Now in its 11th year, the Lyell Duffy Memorial Golf Day once again brought the Duffy family and community together on 5 July 2026 to honour Lyell’s memory. This treasured annual event raises awareness of melanoma, promotes the importance of sun safety, and funds vital melanoma research.
Read Fay Duffy’s heartfelt reflections and browse photos from another memorable day. Thank you to Fay, her family and everyone involved for their ongoing support of melanoma research and commitment to raising awareness in their community.
“The AMRF was chosen by Lyell’s workmates as they wanted to have a fun event raising money and awareness for melanoma research in honour of Lyell.”
If you were introducing Lyell to someone who never met him, what would you tell them about him?
Lyell was a loving husband and father he adored his three children and his Granddaughter, He had a great sense of humour. The love Lyell had for our family always showed in all he did, he would attend dance concerts and competitions to watch our 2 oldest children: Marc & Shania. And go to all the football games to watch Jakob (our youngest). There are so many moments and things he did that make me smile most of these revolve around our family. He would always respond to texts with KO instead of OK.
His pet names and silly moments with the kids are something we still talk and laugh about today.
He had a great sense of humour, and could always make me smile just be giving me a mischievous grin, I’d often ask him what are you planning. He would patiently(sort of) explain the rules of football(soccer) many times as we watched Jakob play.
Just Lyell being Lyell would bring a smile to all of us.
Can you take us back to when Lyell was diagnosed? Did his diagnosis come as a shock to your family?
We were all very shocked. We had no idea that he was sick with cancer, let alone being metastasised melanoma. We got regular skin checks but his primary was never found as it was not a visible melanoma. It was so quick we barely had time to process the diagnosis as we lost him 9 weeks and 3 days later.
What made you decide to honour Lyell through a golf day? Did you ever imagine it would still be going more than ten years later?
The golf day was originally started by his workmates at Capricorn Correctional Centre (CCC), as a way for us to come together and remember Lyell with family and friends and raise funds and awareness for melanoma research. We took over after a few years & have run it as a family since 2019 – only missing 2020 due to Covid.
“We continue to fundraise as we hope that by doing so we can help fund research towards a cure. We have noticed significant advancements in treatments and outcomes over the years, and this is our way of continuing Lyell’s Legacy.”
What has it meant to have Lyell’s workmates and the Yeppoon community stand beside your family for so many years?
It is a true testament to the man Lyell was that he is still remembered by workmates and the community. We appreciate that people still support our family and the fundraiser in honour of Lyell. It is so moving to see people who work at CCC attend but they never worked with Lyell, it is a tribute to the man he was and that he is still spoken of at the centre after 12 years.
Is there a moment from one of the golf days that you’ll never forget?
The most memorable for me is the 2nd golf day when all of kids and our granddaughter were there together for the first time, they dressed in character onesies & the golf club didn’t know what was going on. And now due to work and them all living away from Yeppoon I treasure the days when all 3 of them can attend.
I must mention The toast to Lyell at the start and end of each day. Started by his workmates at the first golf day in 2015 and we still do this.
Why did you choose to raise funds for AMRF? Why do you think continuing to fund melanoma research is so important?
The AMRF was chosen by Lyell’s workmates as they wanted to have a fun event raising money and awareness for melanoma research in honour of Lyell. We continue to fundraise as we hope that by doing so we can help fund research towards a cure. We have noticed significant advancements in treatments and outcomes over the years, and this is our way of continuing Lyell’s Legacy.
When people leave the golf day, what do you hope they take away?
Our aim is for everyone to have an enjoyable day and feel proud to have assisted our fundraising in Lyell’s memory. We also hope that our days encourage people to get a skin check and be melanoma aware.
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