Our city is forever changed, but there is some light in the darkness

2 months ago 5

At 6.47pm last Sunday, our beautiful city was forever changed.

This time of year should be dominated by end-of-year gatherings, celebrating school achievements, after-work swims, cricket and all the things that are emblematic of summer in Sydney. We are instead trying to make sense of a tragedy that is almost impossible to comprehend.

Crowds gather at the Bondi Pavilion to remember the victims of the tragedy that changed the city.

“The idea that there could have been a mass shooting at Bondi was so foreign and far-fetched that I didn’t comprehend, foolishly, that it was a possibility,” Sydney cardiologist Dr James Otton, who was near the beach as the massacre began and helped tend the injured, told Herald health editor Kate Aubusson.

Fifteen innocent people, who had been enjoying a Sunday evening by the beach dead. Dozens of others injured and countless lives changed by a father and son fuelled by hatred who fired 93 bullets into a gathering of the Jewish community celebrating the start of Hanukkah at the northern end of Bondi Beach.

Over the past five decades, infrequent, indiscriminate mass shootings have punctuated Australian lives. This was the deadliest attack since Port Arthur in 1996, and the slaughter on Sunday occurred on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney’s CBD.

But the Bondi Beach massacre is unprecedented.

“For decades, Australia managed to be free from mass casualty terrorist attacks on its soil, despite such atrocities happening across Europe and North America,” counter-terrorism expert Andrew Zammit wrote on X this week.

“This was not because the threat was in any way absent, but because of a remarkably effective and flexible set of counter-terrorism arrangements that disrupted many plots.

“It was also partly due to luck, which wasn’t going to last forever.”

The photos and life stories of the 15 killed are heartbreaking − including Matilda, 10, whose family have shared photos of her smiling with a goat in a petting zoo shortly before the massacre occurred.

The Bondi massacre’s youngest victim, Matilda, had been enjoying herself at a petting zoo earlier before her life was taken.

“We came here from Ukraine … I named her Matilda because she was our firstborn in Australia. And I thought that Matilda was the most Australian name that could ever exist,” her father Michael said at a memorial for the victims at Bondi Pavilion on Tuesday.

“So just remember … remember her name.”

Many questions remain unanswered − including how one of the gunmen, who had links to extremists, was at one time on the radar of ASIO and had spent the past month in an Islamic extremist hotspot in the southern Philippines, had not come to the greater attention of authorities before Sunday.

The federal and NSW governments have announced new laws to stamp out hate preachers, beefed up criminal consequences for people who make racist threats, tougher action on antisemitism, and stricter rules against guns.

But amid the tragedy, we can find comfort from the acts of courage and selflessness that have emerged.

Ahmed al Ahmed, the hero bystander who wrestled and disarmed one of the shooters, is a name now known around the world.

Reuven Morrison was also seen on video footage hurling objects at the same attacker in the moments after Ahmed disarmed him.

The first two victims of the assault, Boris and Sofia Gurman, were captured on dashcam footage grappling with one of the men for his weapon. When they succeeded, he got another gun from the car he’d just climbed out of and killed them.

Then there is the lesser-known story of Jessica and Gigi. Three-year-old Gigi was at the Hanukkah event with her father Wayne.

As the shots began, Wayne ducked and became a human shield for his eldest daughter, but lost sight of Gigi. When the bullets stopped, he feared the worst.

“I had to look for my daughter. I was looking amongst the blood and the bodies and I eventually saw her rainbow-coloured skirt … and this beautiful woman had grabbed her,” Wayne told the BBC.

That woman was Jessica Rozen, who is five months pregnant and was frantically searching for her own son. As the shots intensified, she caught sight of a terrified Gigi and sheltered her from the attack.

“She’s a superhero. We’ll be indebted to her for the rest of our lives,” Wayne said.

It is moments such as this that bring some light into the dark days as Sydney tries to find a way to heal.

The Herald’s coverage of this tragedy will continue throughout the holiday period.

It is not the start to summer anyone could have imagined, and while it is difficult to think beyond that tragic evening in Bondi, I would like to thank you for your support in 2025 and wish you all the best for this festive season.