When the Sky Fell: Matthew Horder on Grief, Justice and Learning to Live After MH17
- May 15
- 3 min read
We recently interviewed Matthew Horder for our upcoming podcast - The LIstening Project. It was a beautiful discussion, honouring the memory of his parents and sharing how he has tried to find hope admidst the unimaginable tragedy that struck his family.
In July 2014 when Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board — including Matthew’s parents, Matthew and his family's lives were changed forever.
We spoke with Matthew not only about grief, but about what happens after public tragedy. What it means to continue living when loss becomes international news. How ordinary people are suddenly pulled into extraordinary systems — criminal investigations, diplomatic processes, court proceedings and public scrutiny — while still trying to process heartbreak.
Matthew’s reflections are not political in tone. They are deeply human.
His newly released memoir, The Day the Sky Fell, documents that journey with vulnerability and restraint. It is a book about love, trauma, justice and endurance. But perhaps most importantly, it is a book about memory — and the quiet determination not to let people become reduced to headlines or statistics.
The destruction of MH17 became one of the most complex international criminal investigations in aviation history. For families, the search for justice unfolded over years — through hearings, briefings, travel, waiting and the repeated retelling of events no one should ever have to relive.
And yet throughout the conversation, what emerged most strongly was not anger.
It was dignity and love. To bring his parents home.
Matthew speaks with remarkable clarity about leadership, community, resilience and the long emotional aftermath of trauma. His work within community organisations, including many years with the Mooloolaba Surf Life Saving Club, reveals someone deeply committed to public good despite experiencing profound personal loss.
Increasingly we are living in a world where collective grief is becoming more visible — through disasters, conflict, workplace trauma, displacement, illness and social fragmentation. Yet many people still do not know how to speak about grief openly, particularly when it unfolds publicly and over long periods of time.
That needs to change.
What Matthew offers is not a blueprint for recovery. It is something more valuable.
Permission to acknowledge that grief changes us. Forever.
That justice processes can also become part of grief itself. And that healing is rarely linear.
At GIDII Advocacy, these conversations matter deeply to us because they sit at the intersection of systems and human dignity — the place where policies, institutions and public events collide with real lives. We hope this first series about Grief and Loss will enable people to start talking more openly about grief. To be there to listen to each other and to care.
The Listening Project was created to hold space for precisely these kinds of conversations. It is a podcast series where we travel around Australia - talking about anything from birth to death and our big lives in between.
We hope you find them very real conversations, because in an era where we rush to systemise things we must never loose site of what it is to be human.
Matthew Horder’s story reminds us that behind every major tragedy are families carrying memories forward long after the cameras leave.
You can learn more about Matthew Horder and his memoir The Day the Sky Fell through his official website:
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