Chaya Dadon had found a hiding spot under a bench at Bondi Beach as a torrent of bullets rained over her, but she put her life on the line to help other children to safety.
The confident 14-year-old took to the stage at Bondi on Sunday – just metres from where 15 people were killed a week before when two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration – to tell crowds at a memorial event she had been divinely guided.
“All the (Jewish) learning led to this moment. In that moment, I was like ‘this is it – be that light’,” she said as those gathered saluted her bravery.
“We’re getting stronger as a nation, and we’re growing and sometimes growing hurts, but life is going to move on, and why not make the best of it?”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his predecessors John Howard and Scott Morrison, NSW Premier Chris Minns and Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane and Governor-General Sam Mostyn were among the dignitaries at Sunday’s commemoration, part of a national day of reflection.
Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, whose son-in-law rabbi Eli Schlanger was killed in the shooting, implored Australians to do good in the wake of the tragedy.
“I stand here tonight to say loud and clear that darkness does not get the final word. Light will win,” he said.
“Sydney can and must become a beacon of goodness, a city where people look after one another, where kindness is louder than hate, where decency is stronger than fear.”
Gold medal-winning Olympic canoeist Jessica Fox also addressed the crowd, saying the beach had become a site of “unimaginable loss” as she introduced first responders lighting eight candles of the menorah.
She paid tribute to Ahmed Al Ahmed, a bystander who stripped one of the gunmen of his long rifle, preventing more casualties, as his father lit one of the candles.
A performance of Waltzing Matilda dedicated to Matilda, the youngest victim of the fatal shooting, had thousands singing in unison before groups of rabbis held each other as they recited Hebrew songs while rain fell.
Several speakers from Jewish groups addressed the vigil – where Mr Albanese was loudly booed while Mr Minns was cheered – and explicitly called for a federal royal commission.
The Minns government plans to introduce tough legislation on hate speech and gun ownership on Monday.
One of the gunmen, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, who was killed, possessed six firearms legally allowed under his licence.
His son Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences including 15 counts of murder.
NSW’s peak farming group has warned the proposed changes to firearms legislation are unworkable, cautioning they should not be “impacted by any knee-jerk reaction to the atrocity”.
Civil society groups have roundly condemned Mr Minns’ proposed laws that would allow protests to be banned for up to three months after terror attacks, saying they would curb dissent.
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