Cirrus@Austlit

'"Treaty” was composed by Yothu Yindi in collaboration with Paul Kelly and Midnight Oil to protest against the failure of the Australian Government to honour the Prime Minister's promise to Indigenous Australians.

'Dr M Yunupingu's comments about this song:

'"This song was written after Bob Hawke, in his famous response to the Barunga Statement (1988), said there would be a Treaty between Indigenous Australians and the Australian Government by 1990. The intention of this song was to raise public awareness about this so that the government would be encouraged hold to his promise. The song became a number-one hit, the first ever to be sung in a Yolu language, and caught the public's imagination. Though it borrows from rock 'n' roll, the whole structure of “Treaty” is driven by the beat of the djatpangarri that I've incorporated in it. It was an old recording of this historic djatpangarri that triggered the song's composition. The man who originally created it was my gurru (maternal great-grandmother's husband) and he passed away a long time ago in 1978. He was a real master of the djatpangarri style."' [source: http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2013/06/03/read-lyrics-yothu-yindi-song-treaty ]

'Although not the first song about the enforced separation of Indigenous children from their families, Archie Roach’s song, based on his own life and experience, was released at a time when there was increasing public focus on the Stolen Generations. The significance of the song also resonated outside the Indigenous community with Roach winning ARIA Awards for Best Indigenous Release and Best New Talent in 1991. Took the Children Away received an international Human Rights Achievement Award, the first time that the award had been bestowed on a songwriter.'

Source: NFSA (https://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/curated/took-children-away-archie-roach). Sighted: 21/02/2019)

The story of Bran Nue Dae concerns Willie, who having been expelled from the missionary school in Perth returns to Broome on the far north coast of Western Australia. Before leaving Perth, however, he finds his Uncle Tadpole and together they make the journey home with a hippie and a German tourist. Willy discovers sex and true love and their adventures end in the revelation that all the principle characters are related to each other. The whole is a celebration of the multi-cultural life of Broome and of the failures by government and church to make the black population assimilate and conform.