There was no place baby boy Jude O'Brien was happier than with his mother Bianka, his father says.
So, on Wednesday, mother and son – who died in the Rozelle shop fire a fortnight ago – were laid to rest in a single casket in a ceremony not far from their home in Sydney's inner west.
Family, friends, police and strangers from the local community, moved by the devastation of the blaze that claimed three lives, packed St Joseph's Catholic Church at Rozelle to farewell the 31-year-old and her 11-month-old boy.
Ms O'Brien and Jude were killed, along with their neighbour Chris Noble, 27, when fire tore through a Darling Street convenience store destroying it and the units above in the early hours of September 4.
On Wednesday, John O'Brien recounted to mourners how, in the hours after the bodies of his wife and son were found among the rubble, he had to go to Glebe police station.
A detective pulled him aside and said there was something he had to know – that they had found Jude with his mother.
"She never left him," he said.
"There was no happier place for Jude, nothing he wanted more than to be with his mum."
To Mr O'Brien, Bianka and Jude made him happy to be alive.
"She was a lot of things to a lot of people ... She was everything to me," he said.
"When Jude came along ... it just changed my outlook on life. It gave me purpose."
Mr O'Brien, who left for work an hour before the fire that Thursday, said he used to love to go out with friends at the weekend and watch football but that all changed when Jude was born.
"I used to get so excited to see him, when I'd get home and see my little Judey bear," he said.
"He was just a sweet little boy. His smile gave me a real outlook on life I never expected."
Mr O'Brien said the support he had received in the days since he lost his wife and child, from family, friends to those he never knew in the Rozelle community, had been as "equally unexpected as it had been overwhelming".
"I'm so proud that Jude got to call Rozelle home," he said.
Bianka's father, Bill Keremelevski, told the service he has spent the days since the fire asking why two people his entire world revolved around could have been taken from him.
"I now believe that through Bianka and John an angel came into the world and into our family. That angel was Jude," he said.
"Jude finished his job in less than 12 months and returned to God.
"His mother was a happy soul. Jude and Bianka were inseparable since his birth and even at death."
Local police, some called out to the fire that Thursday morning, formed a guard of honour as Mr O'Brien entered the church and as he left, one of six pallbearers carrying the white casket with his wife and child inside.
Leichhardt Commander Superintendent Clive Ainley told the media after the service the explosion and fire had a huge impact on the community.
"Rozelle is a small community and the whole community bonded together," he said.
"This is a major incident for Rozelle, the likes of which we will probably never see again."
Family and friends held a private ceremony in Sutherland shire, in Sydney's south, on Wednesday afternoon.
The police investigation into what caused the explosion and subsequent fire continues.
