Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week we have seen the sixth anniversary of the Bali bombings. However, I rise to pay tribute to young 16-year-old Brendan Fitzgerald from Busselton, who was killed by the bomb blast in Kuta in 2005 while on holiday with his father, Terry, and sister Jessica, who were both injured in the blast.

Brendan was on his first overseas holiday and learning to surf with his father in the Bali seas. His friends and family were devastated by the tragic loss and waste of a young, precious life. Hundreds of people packed into a small local chapel to pay tribute to sports-mad Brendan’s life and to offer sympathy and comfort to his family. Terry Fitzgerald arrived at his son’s funeral on a stretcher, his body still recovering from injuries sustained in the blast. Thirteen-year-old Jessica Fitzgerald overcame her injuries from shrapnel wounds and burns to attend the funeral, delivering a moving poem in honour of her brother entitled, With Love. It says:

There is a hand I love to hold, two eyes I love to see, there is a voice I love to hear, that means the world to me

There is a heart that understands what I am dreaming of—all of these belong to you ...

Brendan’s mother, Lisa, also addressed the congregation, saying:

To my beautiful son, who had become my friend, your voice is quiet but your spirit echoes still ...

Busselton Senior High School students and Georgiana Molloy Anglican School students were profoundly affected.

Brendan loved Australian Rules Football and was buried in a coffin painted in the Busselton Magpies team colours, covered with his own football jumper and cricket bat. Terry Fitzgerald has published a book about the family’s harrowing experience in Bali, and I can only imagine what an emotional task this was for him. The book is titled A Beautiful Boy and documents the memories and experiences of those who lived through the bombings. Mr Fitzgerald said that he wanted to document the experiences for his youngest daughter and as therapy and part of his healing.

I would also like to acknowledge the loss experienced by Brendan’s grandparents, Win and Trevor Fitzgerald, expressed in their son Terry’s book. I quote from the notes on Trevor Fitzgerald:

It was 5.30 am Sunday, we went to the internet again and learnt of the death of a 16 year old boy from WA.

We thought how many 16 year old boys would there be over there? He just couldn’t be ours. Not our beautiful, warm, gentle grandson, without a mean bone in his body, who loved all his family and friends, his cricket, football and skateboarding, and lived his life to the fullest, with not a harsh word to anyone. It just couldn’t be possible.

The phone rang and it was two Federal Police agents calling from just outside our front door. They had driven from Perth in the middle of the night to tell us to prepare ourselves for the s\worst. They were so kind and caring, but our world just fell apart.

Brendan had his student card in his pocket, so that was how they identified him so quickly. We were devastated. How were we going to tell his mum, all our families and friends? There is no easy way. It is something that will haunt us for ever.

Our house was soon filled with comforting family and friends and endless cups of tea and a pain that will never go away.

I offer my sincere condolences to Brendan’s family and friends.