Around 100 paddlers and surfers took to the waves to honor the six victims of the Bondi stabbing.
It is an environment best known for its crowds of tourists, busy beaches and families out for the weekend.
But as the sun rose Tuesday morning, a more somber scene took shape as paddlers formed a heart in the ocean to remember the six lives lost.
Organizer Vicky Austin said 12 local clubs gathered to say goodbye to the ocean, a focal point for the community.
“Everyone is feeling the after-effects of Bondi Junction and for us as a community it was simply a way to come together in solidarity on the ocean we all love,” he told ABC TV.
Twelve local clubs gathered in Bondi to create a heart to honor the Bondi victims (pictured)
Surfers united in mourning to pay tribute to those lost in their local communities (pictured)
“We play, we compete and we come here for solace and I think it’s our way of saying goodbye to those we’ve lost.”
“It’s solidarity and camaraderie and what it’s all about.”
Six people have died and four remain in hospital after the stabbing of Joel Cauchi, 40, at Westfield Bondi Junction, in Sydney’s east, on April 13.
Under the spans of the architectural centerpiece of a botanical garden, an irreplaceable mother and architect killed in the Bondi stabbing massacre will be remembered separately later on Tuesday.
Friends and family of Jade Young, 47, will say goodbye at a service at Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens.
Mourners have been urged to dress in color in memory of the “much loved and irreplaceable wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt and dear friend to many”.
The monument site, the Chalice, is the centerpiece architectural piece of the gardens and features one of the largest garden walls in the southern hemisphere.
Mourners arrive (pictured) at the funeral of Jade Young, 47, who lost her life in the Bondi knife attack.
People attending Jade Young’s funeral (pictured) were asked to wear colour.
‘She was family. “Anyone who knew Jade knew she was a beautiful, kind and warm soul,” the company’s CEO Georgina Wilson said last week.
Over the weekend, Ms. Young’s family thanked those who donated more than $210,000 to a fundraiser dedicated to helping her husband and two daughters cope with their grief.
“Ensuring the girls’ financial security as they face a future without their mother is the family’s priority and they have been overwhelmed by people’s generosity,” said Adam McLaughlin.
Faraz Tahir, a 30-year-old security guard killed during his first shift at Westfield Bondi Junction, will be buried 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 on 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 in top row from LR: Yixuan Cheng, 27, Ashlee Good, 38, and Pikria Darchia, 55. In bottom row from LR: Jade Young, 47, Dawn Singleton, 25, and Faraz Tahir, 30
