A sombre funeral service for Kumanjayi Little Baby has been attended by hundreds of people from the Alice Springs community and surrounds.
Wearing pink and some dressed in T-shirts bearing the face of the five-year-old girl, the crowd gathered under grey skies in the red centre capital on Saturday.
Family members surrounded a small coffin adorned with flowers and cried together.
The girl’s grandfather, Robin Japanangka Granites, opened the funeral to the public to allow the community to grieve as one.
“You come because you are one of our family,” he told them.
“You are from here and we need you because we both cried at that same time.”
In a eulogy read on her behalf, Kumanjayi Little Baby’s mother, Jacinta Roy, urged that her daughter be remembered for who she was.
She was a girl who loved watching shows like Masha and the Bear and Bluey, as well as playing games on her mum’s phone, Roy said.
The young girl also loved cuddling puppies and the colour pink.
“As a mother, my heart breaks into a million pieces,” she said. “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.”
The family of the allegedly murdered girl invited the desert community to farewell her on Saturday while embracing her favourite colour, pink.
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The service comes months after her disappearance sparked one of the largest searches in Northern Territory history.
Kumanjayi Little Baby – as she is known for cultural reasons after her death – went missing on the outskirts of Alice Springs in late April.
It prompted an intensive five-day search by emergency services and local volunteers in grassy bushland.
The discovery of her body prompted a nationwide outpouring of grief, with vigils held across the country.
A ۴۷-year-old man is awaiting trial after being charged with her murder.
Japanangka Granites, a Warlpiri elder, thanked locals for their efforts to locate Kumanjayi Little Baby and for their support of his family.
Kumanjayi Little Baby would be with our “father in heaven”, he said at the time.
