By: Mike Crooks
Louisa Hope knows more than most about hardship and pain.
Ten years ago, the then-52-year-old was one of the wounded survivors of Sydney’s Lindt Café siege.
Yet as she lay on a stretcher outside the café on Martin Place in the aftermath of the tragedy on the early morning of December 16, she was already thinking of how she could turn a horrendous event into something good.
“I knew that I had to get something positive out of what we just experienced,” she said.
Hope by name and nature
The following year, the retired Macquarie Bank project administrator founded the Louisa Hope Fund for Nurses, which funds equipment for hospitals. It was inspired by the “amazing” hospital care she received, after been badly wounded in the foot in the tragic culmination to the siege.
Run in consultation with the Prince of Wales Hospital, the fund raised in excess of $360,000 for new hospital equipment.
“I’m just grateful I’ve had the chance to connect with nurses,” Ms Hope, 62, tells Hope 103.2. “They are inspirational.”
Dark day
It was 10 years ago on December 15 that Ms Hope was having breakfast with her mother, Robin, at the Lindt Café when a man sitting at a nearby table pulled out a shot gun.
The man was Iranian-born Man Haron Monis, a self-described “spiritual healer” and “Muslim cleric”, who was on bail over an accessory to murder charge (over the murder of his former wife by his girlfriend), as well as multiple sexual assault charges.
Though Monis, 50, had no direct affiliation with Islamic State, he declared that Australia was under attack by the terror group. He forced staff and customers to stand at the window, some holding Islamic flags.
He also demanded to speak to the then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Tragic end
The hostage crisis endured for 16 hours, during which time several of the hostages managed to escape.
The crisis came to an end early the next morning, when Monis shot dead café manager Tori Johnson, 34, and police stormed the café, killing the gunman.
Lawyer and mum-of-three Katrina Dawson, 38, was killed by ricocheting fragments from police gunfire.
Along with Louisa, two other hostages and a police officer suffered shrapnel injuries. Louisa’s foot and abdomen still contain shrapnel.
In the days after the tragedy, Martin Place became home to thousands of floral tributes from people, in a show of support.
Christian grace
Ten years later, Louisa, who has multiple sclerosis, not only provides help through her charitable fund, but is also an ambassador for the Christian organisation Common Grace.
Common Grace advocates for refugees, Indigenous Australians, victims of domestic violence and more.
Louisa, who recently discovered she has Indigenous ancestry, was drawn to the group because they help those who are most vulnerable.
“What struck me the most about Common Grace was their connection with the people who are in the greatest need,” Ms Hope said.
“They care for refugees, and those suffering in places like the Middle East. And they have always had a loving connection with the Indigenous people of this country.”
A statement on their website says that Common Grace is “animated by a vision of the world filled with the goodness God intends for it, where injustices are righted, where all have enough.”
Poignant visit
For the tenth anniversary of the siege, Louisa plans to do what she does every year – visit Martin Place at a quiet time in the evening and leave some flowers at the site of the tragedy. (The site of the Lindt Cafe is now an upmarket Dan Murphy’s liquor store, and holds a floral tribute to those lost in the siege.)
“It’s just something that I do for myself, and for those who were involved,” she says.
Though no announcement has yet to be made, Ms Hope says there will also be a commemorative service to mark the anniversary.
For more information on the Louisa Hope Fund for Nurses visit here.
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
Feature image: Louisa Hope / Supplied
About the author: Michael Crooks is a senior journalist and former news editor of Who magazine. His work has appeared in People, Marie Claire, The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, news.com.au, Qantas magazine and more.