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Lynley Huguenin describes being a Bali bombing victim, 2008

Audio Lynley Huguenin describes being a Bali bombing victim, 2008

TLF ID R8855

This is an edited sound recording of Melbourne woman Lynley Huguenin, who received serious burns in one of the two terrorist bombings on the Indonesian island of Bali on 12 October 2002, describing the explosion that set her clothes on fire and the confusion that followed. She also tells of a long series of medical treatments, starting in Bali and still continuing in Australia. Huguenin outlines how the experience has not dissuaded her from continuing to travel to Bali. The recording was made in January 2008 and lasts for 4 minutes 12 seconds.

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Educational details

Educational value
  • This recording is a vivid account of an act of terrorism from the perspective of an Australian victim. Huguenin was in the Paddy's Bar nightclub in the district of Kuta when a suicide bomber detonated a device alongside her, having chosen a time when it was crowded with Western tourists. Less than a minute later a larger bomb was detonated inside a van parked in the street outside the nearby Sari Club.
  • The bombings killed 202 people of more than 20 nationalities. Mostly Western tourists were killed, including 88 Australians. Many Indonesians who had been working in Paddy's Bar were also killed. Not all the deaths occurred instantly; dozens of people besides Huguenin were injured, some seriously, and some died later.
  • Huguenin gives details of the wounds she received in the blast. She had burns to about 30 per cent of her body, plus pieces of glass and metal in her body. She tells how at the time of this recording, more than five years after the explosion, pieces of metal still occasionally work their way to the surface of her skin.
  • In this recording Huguenin explains how, after initial treatment at a hospital in Bali, she was flown to Australia for further treatment. The Australian Government arranged for 86 people with burns and other injuries to be flown to Australia from Bali for treatment after the bombings. Most, like Huguenin, went first to Darwin Hospital, then to various other hospitals around the country. She tells how her treatment with 'spray-on skin' is ongoing.
  • Huguenin makes it clear in the recording that her experience in the bombing has left her with no ill feelings towards the Balinese people or Bali, which she continues to visit. She also states forcefully that she would not want the act of terrorism of which she was a victim to dissuade anyone from travelling overseas.
  • The Bali bombers were a group of male Islamic militants, members of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) group, which aims to create a regional caliphate or Islamic state in South-East Asia. Some of the men arrested over the bombings stated their motive had been to kill as many Americans as possible in revenge for perceived US oppression of Muslims worldwide.
Topics Death Architectural drawing Burns Gemstones

Other details

Contributors
  • Author
  • Person: Lynley Huguenin
  • Description: Author
  • Contributor
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Content provider
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Name: Education Services Australia
  • Organization: Education Services Australia
  • Description: Data manager
  • Person: Lynley Huguenin
  • Description: Author
  • Copyright Holder
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Publisher
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organization: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Description: Publisher
  • Address: VIC, AUSTRALIA
  • URL: http://www.esa.edu.au/
  • Resource metadata contributed by
  • Name: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Organisation: Education Services Australia Ltd
  • Address: AUSTRALIA
  • URL: www.esa.edu.au
Access profile
  • Colour independence
  • Device independence
Learning Resource Type
  • Audio
Rights
  • © Education Services Australia Ltd, 2013, except where indicated under Acknowledgements.