AUSTRALIAFILE: COUNTRY MARKS SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS ON THE UNITED STATES

Record ID: 677335

  • Title: AUSTRALIAFILE: COUNTRY MARKS SECOND ANNIVERSARY OF THE SEPTEMBER 11 ATTACKS ON THE UNITED STATES
  • Date: 12th September 2003
  • Summary: (U1) SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (SEPTEMBER 11, 2003) (REUTERS) SCU VOLUNTEERS PLANTING SAPLINGS; MV PHIL BISHOP PLANTING SAPLING (5 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN PHIL BISHOP SAYING "September 11th is quite an important event, it's a piece of history, it doesn't affect us all that much but I think all these things need to be remembered and you know if there's an event which is going to help us remember it and it's the old adage if you don't know about it you're destined to live through it again." SCU/ SLV PAN PLANTING SAPLINGS; WIDE SHOT OF VOLUNTEERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN CHARLIE CREEGAN SAYING "The memory of the people who tragically lost their lives and also memorise that everybody's not invulnerable to these things that happen in the world, so it keeps everybody on their toes." MV CHARLIE CREEGAN WITH HIS DOG; MV SAPLINGS BEING PLANTED (3 SHOTS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN CHARLOTTE OSMAN SAYING "It's hard each year, last year I climbed the bridge, this year I'm planting trees, something to say 'I'm still here I'm not afraid' and that's it, and a lot of people feel like that." MV VOLUNTEER OBSERVING MINUTE OF SILENCE; WIDE SHOT OF VOLUNTEERS OBSERVING SILENCE; SCU U.S. CONSUL GENERAL OBSERVING SILENCE (3 SHOTS) SCU DIGGING; MV VOLUNTEER DIGGING HOLE AND PLANTING CUTTING (5 SHOTS) MV CONSUL GENERAL DIGGING, WITH AMERICAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S CONSUL GENERAL IN SYDNEY EILEEN MALLOY SAYING "I think people who were intimately involved in the pain and the loss are still feeling it very keenly, I mean their lives are still shattered and always will be. Those that were not directly impacted are starting to get on with their lives but with a new sense of vulnerability, people don't feel as safe and secure in their lives as they did before." (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN JULIE DELL SAYING: "I live in Australia now and I'm a resident but I still get very emotional about what happened that day and I think this is going to be a lovely tribute and a long-lasting view of what Australia is doing to support what the Americans suffered through and I just wanted to be a part of it." SCU PROTECTIVE BOX PLACED AROUND SAPLING
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: SYDNEY AND CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime,Disasters,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA1BCOFCFTAQI9WFCDCLS9OA17R
  • Story Text: Australia marks the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington with a tree-planting ceremony American expatriates and Australians in Sydney planted trees at an inner-city site to commemorate the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
    The event was part of a programme organised by U.S.
    consular staff called "9/11 Memorial Volunteer Campaign: Make the Day Count", which aimed to clock up 2,998 hours of community work in cities across Australia - one hour for each of the victims of the attacks.
    Volunteers in Sydney also started planting 2,998 native trees in memory of the victims of the attacks.
    "September 11th is quite an important event, it's a piece of history, it doesn't affect us all that much but I think all these things need to be remembered and you know if there's an event which is going to help us remember it and it's the old adage if you don't know about it you're destined to live through it again," said local resident Phil Bishop.
    New Yorker Charlie Creegan, who has lived in Australia for four years, said although it was an emotional day it was important not to forget the attacks, in which he lost several friends.
    "The memory of the people who tragically lost their lives and also memorise that everybody's not invulnerable to these things that happen in the world, so it keeps everybody on their toes."
    Australian Charlotte Osman was working in New York when the attacks happened. She witnessed the collapse of one of the World Trade Centre towers, an event, she said, which changed her life.
    "It's hard each year, last year I climbed the bridge, this year I'm planting trees, something to say 'I'm still here I'm not afraid' and that's it, and a lot of people feel like that."
    At the tree planting event the U.S. consul general in Sydney, Eileen Malloy, led a minute's silence at 8:45am local time (2245 GMT) to commemorate the first tower that was hit by a hijacked airliner at 8:45am New York time on September 11, 2001.
    Speaking at the ceremony she said: "I think people who were intimately involved in the pain and the loss are still feeling it very keenly, I mean their lives are still shattered and always will be. Those that were not directly impacted are starting to get on with their lives but with a new sense of vulnerability, people don't feel as safe and secure in their lives as they did before."
    American expat Julie Dell said she has felt a strong connection with Australian people since September 11.
    "I live in Australia now and I'm a resident but I still get very emotional about what happened that day and I think this is going to be a lovely tribute and a long-lasting view of what Australia is doing to support what the Americans suffered through and I just wanted to be a part of it."
    Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who has strongly supported the United States in the war on terrorism said the September 11 attacks were a turning point in history.
    "This was an event that was going to change the way we lived, and that it wasn't just another attack. It was a monstrous, audacious attack which claimed the lives of so many people and had such a blatant, cruel, ideological message. It was an attack on the symbols of the free world," he said on the anniversary.
    In Canberra, the U.S. ambassador to Australia Tom Schieffer said September 11th holds poignant memories.
    "It was just a moment that literally words can't describe, an emotion that is so deep that I think it will never go away."
    U.S. embassy staff in the capital, Canberra, will light 2,998 candles to commemorate the victims at 10:46pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (1246 GMT), the moment at which the first plane hit the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001.
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