On the National Day of Mourning for the victims of the Bondi Beach terrorist attack, Thursday January 22, Sheina Gutnik (pictured), the daughter of Reuven Morrison who died that day, reflected, on Nova 100 this morning with Jase and Lauren, about her father’s bravery, the impact of the tragedy on her family and community, and the messages of hope, resilience and humanity that have emerged in its wake.
Lauren Phillips: How are you?
Sheina: Excellent question, sort of still waiting to wake up from this nightmare, not feeling like it’s reality. I was chatting to a really good friend of mine whose brother in law was Eli Schlanger, who was also murdered that day, and we’re just chatting about how this tragedy came about in such an unnatural way, humans killing other humans, that I think our bodies are rejecting the reality of it and just refusing to allow our brains to even process what’s happened.
Clint Stanaway: When those bullets started ringing out on an iconic beach, an iconic spot in Australia, Bondi Beach, your dad did something extraordinary. Are you surprised he stepped in and became very much a hero on that day? He tried to in a way, disarm or diffuse the gunman.
Sheina: So we’ve, majority of us have all seen that image of my dad throwing the rock at one of the terrorists, a brick, actually. And there’s lots more footage coming forward, and stories from families, friends and survivors that were there on the day, that are piecing together the much bigger picture on how, when the shooting actually began, my dad dropped to the floor, along with everyone else, and when he saw that no help was coming, he actually stood up, got up, taunted the terrorist, used his absolutely colorful language on them. He led them away from the crowd. And we’ve heard from many friends who were lying on their children thinking that these were their last moments. And all of a sudden, my dad’s re-diverted the terrorists away from the crowd, back towards the bridge. We saw the footage of him throwing the brick at the terrorists and him actually retreating. And then there’s more footage of my dad together with Ahmed behind the tree actually. And then eventually he picked up one of the guns ready to sort of fight and protect. And unfortunately, you can see that he was shot in the wrist, and we know that his wrist was shattered, and once he stood, he was shot a couple more times. And we heard from the amazing, incredible life savers that risked their very lives by running into the act of shooting who were providing him with CPR and giving him extra minutes that he was still responding his name. He was not scared at all. He was brave until the last minute, till his last breath. And we know that as he was running and protecting he was being shot at, this footage of him limping along as he was shot in the leg and just his body just so full of adrenaline, he was refusing to give up until the last second.
Clint: It is the National Moment of mourning, or Day of Mourning, where we remember your dad and and the other victims of the Bondi atrocity. How do you want or think Melbournians should be feeling or remembering?
Sheina: So, I think one of the main things to come out of this absolute horror is for us all to take a step back and sort of re examine our own humanity, our own communities, and see where we align and to readjust our expectations of what’s just, what’s good, what’s evil, and to really, not only just mourn and be sad, which is something we are all doing naturally, but also realise, what can we do as individuals, as a community and as friends, to actually bring so much more lightness into the world as that’s a theme of tonight’s event. To bring more light in, to essentially take this world, which is so inherently dark and sometimes we could see no way out of it, and just watching the news and event after event, especially here in Australia, so close to home, and we feel so lost and helpless, but remembering that ultimately, we are humans with free choice, and we can choose goodness and we should.
Lauren: Oh, God, I can just imagine your dad would be so proud of you, hearing you speak so courageously and so bravely. I think we can all see where you get that from. I’m just so sorry that this happened. It’s just the most hideous thing. It’s, I mean, it’s so devastating, and I’m so so sorry this happened to your family. I’m sorry it happened to your community, and I know today will be a very, very difficult day for so many people, none more so than your family, but I hope you do really feel the support of all the humans around you. This was a hideous attack on our Jewish friends, and I really hope that you feel that love and support from everyone, not just across Australia, but right around the world. I’m just so sorry this happened to you.
Sheina: Thank you. And we do. We feel it so much. We feel it here with you guys. We feel it everywhere we go. Strangers coming up to us in the street, and they don’t even know that you it was my father. They just know that we’re recognisably Jewish, and they’re sorry for what happened to our community, and we feel it Australia-wide and worldwide, and we’ve just been wrapped in a cocoon of love. So at one point we’ve seen the worst of humanity, but we’ve also seen the best of it.
He was always our hero, and now we get to share him with the world.
The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke with Christian O’Connell on Gold 101.7 and 104.3 this morning about the National Day of Mourning, what it means, and how Australian’s can show support:
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese: At 7:01pm, we’re asking that the nation pause for a minute’s silence out of respect for the victims of this terrorist attack. During the day, flags will be flown at half-mast at all Commonwealth and state buildings around the country, and buildings and landmarks across the country like the MCG, the Story Bridge, Adelaide Town Hall, Optus Stadium will be lit up this evening and we’ll see an installation which is 15 pillars of light shining brightly into the night sky right across Australia. And the other thing that people can do this evening is light a candle and put it in their windowsill or at the front of their home, out of respect, as well as a symbol of remembrance, of mourning and solidarity as well. Something that, I have been lifted up by is this concept that the Jewish community have of a mitzvah, which is essentially an act of kindness, compassion, and a way of reaching out. It essentially can be volunteering, donating some money to a charity, helping a neighbour, knocking on the door, asking people [if they’re] ok who might be living alone or people who are lonely. Just an act of kindness. It’s a really lovely concept, to show that we are a country that value that attribute that we have of kindness and generosity and it is a beautiful thing. I’ve been spoken to by a number of the family members who lost loved ones in this tragedy, and it is a really positive way of responding.
This is a time where I think the whole of Australia can wrap their arms around the community. Because it was a deliberate and conscious evil targeting of the Jewish community as well, it has had an impact on the entire Jewish Australian community. So, I think it is a way of us reaffirming, that we not only want people to celebrate their faith in who they are, we all are enriched by the diversity in our community and we really want to see tonight and today as a real opportunity to reaffirm that.
The full conversation is below.