Joel Cauchi brought nightmarish horror to Westfield Bondi Junction... But ... trends now
A piece of wall art in the front window of Harvey Norman declared 'This is my happy place', and for tens of thousands of Sydneysiders that's what Westfield Bondi Junction always had been.
But when the doors to the shopping centre re-opened on Friday morning for the first time since last weekend's atrocity, it was for a sombre gathering in a strangely silent building.
Some came alone, others as couples or in small groups of friends and workmates. There were hugs, handshakes and tears.
This was about reunions, returning to familiar surroundings and attempting to resume normal lives as much as it was about remembering the dead.
Westfield Bondi Junction re-opened on Friday morning so members of the community could pay their respects to the six people killed in the shopping centre last weekend. A woman is pictured outside the complex at a makeshift memorial
If Westfield management had worried ghouls would come to gawk at the scenes where six people were killed on Saturday they need not have been concerned.
From the moment the first arrivals took the escalator from ground level on Oxford Street up to the fourth floor shortly after 11am it was obvious those who had come here had done so for the right reasons.
Visitors were offered a black ribbon to wear as a sign of respect and many did.
Shops remained closed, no muzak played and the information screen which normally provides directions to retail outlets had been switched to display a remembrance ribbon.
At the top of the escalators on level four stood six white wreaths representing each of the victims stabbed to death by itinerant schizophrenic Joel Cauchi during his senseless spree.
They were new mum Ashlee Good, 28, bride-to-be Dawn Singleton, 25, architect Jade Young, 47, security guard Faraz Tahir, 30, architect Pikria Darchia, 55 and economics student Yixuan Cheng, 27.
Those who wished to sign a condolence book lined up patiently. Some placed flowers below six wreaths which stood at the top of an escalator to represent those who were killed
NSW Premier Chris Minns and Police Commissioner Karen Webb paid tribute to the victims by placing a wreath at the memorial before the public was allowed to enter.
It was impossible to tell how many of those who came on Thursday had a direct connection to the slain or the dozen others seriously injured.
Snippets of conversation among small groups could be overheard: 'Guy had only just come out of Cotton On', 'I just can't imagine it' and 'it all happened so quickly'.
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