The latest is..

The last year has seen more recording, more singing, more playing and more work on old songs. The elders have been going through all the old song recordings we repatriated from Canberra with painstaking patience and we've uncovered some gems. Old man Justin Puruntatameri has had the extraordinary experience of hearing himself, as a much younger man, singing for a researcher's recording machine in 1974. Although quite hard of hearing now, he has been listening to his own voice (and commenting on how great it was!) and helping his daughters write down the words in proper Tiwi song language. We are collating these into a teaching resource, along with English translations, in the hope that young Tiwi men and women will one day take over from him and sing in ceremony.




The Strong Women continue their successful performance outings. In February they sang at the Chief Minister's Event at NT Parliament House to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin. The Tiwi mob saw the planes flying over first and tried to warn the mainland. A song and dance were created years ago to tell this story and the women were proud to be asked to perform it for the Prime Minister, the Governor general and important guests and Veterans. Calista Kantilla and Leonie Tipiloura were little girls back then and remembered the planes..


Calista and the Governor General Quentin Bryce.



Casmira Munkara meets Prime Minister Julia Gillard


Leonie Tipiloura (centre) and Teresita Puruntatameri chatting with a gentleman who was on the island during the raid (sorry I didn't catch his name).