While Swimmers Ran From Danger, Viral Image Depicts Beach Patrol Dashing ‘Pedal to the Metal’ In the Direction of the Scene.

Alexandra Ching, someone who has spent her entire life as resident of Bondi, has always considered the famous shoreline as her back yard. On that fateful weekend evening, she, like many local residents, detected pops echoing through the suburb.

“Everyone did, but I reasoned it was too light and no one could see them,” Ching recounts. She left her residence, she observed people “streaming up Bondi Road”. The faces they wore told her trouble had occurred.

As she stood on the road, speaking to a pair who had rushed up the slope still dripping wet, she noticed someone moving up at her rear. It was a rescuer, sprinting to Bondi unshod from the adjacent Tamarama beach – about 1.5km – while transporting a medical device.

“I caught a voice saying ‘excuse me’, and turning my head I just saw this streak in blue,” she recounts. “He was just flying past. It was just him running in the path that the crowd was trying to flee, carrying that big kit and barefoot … He moved towards something that certainly every fibre in your being would signal you to go in the other direction.

“Just no hesitation, but just fully pedal to the metal racing.”

An Iconic Image of Bravery In the Wake of Chaos

The photograph that Ching snapped of the lifeguard, later named as Jackson Doolan, rapidly circulated as a prime example of acts of valour in the aftermath of the terror attack.

Andy Reid, a fellow beach safety officer, noted that Doolan, called “Jacko”, ran from Tamarama beach to assist the remaining crew at Bondi, as well as to work with other rescuers, law enforcement and ambulance crews caring for many victims.

Community Outpouring and Solidarity

Doolan’s account was a single example among several to come out of the neighbourhood, with the patrol base beside the scene of the violence becoming a makeshift treatment center. It was shared that other team members were also seen helping out, including going into the ocean to rescue people in distress.

In the days after the events, statements of gratitude were shared. An online statement conveyed appreciation for the responders who showed that “compassion will always overcome evil”.

The squad of beach patrol issued a message, explaining they were “coming to terms with what occurred”.

“Our thanks go out to all for your supportive sentiments and encouragement. We are touched by the compassion for our responders,” the team stated. “In time, we will tell our tales in the hope that it aids those impacted.”

Council Praise

Waverley council, the administrative organization that oversees many permanent beach safety officers, stated that the crew acted heroically from the instant the violence began until late that evening.

“There have been so many emotional accounts, but the widely-circulated picture of Jackson Doolan, racing from Tamarama to Bondi with a defibrillator so he could help assist the injured is extraordinary,” stated a council representative.

“The team exhibit altruism every day in keeping our iconic shores safe for surfers and swimmers, but what we witnessed on Sunday should be highly praised.

“During this time of sorrow and process the terror of this heinous act of violence, I think it is important that we focus on just how much light we have seen in the face of such evil.”