Devastated by the suicides of their children, these grieving mums finally have the power to save others

They are reluctant members of a club that no one wants to join, but this group of devastated mums have one common goal: to stop the senseless wave of suicides that has robbed them of their children.

They are a group of devastated mothers in an exclusive club that no parent would ever want to join, yet together they hope they can find a way to stop the senseless wave of suicides that has robbed them of their children.

Charlotte O’Brien, Tilly Rosewarne and Onyx Rose were the victims of social media bullying. Tragically, they all took their own lives.

Their mothers have all been rocked by yet another mother losing her daughter to the social media bullying scourge, with 12-year-old Ella Catley-Crawford losing her life last Sunday after been catfished by girls at her private school.

Just weeks after losing her 12-year-old baby Charlotte, Kelly O’Brien was sickened to the core to learn yet another mum was now grieving another preventable loss.

“How many more of our children have to die? My ears are buzzing and I’ve just thrown up,” Ms O’Brien said as she fought back tears, unable to process that yet another bright, smiley little girl the same age as Charlotte was gone. And another mother, this time from Brisbane, was destined for a life of emptiness.

Ella Catley-Crawford was just 12 when she died after being catfished by girls at her private school.

“When I process this a little, I’d also like to reach out to her family,” Ms O’Brien said.

It’s a common reaction from a grieving mum who has gone through the “horror, absolute horror” of their child taking their own life.

Something only a parent in such hell can understand.

“I’m now a reluctant member of an exclusive club, a club I never knew existed. I want to relinquish my membership, I wish I never knew it existed,” Ms O’Brien said.

“No one should ever go through this. No parent, no family member, no friend.

“But most importantly, our poor babies should not have felt such overwhelming pain in their lives that they ended them.

The extreme suffering Charlotte felt just breaks my heart even further.”

Charlotte took her life at the age of 12.

Kelly O’Brien at her daughter’s funeral.

Michelle Lambert is taking one day at a time, but says it never gets easier, doing life without her beloved child Onyx Rose, who suicided at age 13 in July 2023 after years of relentless bullying.

An emotional Mrs Lambert said the preventable passing of Brisbane Ella Catley-Crawford – along with the suicides of too many other young people due to horrific attacks on social media – amplified her personal grief.

“I don’t understand why people are so cruel and mean – and social media lets them get away with it,” said Mrs Lambert, 60, of Jimboomba, south of Brisbane in Logan.

“It doesn’t matter what school you go to, private or public, the bullies seem to be winning.”

Onyx Rose Lambert suicided after years of relentless bullying. Picture: Facebook.

Onyx Rose Lambert had attended Beaudesert State High while Ella Catley-Crawford was the target of an online catfishing attack orchestrated by other girls while at Lourdes Hill College in Hawthorne.

Mrs Lambert said the fallout on families was terrible.

“I didn’t eat for the first two weeks after my child left, and I was walking on a razor’s edge myself with the suicide side of things, which is why I sought counselling,” she said.

Ivy Lambert, older sister of Onyx Rose, said her sibling was victimised by a fake TikTok account, among other vicious attacks online.

Ms Lambert, of Glen Eagle, said she fully supported lifting the age limit for when children could access social media from 13 to 16.

However, more needed to be done.

“The government needs to insist on legal proof of age and identity, this would stop kids faking their age and also stop predators from creating fake accounts, a win-win,” said the 33-year-old mother of two small children.

Onyx Rose Lambert’s sister Ivy (left) and mum Michelle with Ivy’s children Micheal, 4, and Jessica, 2. Picture: Adam Head

This week Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that children under 16 would be unable to access social media platforms after a sustained campaign by News Corp (publishers of this masthead) — Let Them Be Kids — which highlighted the harms caused by social media.

The world leading-legislation will be introduced into the parliament next week and implemented within a year.

Bathurst mother Emma Mason, whose “brave little girl” Tilly Rosewarne succumbed to bullying at school and online two years ago, was a staunch supporter of the campaign.

“This is a great step forward, and something long overdue,’’ she said

“Change won’t happen overnight but what it does is empower parents to say ‘no, no you can’t have a social media account’.

Tilly Rosewarne was 15 when she suicided after years of bullying.

“Parents finally have the support they’ve needed to fight back against the powerful tech giants.

“Will it stop all kids from accessing social media? No. Just in the same way as kids still experiment with underage drinking.

“But if as parents we can unite together and give our teenagers a chance by collectively agreeing to use the power this gives us, our children will be a lot safer.’’

This week Ms Mason tried to contact the mum of Ella, a “bright and quirky” girl who had just earned an academic scholarship at one of Brisbane’s most prestigious all-girls schools, Lourdes Hill, at the start of the year.

After just one term, Ella became the victim of an online catfishing scheme orchestrated by other girls who shared her photos across social media, leading to bullying, isolation and a mental health battle.

On October 27, she attempted to take her own life and died in hospital a week later.

“I have a greater capacity than others, I guess, to speak,” Ms Mason explained.

“There are some parents that just can’t speak, can’t find the words to communicate the very real horror, and that’s where I feel like, well, maybe I’ve been given this skill to do that. That’s what I have to do, be the voice for the others who can’t speak.”

Tilly’s mum Emma Mason has welcomed news that children under 16 will no longer be able to have social media accounts. Picture: Richard Dobson

Ms Mason had a feeling the 2021 Christmas she spent with Tilly would be her last.

“She had tried to end her life multiple times and there are only so many times you can do that before it works,” Ms Mason said.

The bullying peaked when a student at her school in Bathurst circulated on Snapchat a photo of a body with the head cut from the frame, claiming it was Tilly.

Ever since, her mum who is practising lawyer has been vocal in calling for change.

While she welcomed the news this week that Australian children under 16 will not be able to access social media even if they have parental permission, she says more needs to be done.

“This is a great step forward, and something long overdue, but change won’t happen overnight,” she said.

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