WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised the following article contains the name and photograph of an Indigenous person who has died.
January 30, 2026
Cherbourg-born mezzo-soprano singer Maroochy Barambah – who also had a surprise hit on the US dance music charts – died on January 28, aged 70.
Maroochy, who was born Yvette Isaacs, went through the Cherbourg dormitory system before being sent to live with a foster family in Victoria.
She later attended the former Melba Conservatorium of Music in Melbourne.
Maroochy, who changed her name in 1982 “as a statement of pride”, made her operatic debut on stage in 1989 with “Black River” and later also starred in the 1993 movie of the same name alongside the Bangarra Dancers.
The film was nominated for an Australian Film Institute award for Best Screenplay and won the 1994 Montreal International Festival of Films on Art Jury Prize for Adapted Screenplay of the Year.
Maroochy also appeared in the popular musical Bran Nue Dae and the TV series, Women Of The Sun.
In 1994, she released a CD and vinyl single, “Mongungi”, which was recorded and mixed in New York and launched on the Barambah Creek flats at Cherbourg.
The video which accompanied the release featured Cherbourg children.
Maroochy also worked extensively over the past five decades with non-Indigenous communities, lecturing on cultural matters.
She was a respected Turrbal Elder but also had ties to the Gubbi Gubbi, Wakka Wakka, Kamilaroi and Birri Gubba peoples.
Maroochy is survived by her daughters, Baringa and Kulkarawa and her grandson, Dalapai.
