Just 24 hours beforehand the beach had been a hive of happy activity. While surfers, swimmers and strollers enjoyed the seaside, Sydney’s Jewish community were outside the nearby Bondi Pavilion celebrating the first day of the Hanukkah festival.
Hanukkah celebrates family, community and freedom, themes which took on greater significance in the wake of the appalling events which unfolded on Sunday afternoon.
Waves of gunfire swept away what was meant to be a joyful occasion for one community; as they radiate out, the ripples of this terrible tragedy will be felt far more widely.
The world, Australia generally, and Sydney in particular, have suffered from terrorism before.
However, this attack — the details of which and motivation for are still being discovered — plunges our transtasman neighbours into a new and sadly uncertain future.
The bare facts are horrifying: 15 people killed by two shooters, one of whom was killed by police. There are 38 injured, and with several people still in critical care that toll may rise.
The ramifications are troubling. Who knows where this pointless, tit-for-tat, global perpetration of irrational violence against innocents will take us next?
Details emerged yesterday of the shooter’s possible links to Islamic State, and that police had previously investigated him.
Questions will no doubt follow but in all democracies law enforcement has a difficult tightrope to walk between the preservation of the individual liberties society holds dear and the need to keep communities safe from harm.
Knowledge of someone’s views is one thing; certainty that they will act upon them is quite another.
Whatever it does cannot be window dressing, but nor can it detract from quintessential freedoms which make Australia Australian.
The country will demand a response that is not hollow or meaningless, but it cannot fuel the void of inhumanity in which evil festers and grows.
Even amongst dark despair there have been some brighter moments. One has been the heroism of fruit shop owner Ahmed al Ahmed who, unarmed and unassisted, tackled one of the gunmen and wrestled his weapon away.
Al Ahmed’s actions demonstrated what anyone with humanity, empathy and courage would do; those of the assailant he temporarily prevented from doing more harm were quite the opposite.
Australia has special envoys to combat Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. These thankless and difficult tasks just became all the more formidable as partisanship and sectarianism could easily lead to harsh words and violent reactions to Sunday’s events.
All Australian leaders have pleaded for calm and unity as they consider what has happened, and what might come next.
That is a rational and sensible approach but, sadly, when dealing with actual and potential terror the authorities are not dealing with rational and sensible people. Messages of tolerance and love are not well-received by an audience which feels honour bound not to listen.
But when faced with powerful waves of intolerance and hate, resolute determination to stand firm and not be bowled over by narrow-mindedness and prejudice are all we have.
Much more talk is still to come as Australians try to unravel what this savage assault on a peaceful event means.
For now, what is left is the emptiness in people’s hearts as they mourn the dead of another senseless massacre.
