Family, friends and dignitaries are gathering at St Mary's Cathedral in Hobart for the State Funeral of Australia's longest serving independent senator Brian Harradine.
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Mr Harradine died last Monday aged 79.
The family are not expected to speak at the service, but in a statement son Bede Harradine described his father as a humble man.
"Throughout life he never sought the praise of others. In death, he most certainly had no desire to be eulogised."
He said some at the service would remember Brian Harradine as a "fearless, determined, formidable" parliamentary colleague.
"For family, he was far more than a man with a three song piano repertoire, who loved a game of cards, and who once had a fifth share in a sixth-rate racehorse. He was a practical witness to self-giving love."
Former Prime Minister John Howard is among many past and present politicians that have travelled to Hobart to pay their respects
