The sea of flowers and messages of condolence in Sydney’s Martin Place is reminiscent of public mourning in the Victorian era. At that time, it was common for over a thousand people to attend a public figure’s funeral.
In 1893, for instance, there were 40,000 spectators at the funeral of explorers Robert O'Hara Burke and William John Wills in Melbourne. This was probably the biggest funeral ever seen in Australia.
The public response to the death of two Sydney siege hostages – and the death of cricketer Phillip Hughes in late November – are recent examples of the return to this kind of public mourning. Such public grieving started – or restarted after being sidelined for much of the 20th century – with the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997.
A Deeper Need
The common thread in this public expression of grief is the untimely, unexpected deaths of people who are often in the prime of their lives; both the famous and the unknown.
