Arabic version: تكريم ديرين هينش في جنازة رسمية بملبورن

According to SBS News, former broadcaster and senator Derryn Hinch was honoured at a state funeral in Melbourne on Monday. Hinch died on 10 July, aged 82, following a lengthy health struggle that he had documented publicly on social media.

Mourners gathered at the Timber Yard events space in Port Melbourne for the service, led by Hinch’s longtime friend and colleague Darren James. Hinch’s casket was draped with an Australian flag and surrounded by red roses, which symbolised deep love, respect, courage and enduring affection.

James described Hinch as “a journalist, a newspaper reporter, a TV presenter, a godfather, an author, a senator and, a prisoner”. “Some people pass through life without leaving a ripple, he created tsunamis,” he told the service.

Attendees included news presenters Ray Martin and Denis Walter, entertainers Rhonda Burchmore and Greg Evans, former Crown executive Ann Peacock, and Labor MP Danny Pearson, who attended for Premier Jacinta Allan. Pearson said that even people who did not know Hinch personally could feel as though they did.

Hinch moved from New Zealand to Australia for a journalism career, becoming editor of The Sun before working in radio. Known as the “human headline”, he later formed Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party and served as a Victorian senator from 2016 to 2019. Martin delivered the final eulogy, and the service ended with Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life, a song used to sign off Hinch’s daily radio program.