WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this story features the names and pictures of people who have died.
Scores of mourners attended a memorial service for a Cherbourg-born Indigenous rights activist and poet last week.
Yugambeh man Lionel George Fogarty, who will be referred to as Dhoompoo Lionel Fogarty for the next year as part of cultural protocol around mourning, received an emotional farewell in Cherbourg on Friday 6 March.
Family members and supporters of Mr Fogarty, who died on 12 February 2026 after a short battle with cancer aged 68, filled out Jack O’Chin Oval to say their goodbyes to the influential artist and activist.
Wearing t-shirts bearing his photograph, family members performed the traditional Wakka Wakka welcome song Gurri Nginda Narmi around his body, which was wrapped in tree bark according to traditional custom and his own wishes.
Mourners came from as far away as Darwin to pay their respects, and his children traveled from places like Cunnamulla and Rockhampton to farewell their late father.
Artworks featuring Mr Fogarty’s poems lined the marquees under which the attendees sat, and several people read out his works as part of their tributes.
A eulogy delivered by his son Kargun listed his many literary achievements and successes as an Aboriginal rights advocate despite his humble upbringings as, he joked, a ‘Goona Gully man’ born in Cherbourg.
As his sons and grandson carried Mr Fogarty’s body away mourners carried out another of the late poet’s last wishes, whistling into dried gumnuts which were handed out among the crowd.
Attendees of the memorial service concluded the day by listening to well-known Cherbourg songs like Cherbourg, That’s My Home performed by a live band.
A select number of Mr Fogarty’s close family members attended his natural burial at Alberton Cemetery near Beenleigh on Monday, 9 March.
