Beach toy box painted with bees for Bondi Beach massacre victim, Matilda

The death of little Matilda, or “Bee” as her father would call her, in the horrifying Bondi massacre has left Australians mourning the child’s spirit and now finding comfort in bees as her eternal symbol.

In a heartwarming post, an anonymous user on a Sydney eastern suburb Facebook community page announced on Christmas Day they had personally built a beach toy library for La Perouse beach – just down the road from the school the 10-year-old Matilda had attended – with hand painted bees all around to remember her playful spirit.

“This box has a little added extra, my grandsons helped paint some bees on this box in honour of little Matilda, who attended La Perouse school and was a lover of Bee’s,” the post said.

The Randwick local, who wishes to remain unnamed, told NewsWire they were always planning to build the reusable beach toy box but chose to paint bees after they noticed the flood of bee tributes for Matilda in the wake of the Bondi tragedy.

“I went down there (Bondi) and there were just bees everywhere … like there was bee baby rattles stuck to the playground area, bee balloons everywhere and I just had the shivers … I was just like, it’s go to be bees. I’m going to draw bees on it.” they said.

“I told my grandkids about it, and they were like ‘Yep, we wanna do it!”

They said they did not want to put her name on it because they felt people “would just get it”.

“She was a La Perouse schoolgirl, I just want there to be a connection … there is two big bees there … someone will feel like, you know, happy that other people care and that there is a tribute to her,” they said.

“Just something simple”.

Now with the help of their partner, the couple is planning to put a fourth community beach toy box in Bondi with Matilda’s name on it and more hand painted bees, after her grandsons requested they honour Matilda again at Bondi Beach.

In their post they reflected on the impact of the Bondi tragedy saying it “has touched us all in different ways”.

“I think we are all cherishing our family a little more this Christmas,” the post read.

More than 150 people liked the community post and thanked the user for the “heartfelt idea” for Matilda.

“This is so beautiful thank you! May little Matilda always be remembered with the joy of little children playing,” one user said.

“Great idea, and wonderful tribute to Matilda. Thank you,” another user commented.

Matilda was laid to rest last week, with hundreds of people gathering to say goodbye to the young girl.

A giant bumblebee plush was placed on her casket and guest wore bee stickers to honour her middle name, Bee.