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 ]