Cassius Turvey loved the Bunbury Foreshore, in southern WA. He spent many school holidays with family, fishing in the estuary.
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The town he was so fond of gathered to pay their respects to the 15-year-old whose life was tragically cut short.
Hundreds massed around the Graham Bricknell Music Shell on Wednesday night, as family and friends held a vigil for the boy they described as a gentle and kind spirit.
It was just one of many one of more than 40 events held across the nation this week to pay respects to and call for justice for Noongar Yamatji boy Cassius, who was allegedly bashed with a metal pole walking home from school on October 13. He died in hospital 10 days later.
"When he told his yarns, he'd light up the room," Cassius' cousin Charmaine May said.
"When we travelled home from Perth the day we lost Cassius, I felt numb. I didn't have an answer."
The outpouring of emotion from the indigenous and non-indigenous community alike has been seen in similar vigils as far afield as Los Angeles.
"We are all here today because kids matter. Our community, our mob, our families ... we need to stand together," Ms May said.
Just a month prior to his death, Cassius' family lost his father, Sam, after a long battle with cancer.
"This is who we are as aboriginal people, and non-aboriginal people. We come together for healing," Max Jetta said in opening the ceremony.
"Look around and see how much support the south west community is giving you tonight. We want you to know we that are here with you."
Hundreds form a heart around Cassius's family in Wollongong
The family of Cassius Turvey was among the hundreds who gathered in Wollongong in NSW's Illawarra to pay their respects to the schoolboy who is being remembered as a jovial, community-minded spirit.
The candelight vigil started with a welcome to country and smoking ceremony, before the 15-year-old's family took to the crowd and shared their memories.
In a powerful address, Wiradyuri Noongar-Yamatji man Zeke Wighton, remembered his uncle Cassius as "the light in everyone's lives" who will be missed by all who knew him.
After the speeches, songs were played and candles were lit in Cassius' honour as the masses gathered in a heart shape around his family, with an Aboriginal flag emblazoned with 'Forever 15' in the centre.
Organiser of the vigil, Illawarra Aboriginal Medical Service trauma councillor Trish Levett, was moved by the turn out and said it was important to support mob connected to Cassius during this time.
"With a massive cry out from WA, our people have got to respect that and follow those Aboriginal protocols," Ms Levett said.
"We have WA mob here in community, so this is also about supporting them and their grieving time as well."
First Nations people take a stand for Cassius in Newcastle
On Wednesday, hundreds of people turned out in Civic Park, in Newcastle in NSW's Hunter region, to pay their respects at a sobering vigil for Cassius.
They're fed-up, sad and spiritually fatigued - but Justice Aunties founder and Awabakal/Gaewegal woman Aunty Tracey Hanshaw said they've got plenty of fight in them left.
"A lot of us Indigenous people were there because it's the story of our children," she said.
"This is the lucky country? For who? Not for Aboriginal children, and Cassius isn't the only one.
"It has to be stamped out. Everyone is mourning in this country because the end of Cassius' life has again shed light on the fact that Aboriginal people don't get a fair shake in this country."
The collective grief of Novocastrians was palpable at the vigil, where a statement from Cassius' mother Mechelle Turvey was read out.
It comes down to being a good neighbour, Ms Hanshaw said, calling out and condemning racism when it happens.
"We need to speak up, we need to step up, every single one of us," she said.
"We need non-Indigenous people, who we call allies, to call this out, help us deal with it and stamp it out.
"We want a voice to parliament, to be heard and to have action on what we say - nothing in this country will change until governments change their attitudes and stop systemic racism."
Among the speakers at the vigil was University of Newcastle PhD candidate, lawyer and Wiradjuri woman Taylah Gray.
In her view, the way forward to heal and make reparations is an Indigenous treaty - now.
"We need treaty rights so First Nations people can build our communities on terms that are safe for us," she said.
"Treaty between White Australia and First Nations people is the best way forward, it's a promise to take the best possible care of each other.
"We've had 200 years plus of humiliation, degradation, assimilation and violence that we have been subjected to - we are not inherently violent people, we've learned this violence from somewhere.
"We're fed-up, we're tired and exhausted, we should be able to walk home and get home safely."
