It was the Bondi Beach from postcards. Illuminated with golden hour light as surfers paddled out to catch the last of the day's waves.
People arrived in droves, laying blankets on the grassy hill close enough to the water that you could hear the waves hit the shore, even with the hum of two helicopters hovering overhead. They pushed prams and carried candles with homemade cardboard windshields.
Bondi Beach on Sunday evenings is usually a place of revelry. Where a Brazillian drum circle entices beachgoers to create dance floors on the sand; where backpackers gather on the north head to drink to the beat of portable speakers; where locals go to unwind with friends before another work week hits.
On this Sunday evening, a week and one day since a lone man with a knife took the lives of six people — five women and one man — as they did nothing more than walk around a suburban shopping centre, there was no revelry and the only music came from sombre performances by a local brass band and choir.
The candlelight vigil, organised by Waverley Council and the NSW government, was first and foremost a way to pay tribute to the lives lost and the bravery of those who risked their own to save others.
But for the hundreds of people who gathered in silence, many of whom had no personal connection to those killed or injured in the attack, it was also a place to work through their own grief, to make sense of the senseless with their neighbours.
A remedy to tragedy
"We're here to breathe, to just be together, really," said emcee Geraldine Doogue as she began the formal proceedings, a minute before 5:30pm — the sky still streaked with blues, pinks and yellows.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton waited in the wings, alongside NSW Premier Chris Minns, NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman, and NSW Governor Margaret Beazley.
Soon they would be called up to the stage one by one along with the other mayors, ministers, and commissioners in attendance to light a candle.
Many of the attendees were young women, huddled against their friends to protect themselves from the wind. To them, and all the women of New South Wales, Mr Minns issued a message: "This is your state and your city, this is your home, you have every right to live your life as you choose free from fear of violence."
"We will not be a state where a woman is forced to change her behaviour because of feelings of anger of other people."
In a short address, Mr Albanese said the entire nation was behind the families of the victims as they confronted life without their loved ones.
"Every Australian is thinking of you, we are with you. … today, tomorrow and always," he said.
Throughout the crowd, which sat in near silence, the shock of something like this happening so close to home was still raw.
"I live 400 metres from the Westfield, and it's been really confronting this past week — not scary, or I didn't feel unsafe, I just felt really sad," said Stephanie, who had come to the vigil with her friend.
"I wanted to do something with the people in my neighbourhood to recognise what had happened."
One woman, who did not wish to give her name, said she did not want to set foot in the Bondi Junction Westfield again until they announced that it would open on Thursday for the first time since the attack for a day of quiet reflection.
"I chose to go there for the first time while it was all quiet, and that was perfect for me, but some of my friends still say it's too raw, not because they're scared, but because it's too raw to imagine the horrors that went on there," she said.
Jennifer, another Bondi resident, said there was still a sense of disbelief in the community: "It's always more impacting when everything is so normal and things are shattered."
The vigil held at the beach — "a hopeful place" — was a way to put a stake in the ground and start the process of healing, she said.
"This was the perfect remedy," Madeline, who lives locally, said. "The singing and the coming together."
Finding a new normal
Mental health workers and other support services walked through the crowd, ready to offer a listening ear to anyone who needed it.
Chaplain Melhem Makdessi from the Disaster Recovery Chaplaincy Network said the pain in the community "was still very hard to articulate".
"A lot of people are still devastated, a lot of people watching the news, a lot of people probably weren't even there, but it's still so close to home for them," he said.
"So we've been just listening to them, letting them know that we're here to support them, to give them time to process what the new normal is going to be for them."
His colleague, Father Michael, added that "today the unity is very important, it's what we need".
Many in attendance also spoke of finding comfort in their close-knit community, a community where Waverley Council Mayor Paula Masselos said they "all know people who were at Westfield at the time and heard harrowing stories".
"We are all in mourning," she said describing the attack as "unfathomable", however, "our spirit must not, and will not, be diminished — our country is a safe place to live. Waverly is a safe place to live."
At 6pm, the sky now completely dark, the emcee announces a minute silence. Like a ripple on a pond, the crowd stands, row by row.
Some hold each other. Others bow their heads. The orange flicker of flames illuminate the brim of police caps. Only the sound of the waves remained.
"We know that the sun will rise over that beautiful beach tomorrow," the emcee said as she concluded the ceremony, "and there will be new days ahead filled with kindness and as one".
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2024-04-21 19:41:15Z
CBMiXmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTA0LTIyL2JvbmRpLWNvbW11bml0eS12b3dzLXRvLW1vdmUtZm9yd2FyZC10b2dldGhlci8xMDM3NTEzMTjSAShodHRwczovL2FtcC5hYmMubmV0LmF1L2FydGljbGUvMTAzNzUxMzE4
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