The school's board chairman, Damien Gallagher, spoke briefly outside the memorial, telling the assembled media the grief was "still raw".

Kayah Habilton, 20, was one of several mourners who laid bunches of flowers at the school gate, expressing total shock at the incident. "It's a life lost and such a young life," she said, visibly upset. "I'm not saying this is a bad school, it's a good school.

"It's just [that] something needs to be done [about school security].



"A 13-year-old child went home with the thought in his head, 'I'm going to take a knife to school tomorrow.' Why? Why would a person want to do that? "You'll never know really what happened because of how young they were." Ms Habilton said the tender years of those involved was difficult to accept. It's a life lost and such a young life "A 12-year-old child - not a 15-year-old, not a 16-year-old, a 12-year-old child - [has died], that just shows that two lives have been ruined until they take their last breath."

Mother Natalie Smoothy, whose son attends the Catholic college, verbalised what was etched on every parent's face.

"How did this happen in a little, quiet, beautiful part of the world?" she said.

"It's just tragic and it's really going to affect this community. What is the world coming to?"

Actor Aaron Pederson, an old boy of the school, was among those who arrived carrying flowers.

"It's very tragic,'' he said. Two grade 11 students on their way to the service said a "great sadness" had come over the school, while three students from the school's class of 2008 said the school community had rallied in support. "I got five phone calls at 6am saying, 'Come on boys, we're all going up,' " former student William Carr said.

He said the news yesterday had been difficult to digest.

"I saw one fight in three years and 20 minutes later [one of those involved] apologised because he was having a bad day.

''It was a real community in there. I really felt safe."

But while family and friends mourn, police have acted to remove offensive posts on a tribute site set up on social networking sites after Elliott's death. Some of the posts were violent and explicit, reportedly including images of torture and pornography. Queensland Police today said the content had been taken down and those responsible for the posts would be traced and prosecuted.

Former student Justin Noble said the cyber attack was disgusting. "How can someone say something like that on a 12-year-old's memorial page?"

The school remains open today, with counselling being offered to all students and staff. The barrister representing the 13-year-old schoolboy accused of killing Elliott made no application for bail at court this morning.



Andrew Boe said little as the charges were read before a public gallery packed with media. There was no sign of the accused boy's parents. He was remanded in custody until April 29.

As students head back to the classroom at other schools, an adolescent psychologist has told parents it's important they discuss what happened to Elliott with their own children.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg said children could be feeling a range of emotions after the attack, including fear that something similar might happen to them. "I think this sort of trauma shatters the idea of the world being an orderly, safe place,'' he told the ABC. "Many children will react very poorly to this, with fear, anger, disbelief, sadness.'' He said it was important for parents to give their children the facts about what happened, but stress it was a very rare event and that Australia was one of the safest countries in the world. "Encourage children to talk about their feelings,'' he said.

Their exposure to media reports about the killing should also be limited. Loading "Children, especially very young children, if they see it over and over again, they could believe it's happened again,'' he said.

