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Surfers honour the six victims of the Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing attack and form a heart in the ocean

7 months ago 40

By Samantha Lock and Luke Costin For Australian Associated Press

Published: 06:17 BST, 23 April 2024 | Updated: 06:53 BST, 23 April 2024

Dozens of paddleboarders and surfers have formed a heart in the ocean to honour the six victims of the Bondi Junction stabbing attack.

It's a setting best known for its throng of tourists, busy beaches and families out for the weekend.

But as the sun rose on Tuesday morning, a more sombre scene took shape as the paddleboarders and surfers entered the ocean to remember the six lives lost.

Organiser Vicky Austin said 12 local clubs came together to say goodbye in the ocean, a focal point for the community.

'Everyone's feeling the after effects of Bondi Junction and it was just a way for us as a community to come together in solidarity in the ocean we all love,' she told ABC TV.

Twelve local clubs came to together at Bondi to make a heart shape in honour of the Bondi victims (pictured)

Surfers united in grief to pay tribute to the people lost from their local communities (pictured)

'We play, we compete, and we come here for solace and I think it's our way to say goodbye to those that we have lost.

'It's solidarity and mateship and what we're all about.'

Six people died and four remain in hospital after 40-year-old Joel Cauchi went on a stabbing spree at Westfield Bondi Junction in Sydney's east on April 13.

It comes as friends and family of Jade Young, 47, will say their farewells at a service in the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney.

Mourners have been urged to wear colour in memory of the 'dearly loved and irreplaceable wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt and beloved friend to many'.

The venue for the memorial, the Calyx, is an architectural centrepiece and features one of the southern hemisphere's largest garden walls.

Mourners arrive (pictured)  for the memorial of Jade Young, 47, who lost her life in the Bondi knife attack

People attending Jade Young's (pictured) memorial have been asked to wear colour 

'She was family. Anyone who knew Jade knew what a beautiful, kind and warm soul she was,' the firm's managing director Georgina Wilson said last week.

Ms Young's family at the weekend thanked those who donated more than $210,000 to a fundraiser dedicated to helping her husband and two daughters deal with their grief.

'Ensuring the financial security of the girls as they face a future without their mother is the family's priority and they've been overwhelmed by people's generosity,' Adam McLaughlin said.

Faraz Tahir, a 30-year-old security guard killed during his first shift at Westfield Bondi Junction, will be laid to rest on Friday at a mosque in Marsden Park in Sydney's northwest.

The services for Australia's worst mass killing in years follow a candlelight vigil at Bondi Beach at dusk on Sunday attended by hundreds of mourners.

READ MORE: Westfield Bondi Junction stabbing: Faces of the lost - what we know about each of the victims 

Victims pictured L-R top row: Yixuan Cheng, 27, Ashlee Good, 38, and Pikria Darchia, 55. Pictured L-R bottom row: Jade Young, 47, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30

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