(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
Memorial ceremonies are being held across the country to remember the Australian lives lost in the the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17.
Many of those most affected by the tragedy say they're upset at the way the bodies of victims have been handled.
Naomi Selvaratnam reports.
(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full report)
At least 37 Australian citizens and residents are among the victims of last week's MH17 disaster.
Today, another Australian resident was identified - Sydney teacher, Gabriele Lauschet, from Sydney's German International School.
School Principal, Erhard Seifert says Ms Lauschet's students are struggling to accept her death.
"They loved her like a second mother. A very optimistic person, joyful, so that was very contagious if you were around her."
Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he will personally call the families of every Australian victim, if they want to hear from him.
"After visiting the crisis centre I made my first two calls to victim's families. My intention is to call all of the families of victims that would like a call from their Prime Minister. I imagine that some would want calls, some would not. I don't want to intrude on anyone's grief but on the other hand I want everyone to know that their Prime Minister is available to them at a time like this."
Mr Abbott says the grieving relatives he has spoken to are struggling to accept what has happened.
"These are families in very, very difficult circumstances. Numb with grief. Only beginning to come to terms with their loss and I think that for all 37 families there is going to be a very, very long period in which they come to terms with this. I'm sure you never really come to terms with a loss of this magnitude. It's hard enough to cope with standard bereavement, but bereavement in these circumstances is ghastly. Ghastly almost beyond the imagination of most of us."
29-year-old Victor Oreshkin, from Lidcombe in western Sydney, was one of the Australians killed.
He'd been returning from a five week trip to Europe.
Family friend Lara Minchenko had known Mr Oreshkin since he was a baby.
She says the Slavic Evangelical Pentecostal Church Mr Oreshkin attended has been devastated by his death.
"I think he had the right heart. The right approach to life. Very easy going. Very approachable. I think everybody loved him. I don't think anyone had a hard word to say about Victor. And he's so sorely missed. We really, really missed him here."
Ms Minchenko says Mr Oreshkin's parents would like their son's remains to be returned to Australia immediately.
"It just all seems so senseless. Very devastating, very painful to watch all the bodies strewn over the field and you can understand in a sense that people are wanting to cover the bodies and protect them and yet there's the other side. But on the whole I think it's just such a sad situation. I think you can't imagine a death of your child and you don't know where your body is, it's really devastating. So we're really praying that there will be closure, at least in that direction."
Gerry and Mary Menke from Mallacoota in eastern Victoria are among the other victims.
The couple had been in Europe celebrating Mr Menke's 70th birthday.
Friend and colleague Mark Touzeau says the couple were leaders in the small rural community.
"The community has been in shock. Who would believe that two people from a small little township of Mallacoota could be blown out of the sky over Ukraine? It's just surreal. It's very hard for people to come to terms with.
Mr Touzeau says the couple had welcomed him when he first moved to the town two and a half years ago.
"Gerry was genuinely a lovely person. He was very humble, treated everyone the same. Very easy to get on with and a great supporter of the township of Mallacoota. Gerry and Mary did everything together and I regularly saw them on the beach in the morning when we both walked our dogs and we'd both stop and have a chat. Mary was very lovely."
Former Australian Defence Force Air Chief, Angus Houston, has been sent to Ukraine to act as a Special Envoy on the disaster.
More than 40 Australians have been sent to assist with efforts to recover and identify the remains of the victims -- and to investigate the cause of the crash.
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