Two years ago, on March 15, 2019, the same day a white supremacist carried out the Christchurch mosques terror attacks, Australian Senator Fraser Anning made racist comments, blaming Muslims for the tragedy.
Melbourne teenager Will Connolly, then 17, was so outraged, the next day he rodehis bike to a public appearance by the senator.
The scene is now world famous: Anning addresses the cameras while behind him a composed Connolly, known from that moment forward as 'Egg Boy', holds his phone in his left hand while raising his right and cracking a yolky mess on Anning's head.
Anning turned and hit Connolly twice, before Egg Boy was tackled to the ground by Anning's zealous supporters.
He was arrested and charged, but the viral video brought worldwide support and a flood of donations for his legal fees. He passed on all of it to the survivors and families of those killed in the Christchurch mosques attacks.
Two years later, he is now helping raise money for New South Wales communities hit hard by last year's bush fires, none of which would be possible he says, if it were not for the egging.
"It's quite literally cracked my world wide open," Connolly told RNZ.
"I was able to meet all of these inspiring, intelligent, motivated people which I wouldn't have been able to."
Connolly said the rawness of the tragedy in Christchurch was what spurred him to action two years ago.
"Watching the video, then an hour later seeing [Anning's] statement was just super weird and inhuman.
"At the same time, I'm 17, in the back of my mind I knew I had a few more months to be 18 if I break law. And I just do silly stuff, random stuff all the time. Part of it was attention for a group of my friends ... nothing like blowing up how it did."
Australian Senator Fraser Anning is egged by 17-year-old William Connolly. Photo / AP
After the video went viral and support came flooding in from around the world, he visited Al Noor Mosque for the one year commemoration of the Christchurch attacks.
"That was an experience. It's hard to speak about. I met Abdul Aziz who is the hero there, he saved like 40 people's lives, stared death in the eye, ran towards death to save everyone, and didn't end up dying but far out, what a hero.
"And just hearing all the stories and actually learning a lot about Islam too, that was really interesting."
Does he have any regrets?
"Not really. It all happened how it happened. I'm pretty happy where I am right now so I wouldn't have changed anything."
Will Connolly at his family's "beach box" at Brighton Beach in Melbourne, Australia. Photo / Alan Gibson
Connolly said he had never had more than $200 in his bank account, before money started arriving from donors around the world.
He said he was enjoying seeing the money come in, when his uncle suggested he donate it.
"I was like, what's going on, this isn't my money. Then there was $100,000 and I thought ... can I take some of it and donate the rest?
"It's not my money, and at the same time I believe in karma in the sense of if you do good things for other people, you're going to get good things back, that's just how the universe works.
"So I thought it would be a smart decision to donate it all. And I think it's turned out pretty well."
Connolly thinks his actions gave the Islamic community a sense of support.
"And it just slammed down a politician who was being blatantly racist. And in Australia there's just been way too much of that and nothing's being done about it."
