Not One More: 2,500 Shoes on One Lawn in Sydney

On Thursday 22 October, 2,500 shoes covered the grass at The Domain in Sydney.

Every pair stood for an Aussie bloke we've lost to suicide. A lot of them had a photo tucked inside. Some had names written on the side. All of them were somebody's son, brother, dad, husband or mate.

We stood there with Zero Suicide, the families and the mates who came. This is the film from the day. Give it three and a half minutes.

What happened on the day

People brought shoes for the men they'd lost and laid them on the lawn. Others tied ribbons to boots, or just walked the rows and read the names.

Then came the speeches: mums, advocates and some of the most senior politicians in NSW. The Minister for Health, the Minister for Mental Health and the NSW Liberal Leader all stood in front of those shoes and spoke. Matty Rogers from Blokes Advice talked about why so many blokes end up in a Facebook group at 1 am. They know the numbers to call. They just want to talk to someone like them.

Vanessa Lee Walker said it better than anyone:

"I don't want another mother to receive a phone call. I don't want another family standing beside a grave, wondering what more they could have done… Not one more."

Vanessa Lee Walker

Why shoes?

In 2025, 2,425 Australian men died by suicide. That's around seven blokes every single day.

A number that big is hard to picture. A field of shoes isn't. Kellie Sloane MP said walking in was confronting. "But we need to be confronted."

Every pair is a real bloke with a family and a story. That's the whole point.

Paulo's ask, and why we're making noise

Paul "Paulo" Withall from Zero Suicide has been putting these displays on for about seven years, with his own money. His campaign calls for a Federal Minister for Men and Boys. That's what the event was created to push for. Event by event, it feels like that call is getting harder to ignore.

For Blokes Advice, it's about making enough noise that the people in charge do something. That could mean a Minister for Men, more funding for grassroots organisations, or making the right care available and more affordable for the blokes who need it.

We want blokes to be able to get the support they need. So we're on board to help make that noise, alongside Paulo, the families and everyone else pushing for change.