“A NATION PAUSES TO SHARE ITS GRIEF.”
“The Age,” Monday, October 21, 2002, p. 1, by Steve Waldron, Garry Barker, Melissa Fyfe
“All day long they came, in twos and threes and larger groups, until they numbered in their hundreds.
Drawn by a need to share their sorrow, they gathered on the steps of Parliament House before a carpet of flowers in colours far brighter than the mood.
Some mourners stood quietly and wept or knelt to light a candle for the dead and missing in Bali. Others found solace in singing.
Around the country, Australians expressed their grief over the bombing at the Sari Club in many different ways – attending religious services, donning a black arm-band in a sporting contest, or pausing to observe a minute’s silence on an otherwise ordinary Sunday.
Political, church and community leaders joined relatives and friends of the dead and mourners from many walks of life to reflect .. on the horror of October 12.
Prime Minister John Howard, with his wife, Janette, lit a candle on behalf of the grieving families and mingled with the congregation at a service at St Paul’s Anglican Church in Canberra.
At a memorial mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, attended by Premier Steve Bracks, Opposition Leader Robert Doyle and Governor John Landy, the gathering was reminded that the bombing must not be allowed to erode Australians’ way of life. Nor should it be used as an excuse to take revenge against Muslims.
The ecumenical mass, which brought together about 800 people, was an elaborately ceremonial affair, lifted by the reverential singing of the cathedral choir.
Reverend John Dupuche, of the Beaumaris- Black Rock parish, said the violent deaths in Kuta represented an opportunity for church and state to work together, with .. prayer, diplomacy and policing all having a role in the recovery phase. “And there must be no attacks on mosques or Muslims,” he said, even though, for now, “the terrible events are yet to be turned to good“.
Sheik Fehmi, Imam of the Preston Mosque, where a service of condolence was held, said members of his community shared the shock and mourning for the lives lost. “Today was peaceful and friendly. ……
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john dupuche 