Bondi

Thoughts on a massacre

The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

King James Bible, Proverbs 10:7

Photo by Robert Zunikoff on Unsplash

I am not a “hot take” person, and it is difficult to know what to say in the wake of a tragedy like the massacre at Bondi Beach on 14 December 2025. It seems that the perpetrators—I’m not going to mention their names, because I do not believe that they deserve to be given that honour—deliberately targeted people who were attending a Chanukah by the Beach event at Bondi Beach. Chanukah is the Jewish Festival of Lights, where, for eight days, Jews light a candle in the Chanukiah or Chanukah menorah. What a horrible irony it is to have lights snuffed out on such a day!

Despite my fear of “hot takes”, it seems remiss of me to let this event pass without saying something. First, may the memory of those who died at the hands of the perpetrators forever be a blessing. My condolences to the families of the deceased, and may those who were wounded heal as well as they can. My thoughts are with everyone who was injured, with the Australian Jewish community, and with all those Australians who are utterly dismayed and heartbroken that this has happened in our nation.

I have family members who live near Bondi—one was near the massacre when it occurred, but he was mercifully unharmed—and I love that beach. Some of my ancestors are buried in Waverley Cemetery in Bronte, overlooking that marvellous emerald sea, flecked with white waves.

Photo by Matt Hardy on Unsplash

Anyone who is a long-time reader of this Substack knows that I have a long association with the Jewish community, although I am not Jewish. Earlier this year, my mother and I discovered that our ancestors had the same attitude, including a brother of one of our ancestors. His name was John Rowley and he, too, is buried at Waverley Cemetery.

John was listed on 28 October 1854 as having made a £1 donation to “the Starving Jews in Palestine”. Further research disclosed that John’s son, George Rowley, a lawyer, had already donated 10 s on 25 September 1854. Moreover, the list of donors in the Sydney Morning Herald indicated that a substantial proportion of the donors to this cause were not Jewish. What had prompted these two men (and many other people) to donate such sums? This discovery led my mother and I to a fascinating and moving journey into the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish settlers in Sydney in the 1850s, giving insight into how some non-Jewish Australians valued their fellow Jewish Australians, and we wrote a paper about it. It seems the right time to remind people of that relationship.

These non-Jewish Australians had donated to the cause of “the Starving Jews in Palestine” after a meeting held by prominent Australian politicians seeking aid for Jews. None of the politicians who spoke at this meeting were Jewish: they were Christians of various denominations. However, their words were distinguished by a respect for their fellow Jewish Australians, and a desire to ensure that Australia was not divided by religious sectarianism, but united by humanism.

Here, I reproduce in full the speech of Sir Henry Parkes, four times Premier of the Colony of New South Wales, known as the “Father of Federation”:

The Jewish residents of Sydney shared largely and justly in the respect of their fellow-citizens, and a time like the present alone could bring out the warmth and extent of that feeling of respect. The spirit of commercial enterprise which they displayed under adverse circumstances, and their glorious martyrdoms for their ancient faith in times past, were still visible in the Jewish race in the ability and energy with whom they carried on their various pursuits, and assisted to advance the useful arts of civilized life, and in their religious zeal, unostentatious charity, and unbending social virtues. And all these excellent qualities distinguished the Jews of this community.

With regard to the sufferings of the Jews in Palestine, which had called them together in that meeting, the miseries endured had been described in the published addresses so forcibly and eloquently that it was impossible for them not to respond to call for relief. Those miseries almost equalled in their severity those of former times.

But after that frightful siege when, under the banners of Titus, it was thought that the Jewish nation was exterminated by death and slavery, we are told in history this remarkable people, by their skill and industry in commerce, their literary treasures, and their high devotional feeling, endured the the wretchedness of exile with a fortitude and a steadfast attachment to the land of their forefathers which no other people could have exhibited. Scattered over the face of the earth, the Jews were everywhere known by these virtues, and in their present trials they had a strong claim on this community, which, he felt assured, would be cordially and promptly acknowledged.¹

Please note, I am not saying that Parkes was perfect in all regards, or entirely without bigotry or fault. I have noted that some academics seem to think that we should only listen to voices from the past if they comport entirely with current progressive values. This is impossible. People are products of their times, and all of us have expressed regrettable opinions at times, or have done regrettable things. No one is perfect. History may judge all of us as wanting, and it behooves us to have humility in the face of this. I cannot presume that I am on the right side of history. I can only hope.

Nonetheless, it is important to recognise that modern Australia is built on distinctly humanist lines, designed to reduce sectarian and religious conflict. The conflict in the early Colony of New South Wales was not between Jews and Christians, but between Catholics and Protestants. It is no accident that another of the speakers at the event seeking donations for Jews was the Venerable Archdeacon John McEnroe, an Irish Catholic who sought to tamp down sectarian conflict and build common cause between people.

Among other things, McEnroe said in his speech:

It was unquestionably the duty of every human being to assist his fellow creature in the hour of his distress, be he Jew or Gentile: for all were created by the same God—and when a man is in want, none should inquire what creed, or country or complexion he is of. Every person was aware of the high encomiums passed by our Saviour on the Good Samaritan, who, when he met the poor man, robbed, beaten and suffering by the way, did not enquire whether he worshipped on Mount Gerasim or on Mount Sion—whether he was a Jew or a Samaritan—whether he believed in all of the Old Testament, or in the Pentateuch alone—but he relieved him at once; pouring oil upon this wounds, and putting money in his purse to relieve his necessities. Like the good Samaritan, then, they were not to enquire what was the creed of the sufferers, but as fellow-creatures, to relieve their distresses at once.

He could bear ample testimony to the generous and liberal manner in which the Jews of Sydney contributed for every charitable purpose: the funds of the Infirmary, Dispensary, and all other charitable institutions in this city, gave evidence of their support. And when his own fellow-countrymen in Ireland were suffering the distresses arising from want and famine [the Potato Famine], the Jews of this colony came forward and contributed most liberally for their relief, and he now, in his turn, felt it his duty to raise his humble voice in aid of the suffering Jews of Palestine.

There was another consideration why the call on the present occasion should be generously responded to; the Jews in every Christian country where they had sought refuge, had been deprived of their civil rights and privileges. They could not wipe off the Statute-books the unjust laws that fixed civil disabilities upon the Jewish race, but they should, if possible, endeavour to clear of part of the long score they owed, and to repay the debt which their forefathers contracted against them. It was once his great pleasure to be in association with the Catholic Bishop of Charleston (Dr. England), who took an active part in repealing the civil disabilities that once pertained to the Jews in the State of Maryland. That was the first time for ages in (1824) which the Jews were admitted to the civil rights and privileges of their fellow-men of other persuasions.²

Australia is not perfect, nor can it ever be. In my very mixed background, I have Indigenous ancestry, along with many convict ancestors. They all had very hard lives. However, in our paper, my mother and I noted that John Rowley and his friend Bob Nichols³ worked not only to help Jewish Australians, but to help Indigenous Australians. As a young man, John Rowley catalogued the Gamilaroi language and learned from these people. If there is an Australian history I want us to reach back to, it is this.

As I said in an earlier post, too much politics these days is the politics of division: pointing out how we fall into different categories, and calling out problematic behaviour, rather than recalling what unites us as human beings. This is not the Australia I want. We were founded on anti-sectarian, humanist values, even though the people espousing these principles may not have been perfect in all regards. As my mother and I conclude in our paper: “Jews have always been part of Australian history since colonisation, and, at times, Jewish and non-Jewish relationships in Australia were strong and affectionate.” There is no better time to recall that history than now.

What am I? I am Australian. It matters not whether I am Jewish, Muslim, Christian nor any other religion, nor what other characteristics I may or may not have. To quote Walt Whitman, “I am large, I contain multitudes.” I cannot be constrained by attempts to confine me to identitarian boxes. What matters is how I behave towards my fellow Australians.

I have been immensely moved by the stories of bravery from Australians in the wake of the Bondi Massacre, including Boris and Sofia Gurman, who almost stopped the massacre before it began, and lost their lives as a result of their bravery; Reuven Morrison, who advanced toward the gunmen throwing rocks and was killed; fourteen-year-old Chaya, who sheltered two small children under her and was shot; Ahmed El Ahmed, a tobacconist who bravely disarmed one of the gunmen and was shot; and the police officers who approached the shooters, with two grievously injured.

The Australia I want and love is an Australia which embodies the values of tolerance, where people can have a religious celebration by the beach without being attacked and killed.

Let this post be a reminder of who we were, who we are, and who we want to be.

1. ‘The Distressed Jews of Palestine’, The Freeman’s Journal (Sydney, NSW), 23 September 1854, page 4. This newspaper was owned by the Venerable Archdeacon John McEnroe at this time, who was one of the speakers at this event. The event was widely reported in other outlets: see ‘The Famishing Jews of Palestine’, The Sydney Morning Herald, 19 September 1854, page 5; ‘The Jews of Palestine’, Empire (Sydney, NSW), 19 September 1854, page 3 (owned by Sir Henry Parkes); ‘Meeting for the Relief of the Distressed Jews in the Holy Land’, The People’s Advocate and New South Wales Vindicator, 23 September 1854, page 6. Please note, I have added paragraphs which were not present in the original quotes, otherwise these are rather imposing chunks of text.

2. ‘The Distressed Jews of Palestine’, ibid.

3. Nichols’ mother, Rosanna Abrahams, was the daughter of a Jewish convict called Esther Abrahams, although Nichols himself was Anglican, as was his father, Isaac Nichols. Esther later married Major George Johnston of the New South Wales Corps and bore him many children. The Rowley family had grown up on the farm next to the Johnston family’s estate.