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Funeral held for Australian Indigenous girl whose death sparked outback riots

Aug 16, 2026

Sydney [Australia], August 16: Mourners gathered in Australia's Northern Territory capital Alice Springs on Saturday to bid farewell to a five-year-old ​Indigenous girl whose death in April shocked the nation sparked violent clashes in the outback town.
The killing of Kumanjayi Little Baby - the name by which the victim is known according to Indigenous custom - ​and the subsequent arrest of the suspect after he ​was found and beaten by locals, prompted unrest ⁠in the town of 25,000 people about 1,250 km (776 miles) ​south of territory capital Darwin.
On Saturday, mourners, many wearing Kumanjayi ​Little Baby's favourite colour pink, arrived on the outskirts of the town at its Garden Cemetery for her funeral service, Australian Broadcasting Corporation footage ​showed.
The little girl's coffin, covered in flowers, arrived in ​the back of a black hearse for the service, which local media ⁠was attended by hundreds.
Since her death, the local community, of which about a fifth is Indigenous, has been conducting "sorry business", the mourning period and cultural practices that occur after an Indigenous ​person dies.
Thousands ​of Indigenous people, ⁠including the victim's family, live in camp communities on the outskirts of Alice Springs, where ​housing and services are often inadequate.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation