By Melanie Barnes
A large crowd of people gathered in Victory Park Castlemaine on Wednesday to mourn the death of Perth teenager Cassius Turvey.
About 100 people gathered at 6pm to express their sorrow for the death of 15-year-old Cassius who was bashed and later died in hospital in Western Australia.
All around Australia vigils were held to honour Cassius and his family.
Cassius died on October 23, 10 days after being attacked while walking home from school in a north-eastern Perth suburb. A 21-year-old boy has been arrested by police and is in custody.
Organiser of the Castlemaine vigil, Ally Oliver-Perham, was verging on tears as she spoke to the crowd.
“I am speaking for a lot of people about such a horrific thing, and it shouldn’t be happening,” Ally said.
People stood with candles and a sense of mourning spread among the crowd.
Emma King read out the statement written by Cassius’ mother Micelle Turvey, which set an emotional and heartbreaking tone.
Uncle Ron Murray, a local Castlemaine resident and descendant of the Wamba Wamba people, also spoke to the crowd.
Uncle Ron told the story from his mother’s side, the Tatiara people, about the first ever death. It was about the animals trying to understand what death was and a reassuring tale of rebirth.
“It was nice to see people coming out for someone they never knew,” Uncle Ron said.
Uncle Ron acknowledged the struggles experienced by First Nations people and spoke of his love for Castlemaine and the care of the community for the diversity of its population.
He asked the crowd to close their eyes while he played the didgeridoo.
The Mail spoke to people in the crowd to capture a sense of their thoughts.
“It is heartening to see such a widespread response to this appalling attack. We can’t put it right but we can have a deeper understanding of these things,” Vic Say said.
Emma King is inviting non-Indigenous people to have a conversation about the history of colonisation and its consequences. If you would like to participate in these conversations, send an email to reflectionconversations@gmail.com