The moment Bondi’s horrific reality set in for the doctor on the scene

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The horrific reality of what was unfolding did not hit Dr James Otton until he witnessed the wave of gunshot wound victims washing up on the lawn outside North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club.

“Some of them had very serious injuries, but they were still able to walk, or [move] with assistance to get themselves to that area,” the Sydney cardiologist said.

He compressed the wound of a man who had been shot in the back as he lay on the lawn about 100 metres from Archer Park, where two gunmen shot and killed at least 15 people and wounded dozens more at the Chanukah by the Sea event.

“The wound had penetrated into the lung, and there was a possibility of air getting into the space around the lung, and there was bleeding,” Otton said. “I was very glad when he got into an ambulance and was taken for definitive treatment.”

A fellow surf club member tended to another man whose arm was almost completely severed from his body. Another doctor treated a gravely injured police officer. A woman had a shrapnel injury to her leg, and several other victims were rushed off in ambulances.

“I want to say very clearly that the people who did all the hard work and the most important work were the ambulance officers and the paramedics,” Otton said.

“There were a lot of very brave people that day, and I have to say I wasn’t one of them.

“A lot of people who died, died at the scene [Archer Park], and a lot of these seriously injured people were treated there.

“My role was very minor. I stayed on the lawn and did what I could, as did everybody there.”

Moments earlier, the cardiologist had told his friends how lucky they all were to live in such a beautiful place. He and his wife had been enjoying a few drinks after taking part in the club’s weekly People’s Biathlon on the beach before the shooting started.

Like many on Bondi Beach that day, he had initially mistaken the popping sounds for firecrackers. Then people started running up the hill towards them from the direction of the Chanukah by the Sea event.

Otton, his wife and other passers-by hid in the back kitchen of Sean’s Panaroma restaurant on Campbell Parade.

“The maitre d’ was amazing. She was calm and capable, encouraging everyone inside, locking the doors and pulling down the blinds.”

When the popping stopped, Otton re-emerged, still harbouring the unrealistic hope that they had just been firecrackers.

“The idea that there could have been a mass shooting at Bondi was so foreign and far-fetched that I didn’t comprehend, foolishly, that it was a possibility,” he said.

“The whole thing had a sense of unreality. Even if you think, cerebrally, that this could be a shooting, there’s still part of you that tells you it’s not real, and that couldn’t happen at Bondi. It takes a moment for that unreality to crack and realise this is real.

“Then someone ran up the hill saying: ‘Is there anyone medical?’

“We were really fortunate that there were [emergency department] doctors and there were surgeons. There was an anaesthetist who put in cannulas and helped put in drips.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of people who were involved in helping, and they feel somewhat traumatised by that experience,” Otton said. “But the trauma that we feel is nothing compared to people who were actually shot or shot at or had their kids [shot], and my sympathy goes to the victims and their families.”

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