Maroochy Barambah was born on the Cherbourg Aboriginal Reserve, but has close ancestral links with the Sunshine Coast. She is in fact Maroochy Shire's Honorary Ambassador. She rose to international prominence in 1993 in the multi-award winning Australian opera 'Black River'. She was the first Australian to perform at the United Nations in New York in honour of the International Year for the World's Indigenous Peoples in 1993. As the first Indigenous Australian Dramatic Arts graduate, she has developed a repertoire that covers jazz, blues, negro spirituals, as well as traditional and contemporary Aboriginal song and dance. She has been the recipient of many awards within Australia and overseas. She investigated her ancestral origins and studied the languages of the Turrbal people of Brisbane, and the Ningy Ningy people whose tribunal boundaries in Redcliffe overlap the Sunshine Coast's southern boundaries. Every year, Maroochy attends USC's Graduation ceremonies to deliver a Traditional Blessing on behalf of the original inhabitants, some of whom were her ancestors.