Further vigils are planned for Brisbane and Canberra after a series of so-called "Light The Dark" vigils were held in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, Hobart and Perth.
The vigils were specifically to honour the life of three-year-old Syrian refugee Alain Kurdi, who drowned trying to reach safety with his family in Europe.
"We should be so proud of ourselves standing here tonight with courage and compassion to say, 'Welcome'."
"Welcome!"
That was the message as thousands gathered in major cities to call on the Australian government to increase its humanitarian intake in response to Syria's refugee crisis.
In Sydney, the sentiments at the vigil were clear.
"Tonight, tens of thousands of Australians will be stepping up with courage, and compassion, calling on our government to do more."
"Basically, I would love to let more refugees in, like Iceland and Germany, and, yeah, it's upsetting that we aren't."
"The government should increase the intake of refugees, and they should allow the refugees to come into the country."
Anglican priest Father Rod Bower told those gathered at the vigil the Australian Government's response to the crisis has been heartless and cruel.
"This human carnage has not moved the stone-cold heart of the Abbott Government to take in one extra refugee ... but, rather, simply to reinforce the mantra of 'national security'."
United Muslim Women's Association president Joumana Harris says Australia is not doing enough to help Europe deal with the Syrian refugee crisis.
"What we witnessed and what we felt over the last few days was enough to move mountains. And yet we stand here, almost begging those we entrust to speak in our name to open their hearts while they discuss when is the best time to drop the first bomb."
Mohammad Ali Baqiri is a former Hazara refugee from Afghanistan who spent several years in the Nauru detention centre.
He addressed a vigil in Melbourne's Treasury Gardens, telling those attending about his own refugee story.
"We set on a journey, by boat. There were 150 people, including women and children, on our boat. It took us six days to reach Australian water, and, once we reached Australian water, we were told that we had to go back to where came from -- basically, go back to Indonesia. There were people on our boat who previously made the same journey and were returned back to Indonesia by the navy ship of Australia."
Most people had turned out for the vigils simply as a show of support for those people making desperate journeys now.
"Today, I'm here just to say that our Government's attitude doesn't represent mine or many others and that we are all just part of the one human race and we all need to care more for each other."
"I'm from Germany, and you can see that they're doing a lot and that they're taking many refugees and they're building enormous refugee homes within very short times, and I think it's possible in many other countries as well."
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