The grieving mother of two young girls who drowned in the family pool south of Brisbane last week has given a heartbreaking account of the girls' final moments.
Speaking to mourners at a public funeral for four-year-old Taya and three-year-old Patricia Young in Loganholme, south of Brisbane, on Friday, Renise Young spoke of the affection the sisters shared.
"They truly loved each other," Ms Young said.
"In their last moments they hugged each other at the bottom of the pool, that's how much they loved each other."
Dozens of friends, Family and Queensland Health Minister Cameron Dick, the local MP, attended the service at Tudor Park PCYC.
Ms Young, standing between the two tiny coffins carrying her daughters, praised the community for its generosity since the tragedy.
She also hailed her five-year-old son Aige, calling him a hero for doing all he could to save his sisters when they fell into the pool at the family's Kingston home on November 1.
"He tried to pull them from the pool but he had to let them go," Ms Young said.
"That was the hardest thing."
In a service that celebrated the young girls' favourite things, Aige joined other children playing on the stage bearing the two coffins as bubbles drifted across a big screen displaying a montage of photos of the girls.
Jonathan, a family friend, told the crowd the girls' loved music, dancing and movies - particularly the Disney film Frozen.
"They were sisters, princesses, with a very special love for one another," he said.
"This wasn't God's will, this wasn't what he desired ... this was a terrible, terrible accident."
Outside Ms Young wept as her two girls were carried into two waiting hearses.
She and husband Troy hugged each other before joining other mourners to release purple, pink and baby blue balloons into the sky.
Both parents then turned their heads to the sky as the balloons drifted up, not looking as the two hearses drove away.
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