Treasury Gardens in Melbourne was illuminated by candles on the 8/9/2015 as thousands of individuals gathered to mourn asylum seekers who’ve lost their lives whilst fleeing persecution and their war stricken countries. The ‘Light the Dark’ gathering hosted by Getup! coincided with events across Australian capital cities and worldwide alike, triggered by graphic images circulating the internet of refugees bodies washing up upon a Turkish beach after their boat had capsized. Highlighting the Australian government’s disregard for the world’s most venerable and desperate people.

On Thursday, 7/9/2015 the photographs went viral on social and mainstream media grabbing world wide attention. In particular, an image of a little boy named Aylan Kurdi, lying face down in the sand with waves lapping around his body shocked millions within hours. An estimated 22,000 deaths have occurred in the Mediteranian sea between 2000 and 2015, where asylum seekers have taken similar journey’s fleeing their middle eastern and north African homelands, approximately fifteen million poeple have been displaced in 2015 alone adding to the sixty million current refugee’s gobally, creating the largest global refugee crisis since the second world war.