The usually bustling Bondi Beach is as quiet as a prayer. The only sounds are the rustle of cellophane as people lay flowers near a lifeguard station and the muffled grief of mourners. On Sunday night, a father and son targeted a Chanukah celebration on the Bondi Pavilion lawn in a mass shooting that claimed 15 lives. One of the gunmen also died.
“Fifteen innocent people and one perpetrator,” is how NSW Premier Chris Minns described the toll. A further 42 were hospitalised. Among them is the 24-year-old gunman who is in a critical but stable condition.
Drink bottles, thongs and colourful plastic beach toys line the concrete walkway that runs alongside the most famous stretch of sand in the world. They have been cleared from the beach where they were left by people fleeing gunfire.
Ordinary citizens stand with their arms around each other, trying to make sense of the act of terror.
Very sombre, very sad
Aubrey has lived in Bondi for 18 years and had planned to attend the Bondi Chanukah event. When his family couldn’t get a car park, they decided to go to the celebrations in Coogee, about three and a half kilometres away.
“We were supposed to go to this event, but I went with my sister to an event in Coogee,” he says. “They shut down that event immediately. They didn’t tell us what, where, how. They just said there was an event in Bondi. You don’t expect this. Not in Bondi,” he says.
“I haven’t slept all night. I just had to come down.”
He has walked up and back along the beachfront four times. He says the beach is his backyard.
“That’s why I’m here, just to try and get my head around it. It’s very sombre, very sad. Look at the stuff that was left in the panic and the fear, and the pram that was left over there by the woman who snatched her kid in absolute fear and ran for her life,” he says.
A tiny pair of blue sandals waits beside a white drink bottle.
“Bondi’s not supposed to be like that. It’s a multicultural area. Always has been. Always should be,” Aubrey says. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
His sister is with him. She prefers not to speak on the record and is visibly shaken by the desecration of a place that her grandchildren had walked through just hours before the men opened fire.
Multi-faith support
Mental Health Officers in pale green tabards dot the grass that slopes down from Campbell Parade to the water. A man in a striped shirt holds the hand of a curly-haired toddler as he looks out at the waves through tear-filled eyes.
Michael J. Smith is a Christian chaplain who has come to Bondi in a show of solidarity and to offer solace to those who want it.
“We’re inviting Christian believers to come and pray. We’re going to be joining some Rabbis, and other faiths and denominations are going to come and stand together in unity,” he says.
The Christian Alliance Council has put a call out to other faith leaders. “We’re just going to be standing together,” Michael says. “We need light and love more than ever now.”
The flag of Israel hangs alongside the Australian flag on the gates of the pavilion. Earlier, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended to lay flowers. Leaders have praised the “outstanding response” of first responders.
“We stand united in this time,” the NSW government said. “Incidents targeting our Jewish communities have no place in our society.”
A show of strength
Many of the shops along Campbell Parade are shuttered, and parts of the beach remain closed off by police tape. The Blackwood café has been handing out free coffee.
“That’s Bondi community,” says Jane Mozley, who has come to the beach with her daughter Emily.
The family lives in Vaucluse, but they’re Bondi regulars. “I walked over that bridge three days ago,” Emily says of the raised footbridge the gunmen used to target the area.
“It’s scary. It’s sad. We just felt drawn to come,” Jane says. They’ve heard reports that a boy from their school community has been shot. “I don’t know if he’s okay,” Jane says.
“It’s actually more confronting than I thought it would be,” she continues. People across Sydney are in shock, but she expects sunbathers and surfers will make a defiant return to the beach in the coming days.
“Bondi’s strong. It’s a strong community, and I think everybody will be back.”
For now, Jane and her family are doing what they can for their friends in the Jewish community.
“We’ve been trying to donate blood this morning. It’s quite hard to get an appointment. It’s the only thing we can do, really, except support our Jewish friends.” She looks out at the eerily empty sands. “It’s not close to home,” she says. “It is home.”
If this story has raised issues for you, help is available.
The NSW Health Mental Health Line is available 24/7 on 1800 011 511
For crisis support, call Lifeline on 13 11 14
Children and young people can call Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or chat online at kidshelpline.com.au.
