‘This is our church’: Hundreds of Surf lifesavers Assemble to Honour Tragedy Those lost.

Gazing quietly toward the surf on Bondi coast, side by side with close to a thousand other volunteers, Lockie Cook let himself feel the grief of a community’s most traumatic week in recent history.

“I feel like that guard’s just dropping,” he stated.

Surf lifesavers gathered in their hundreds on that morning to participate in two minutes’ silence and honour those killed in the previous weekend's violence.

Infants, elders, locals and classmates dressed in red-and-yellow uniforms stood together, making a chain running from the crescent-shaped beach’s northern edge toward its southern point.

“The big thing we've learned from this is just how much this community means to me,” he expressed.

“Here is our spiritual ground … It’s just important we unite and truly recover.”

A Time of Shared Sorrow

At the appointed hour, the two minutes’ silence was initiated by a man at the beach’s main patrol tower, near which lie rows of tributes.

“120 seconds can be a a lengthy period but I urge you to reflect,” he said.

“Link arms with the individual next to you, close your eyes and think about the families affected so we can grow back stronger for this community.”

Attendees stared at their feet or to the ocean as locals, beachgoers and dignitaries observed. All that could be heard were the ocean's rhythm, a single barking dog and a whirring rescue helicopter, which circled along the shore as the silence lifted.

Healing on the Beach

Friends and families slowly hugged one another and clap for their fellow lifesavers at the other side of the beach as acclamation came from the assembled community.

This was one more demonstration of the volunteers working to unite the beachgoers this difficult period, noted one man, a Jewish member of the northern surf club and a first responder on that fateful day.

“Right now, I sense the care and unity,” expressed the man, who requested privacy.

Having called Bondi for decades, he participated in the swim on Monday and has worked to reclaim the beach as his own.

“It felt like reclaiming a space, it’s cathartic,” he added.

The Guiding Spirit of Rescue

Gene Ross, a veteran lifesaving teacher, spent the moments’ silence standing by his newly certified son, considering the unity his club had demonstrated in the days following Sunday.

“The decision to enact the violence here … invited Australia to rally behind the individuals affected.”

A great number of lifesavers laughed and cried together as they made their way toward their surf clubs and through the area where their teammates performed rescues on Sunday.

A significant number remained on the beach, prepared to assist people returning to the water.

“Our duty is to all and that’s the core principle of lifesaving,” Ross said.

“It is our calling as volunteers: we move toward the danger.”