Source : Perth Now news
Hundreds gathered in pink in Alice Springs on Saturday to farewell Kumanjayi Little Baby and remember the five-year-old for the joyful child she was.
The funeral at Alice Springs Garden Cemetery was a private goodbye for her family, shared with a community that has mourned alongside them.
Family members stood close around her flower-covered coffin, weeping together as mourners arrived in pink clothing and T-shirts bearing her face.
Kumanjayi Little Baby, known by that name for cultural reasons after her death, disappeared on the outskirts of Alice Springs in late April.
Her disappearance triggered one of the Northern Territory’s largest searches, with emergency services and local volunteers spending days combing bushland before her body was found south of the town on April 30.
Jefferson Lewis, 47, has been charged with her murder and is awaiting trial.
On Saturday, her grandfather, Warlpiri elder Robin Japanangka Granites, made the service public so the community could grieve alongside the family.
“You come because you are one of our family,” he told mourners.
“You are from here and we need you because we both cried at that same time.”
He also thanked Alice Springs locals for standing by the family through the search and its aftermath.
“I’m really glad you’re all here, people of Alice Springs community.
“You’re the ones who have been really powerful.
“You are the ones who have been making this community a good place for all of us to live in.”
In a eulogy read on her behalf, mother Jacinta Roy asked people to hold on to memories of her daughter’s personality and the small things she loved.
She said the five-year-old enjoyed shows including Masha and the Bear and Bluey, liked playing games on her mother’s phone, adored cuddling puppies and loved the colour pink.
“She was precious, she was a gift, she was everyone’s beautiful baby girl,” Ms Roy said.
“As a mother, my heart breaks into a million pieces. I miss her.
“As a Christian, I would like to thank Father, Son and Holy Spirit for gifting me with a beautiful, precious little baby girl for the precious time that I was her mother here on Earth.”
Mr Granites said it was moving to see children dressed in pink among the mourners.
“These kids remind us of our little baby granddaughter … they are really beautiful.”
Later, as light rain began to fall, hymns were sung in an Aboriginal language before relatives walked together towards the gravesite, crying and carrying pink and white floral tributes for a final farewell.
The ceremony followed months of sorry business for Kumanjayi Little Baby’s family and came after her death sparked grief far beyond Central Australia, with vigils held around the country.
