It was intended to be a simple gift. Photographer Kate Geraghty and I offered to send sunflower seeds from the MH17 crash site to family and friends of the 38 Australian victims to plant as self-regenerating reminders of their loved ones.

Since last Saturday, when the story was first published, the response in Australia has been overwhelming. There have also been requests from or on behalf of victim families in the Netherlands, Malaysia and Britain, nations that represent the bulk of the nearly-300 passengers and crew who died when the Malaysia Airlines flight was shot down over eastern Ukraine in July.

Sunflower seeds face an uncertain path to grieving crash victims.

The Dutch ambassador to Canberra, Annemieke Ruigrok, advised by email that she had forwarded the story to the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to be shared with the families of almost 200 Dutch victims of the crash.

Offering the embassy's assistance in a hoped-for widening of the circle of seed distribution, she then alluded to a further widening: "[The Foreign Ministry] will also inform embassies of other countries who had nationals on the MH17 flight.