This poster shows the details of a vigil to be held in Eden on Wednesday night in support of Cassius Turvey. Photo: Supplied.
A vigil will be held in Eden to support an Indigenous Australian teenager with family connections to the town who tragically died in Western Australia last month and whose death has reverberated around the nation.
Cassius Turvey was allegedly attacked in Perth while walking home from school with his friends on 13 October.
The 15-year-old died in hospital later that month and a 21-year-old man has been charged with murder over his death.
As part of the national outpouring of grief, vigils are being held around the country, including in the NSW Far South Coast town of Eden.
Community member Alison Simpson said her brother’s wife is Cassius’s first cousin.
She also said his family had lived in Eden and his father had visited the town frequently.
Ms Simpson said she had spoken to an Aboriginal woman in the town earlier this week, who said when she heard the news she looked at her son, who was of a similar age to Cassius.
“She started to tear up when she spoke to me and said, ‘I looked at him and thought it could have been my boy’,” Ms Simpson said.
“There’s a lot of fear in the idea that it could have been my child or it could have been my grandson.
“Sorrow is the main emotion [in the local community]. One, it was the death of a child and two, it was something that didn’t need to happen.”
She encouraged everyone to attend the one-hour vigil at the Eden RSL Hall at 6 pm on Wednesday (2 November).
“It doesn’t matter if you didn’t know him or he was a stranger, it is about showing what happened to him is not OK and we stand in support of him and stand in support of a family that’s grieving as well,” Ms Simpson said.
At the vigil there will be a smoking ceremony, a Welcome to Country, one minute’s silence, a local duo who will sing, and it will be closed by a pastor in prayer.
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