As Sydney reeled from the Bondi beach terror attack, Sarah sat at home in the city’s inner west, feeling helpless.
So on Monday, the 59-year-old doctor, who asked not to use her last name, rolled up her sleeve and made the same decision as thousands of other Australians: to donate blood. She felt giving blood was the least she could do.
“I know they need blood. I’m O negative,” said Sarah, whose son was in Bondi on Sunday. “It’s just devastating.”
More than 20,000 people across Australia have made an appointment to donate blood in the wake of the mass shooting in which 16 people were killed, including one of the alleged gunmen. Forty-two people were taken to hospital after the attack. At 8.30pm local time on Monday, there were 26 people in Sydney hospitals.
The number of people making appointments to donate blood is the highest figure since the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009.
At Lifeblood’s Sydney town hall donor centre, a line stretched outside the front doors and around the building just before noon on Monday morning. Sydneysiders waited upwards of four hours to give blood and plasma hours after the attack on the Jewish community.
George Manolakos, 47, who had been waiting in line for about 1.5 hours, said giving blood was the least he could do to support his fellow Sydneysiders.
“In these trying times, actions speak louder than words. Being here is just rolling up your sleeve, coming with practical support for your fellow people,” Manolakos told Guardian Australia. “Your ideologies, politics, [put] everything aside to help your fellow human beings with what they need right now; it’s as simple as that.”
Rosie Garnock, 25, regularly donates blood and was inside the town hall donation centre Monday morning after rushing online to see if there were any donation appointments available. There were two.
“I woke up this morning, and I just felt like I wanted to do something to help,” Garnock said from a donation chair.
Alex Brown, 21, said he and his friend, Owen Ward, had never donated blood before and didn’t know their blood types. That didn’t stop them from joining the queue to give.
“It’s a tragedy, and I feel like everyone should play our part,” Brown said. “I could help out today, so I said, ‘Why not?’ It’s kind of what it means to be Australian and unify together.
“I have a lot of friends who are Jewish. We just reached out and said, ‘Is there any way we could support our fellow Australians?’ It’s all matters.”
Lifeblood recently changed its eligibility rules to allow most gay and bisexual men to donate plasma without a wait. The agency says it is closer to extending those rules to blood and platelets sometime in 2026.
Cath Stone, the executive director of Lifeblood’s donor experience, said the agency had seen an “overwhelming response from the community” and thanked everyone who had made a donation or an appointment so far.
“When tragic events occur, donating blood is one way to help people,” Stone said in a statement. “The need for more blood donors is ongoing. In the event of a serious trauma event or emergency, up to 100 blood donations may be needed to save just one life.”
Lifeblood has encouraged any healthy adult aged 18-75 to register for an appointment, particularly as the festive season approaches. Blood donations of all types, as well as plasma donations, will be needed in the coming weeks.
NSW’s premier, Chris Minns, said he was encouraged to see queues of people lining up across Sydney and the state to give blood.
“It’s encouraging to see record inquiries and massive lines at blood donation services across New South Wales,” Minns said at a press conference earlier Monday. “Please be patient if you like to make that act of civic duty. But it’s warmly welcomed, and it will go to a good cause.”
