‘This is our church’: Hundreds of Surf lifesavers Come together to Honour Tragedy The fallen.
Standing silently upon the ocean on Bondi shoreline, side by side with nearly 1,000 fellow lifesavers, Lockie Cook let himself feel the pain of a community’s deeply distressing week in living memory.
“I feel like that guard’s just dropping,” he said.
Beach rescuers gathered in their hundreds on Saturday morning to hold two moments of quiet reflection and commemorate those killed in the tragic shooting.
Babies, grandparents, neighbours and schoolmates wearing red-and-yellow uniforms held each other, forming a line running from the famous shoreline's northern edge to its south end.
“The key realization to emerge from this tragedy is just the depth to which this community means to me,” he said.
“This is our church … It is crucial we come together again and begin to mend.”
A Time of Shared Sorrow
At 8.15am, the period of silence was announced by a man at the beach’s central lifeguard post, near which had been laid clusters of tributes.
“A short time can be a very long time but please look within,” he urged.
“Hold hands with the soul next to you, shut your eyes and think about the loved ones grieving so we can rebuild with strength for this beach family.”
Attendees looked down or to the ocean as residents, visitors and officials stood by. All that could be heard were the lapping of the sea, a single barking dog and a whirring rescue helicopter, which circled along the shore as the moment concluded.
Taking Back the Beach
Friends and families slowly turned to embrace and cheer their fellow lifesavers at the other side of the beach as acclamation came from the assembled community.
This was one more demonstration of the lifesavers working to bring together the area this difficult period, stated one man, a Jewish member of the beach's north side and a person who assisted on that fateful day.
“Today I just feel the compassion and solidarity,” commented the participant, who wished to remain anonymous.
Having called Bondi for most of his years, he took part in the community swim on in the days after and has sought to take back the beach as his own.
“It was like taking ownership back, it’s therapeutic,” he shared.
The Core Principle of Lifesaving
Gene Ross, a experienced trainer, spent the moments’ silence next to his newly certified son, considering the solidarity his club had demonstrated after Sunday.
“The decision to enact the attack here … prompted Australia to stand with the people.”
Hundreds of lifesavers experienced a mix of emotions together as they made their way in the direction of their clubs and through the park where their teammates saved lives on Sunday.
A significant number stayed on the water's edge, ready to come to the aid of people going back into the surf.
“We’re here for everybody and that’s the guiding spirit of surf livesaving,” Ross affirmed.
“This is our purpose as volunteers: we move toward the danger.”
