Bali bombings II
At about 7.30pm Bali time on 1 October 2005, three suicide bombers attacked restaurants in Kuta Square and at Jimbaran Bay in quick succession. Australia's Foreign Minister later confirmed 20 dead: four Australians, fifteen Indonesians and one Japanese national. Seventeen Australians were injured. Early reports gave higher death tolls of 24 to 32, which were later revised.
The four Australians killed were 16-year-old Brendan Fitzgerald of Busselton, WA, and Jennifer Williamson, 48, and Colin and Fiona Zwolinski, all from Newcastle, NSW. They were named by The Age/AAP and the ABC. The ABC reported that about 50 people from Newcastle had been holidaying in Bali, and that Williamson and the Zwolinskis were sitting at one table at Jimbaran Bay.
Australian response: the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience records that two RAAF aircraft and four other emergency flights evacuated 17 Australians. An emergency response team arrived on 2 October with staff from DFAT, the AFP, Defence, Centrelink and Emergency Management Australia, and the AFP sent disaster victim identification experts, bomb experts and investigators. The Age reported that DFAT received about 3,500 calls and Qantas put on three relief flights. Howard called the bombers cowards who had shown blind hatred (The Age, paraphrased).
On the 20th anniversary, 1 October 2025, memorial services were held in Newcastle and Bali. Foreign Minister Penny Wong announced that the government would fund a permanent memorial in Australia.
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