Across Australia \u2014 and as far as London, Turkey and Vietnam \u2014 people lit candles and held a minute’s silence at 6:47pm on Sunday to honour the victims of the Bondi attack, one week on.<\/p>\n
We asked our readers how they had honoured the victims and got hundreds of responses, showing reflections were deeply personal.<\/p>\n
Some lit candles, others scattered flowers, prayed or sat peacefully in nature.<\/p>\n
People spoke of their sadness for the victims and their families, their compassion for the Jewish community and the need for world peace.<\/p>\n
Here are some of the reflections we were sent.<\/p>\n
Candles glow across the country<\/p>\n
Krista in Hobart said she was caught up in the terror attacks in London in 2005 and is in deep shock that such an attack occurred in Australia.<\/p>\n
“I have lit a candle at 6:47 and stood for a minute with my head bowed, reminding myself to find moments in my life where I can show others care and support.”<\/p>\n
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Krista from Hobart lit a candle at 6:47pm. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Robyn in Shepparton, Victoria, lit a candle, observed a minute’s silence and shed a tear.<\/p>\n
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Robyn lit a candle in Shepparton, Victoria. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Several contributors expressed solidarity with Jewish friends and communities, noting fear and the need for security at synagogues and public events.<\/p>\n
Siera in Brisbane lit a candle with her children.<\/p>\n
“My husband is Jewish and attending the event in Brisbane, but was worried about security, so did not want his family to come,” she said.<\/p>\n
Cindy from Geelong lit a menorah that she had made after she visited Israel some years ago.<\/p>\n
Heike, on the New South Wales coast, lit nine candles to represent a menorah and listened to the sounds of the ocean.<\/p>\n
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Heike lit nine candles in Vincentia, New South Wales.
\n\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Steve in Charleville lit a citronella candle under the outback Queensland skies.<\/p>\n
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Steve lit a candle in Charleville, Western Queensland. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Others honour victims with flowers<\/p>\n
Cathy from Melbourne created native flower images for her candles.<\/p>\n
She said they were “symbols that this attack was on the people at Bondi and all of us”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cathy in Melbourne used candles with native flower images to remember the victims. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Jen from Far North Queensland headed for the beach, along with a friend who was in Bondi last Sunday when the attack began.<\/p>\n
“She ran away and thankfully was not hurt,” she said.<\/p>\n
“She got some flowers earlier today that she threw into the ocean. Now we are just sitting on the sand quietly.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jen reflected on the Bondi attack on Holloways Beach, Far North Queesnland. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
People reflect around the world<\/p>\n
Many wrote to us from overseas.<\/p>\n
Diana from Sydney is living in London and has lit a candle each evening this week.<\/p>\n
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Diana in London has been lighting a candle in her window every evening this week.<\/p>\n
\u00a0 (Supplied)<\/p>\n
Susan from Wollongong lit candles with her family while on holiday in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
“My partner was getting a tattoo at 2:47pm, which was 6:47 AEST, and had to explain the situation to the tattooist, a sensitive and lovely man who offered his condolences,” she said.<\/p>\n
Julie from Perth paused at 10:47am local time while on her family holiday in Turkey.<\/p>\n
Communities come together<\/p>\n
Religious, sporting and local communities came together to remember the victims.<\/p>\n
James, a Catholic priest from Camden in Sydney, held a vigil at the church attended by 250 people.<\/p>\n
“We don’t have a menorah, but we used our church candles to recreate its nine-stemmed light,” he said.<\/p>\n
“We lit candles for the 15 victims, read from the Hebrew Scriptures, sang songs, and wrote prayers or messages of hope to lay at the altar.”<\/p>\n
Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs Baseball Club held a minute’s silence for the Bondi victims.<\/p>\n
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Chantelle in Sydney captured the minute’s silence at the Eastern Suburbs Baseball Club. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
A candle-lighting ceremony and a minute’s silence was held in the small coastal town of Lennox Head, New South Wales.<\/p>\n
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Kiri captured the minute’s silence held at Lennox Head, New South Wales. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
People ask for world peace<\/p>\n
Several respondents linked their grief over the Bondi attack with humanitarian concern for Palestinians and the people of Gaza, asking that the circle of compassion extend across communities.<\/p>\n
“Every night since last Sunday, my young daughter and I have lit our candles to shine the light of peace,” said Amelia from Queenscliff in Sydney.<\/p>\n
“We have prayed for all people across the world to live in peace.”<\/p>\n
Claire in Sydney went to the Bondi Pavilion to support the lighting of the Chanukah candles.<\/p>\n
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Claire in Sydney went to the Bondi Pavilion to support the lighting of the Chanukah candles. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
“We’ve put our arms around each other, all of us strangers and we have sung together and listened together,” she said.<\/p>\n
“This has truly inspired me to do more acts of kindness, even the most simple acts help to make the world better.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Across Australia \u2014 and as far as London, Turkey and Vietnam \u2014 people lit candles and held a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[29063,109814,114,111746,631,268,85,46,26167,266,267,111486],"class_list":["post-197312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-bondi","tag-bondi-attack","tag-business","tag-candle-lighting","tag-community","tag-finance","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jewish","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-vigil"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}