragedy

A permanent memorial will be installed for the 15-year-old boy who lost his life in a devastating Christmas Eve tragedy. Luca Bennett was swept off rocks and into the sea at North Avoca Beach on the NSW Central Coast last December, throwing his family and his Scots College school community into grief. This week, Central Coast Council voted unanimously to work with Luca’s parents Michelle Vincenzini and Jason Bennett to install a plaque near the beach’s rock platform to remember the beloved teen. “I want to thank council for working with us to have a permanent memorial put in place near the rock platform,” Ms Vincenzini said. “Each month on the 24th, our family and the broader community gather there to remember Luca and reflect on the stories and memories of our time together. “I also want to thank the community for supporting our family and close friends over the past year. We are forever grateful for the generosity and kindness that you have shown.” Councillor Jared Wright moved the motion for the memorial and he said the tragedy had fuelled his passion for water safety. “I still think about Luca’s story quite a lot, particularly when I am down at the beach,” he said. “It has certainly fuelled my passion for increasing water safety.” The Bennett family will fund the plaque and Mr Wright said council staffers would work to install it by the Christmas period. “It is so important that the memorial is in place by the Christmas period and I know that the council staff and I will be working hard to make sure that happens,” he said. Scots College has also raised more than $540,000 to establish the Luca Bennett Memorial Scholarship in perpetuity that will provide opportunities for youngsters from the Central Coast to attend Scots College. Following Luca’s death, the council installed two life rings on the rock platform at North Avoca to help protect beachgoers. Luca was one of 357 people who drowned between July 2024 and June 2025, the Royal Life Saving Australia and Surf Life Saving’s National Drowning Report shows. The figure is 27 per cent higher than the 10-year average. While children had the lowest rates of drowning across the nation, deaths rose sharply for people more than 15 years old. There was a 63 per cent increase for people aged more than 75 years and one-third of deaths were migrants. About 87 per cent of Australia’s population lives within 50km of the coastline, where almost half of all drowning deaths occurred. The report found swimming, fishing and visiting unpatrolled locations remained high-risk activities in coastal areas. Royal Life Saving Australia chief executive Justin Scarr said the figures should serve as a wake-up call. “The decline in swimming skills, an ageing population, and more people heading to remote and unfamiliar locations away for lifesaving services are causing concern,” he said. “Half of all children leave primary school unable to swim 50m and float for two minutes, causing lifelong risk. “To reverse this tragic drowning trend, every Australian, regardless of postcode or background, must have access to swimming lessons, a great local swimming pool or a safe place to swim.”