Australia came to a standstill yesterday to mourn the victims of last weekend's Bali bombings as a stunned nation attempted to come to grips with its bloodiest day since World War II.
Tens of thousands of people packed churches, sports fields, beaches, parks and private homes across the nation to grieve for the more than 100 Australians who died in the nightclub attacks on Oct. 12.
A minute's silence at noon united the nation as church bells tolled across the continent.
Cricketers halted play, supermarket checkout lines fell silent and dozens of surfers formed a floating circle off the east coast in a moment of remembrance for the victims in Bali, a surfing mecca.
"We, the survivors, saw some truly horrendous things that will never leave us," Eric de Haart told a gathering for his six missing team mates at a Sydney rugby league club.
"In the dark days to come ahead we will need your help and support," de Haart said, choking back tears.
Prime Minister John Howard said his government had to stay committed to the US-led war on terror and warned there was an increased risk of an attack on Australian soil.
"I don't want to sound alarmist, but we are living in a different world and something like what occurred in Bali ... could happen in Australia," Howard told Nine Network television before attending a church service in Canberra. "The possibility of it has clearly been heightened."
Howard also appealed to his nation to "preserve the open, tolerant, harmonious, outward-looking generous Australian society for which Australia is so widely respected."
Australians, who traditionally feel isolated from traumatic world events, have been stunned by the attacks on the Indonesian holiday island that many considered Australia's playground.
The latest information lists 103 Australians as dead or missing after the blasts, that killed more than 180 people. Many of those killed were young surfers or sportspeople celebrating the end of the winter season.
Some 30,000 people wearing a sprig of wattle, Australia's national flower, poured into Sydney's Domain Park for an "Australians Together" ceremony -- the biggest gathering to mark the day of mourning.
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