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Explore powerful stories at the intersection of history, culture, and music—from Aboriginal cricket pioneers and war heroes to legendary albums by Hendrix, Miles Davis, and Gurrumul. This blog dives deep into First Nations resilience, iconic protest music, and untold truths that shaped Australia and the world. Engaging, thoughtful, and unapologetically real—where powerful voices from the past meet today's social conversation.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this page contains images and names of deceased persons.
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Music Spotlight: Saltwater Band, Gapu Damurrun.
There’s a special kind of magic when music comes from a deep connection to Country, language and culture. For Saltwater Band, from Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island in northeast Arnhem Land, that connection is at the heart of everything they do. Their debut album, Gapu Damurrun, brought the sounds and stories of Yolŋu life to a wider audience, blending contemporary rock and reggae with traditional influences and songs sung in Yolŋu languages. The band was formed around the late Dr.
Groote Broadcasting
6 days ago1 min read
“Innovate Today. Nourish Tomorrow.” World Food Day 2026.
Innovation in food isn’t just robots and high-tech greenhouses, as clever as all that is. Sometimes the most powerful innovation is ancient. For over 60,000 years, First Nations people were some of the most sophisticated food innovators the world has ever seen. Fish traps engineered to work with the tides. Firestick farming that shaped whole landscapes. A deep knowledge of bush food, seasons and Country that let people thrive sustainably in some of the harshest conditions on
Groote Broadcasting
7 days ago1 min read
A First Nations actor, a legendary civil rights family, and the biggest bank heist in British history.
Madeleine Madden is one of the brightest stars in Australian screen acting right now and she carries one of the most significant names in this country’s history. She’s the granddaughter of Charlie Perkins, one of Australia’s most important civil rights leaders, who led the famous 1965 Freedom Rides and became the first Aboriginal man to graduate from an Australian university. Her aunt is director Rachel Perkins. Activism and courage are in her blood. And Madeleine has carried
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 142 min read
A powerful First Nations voice takes to the stage: Leonie Whyman
You might already know her face without realising it. Leonie Whyman currently features on the hit ABC TV series Deadloch, the sharp, funny, much-loved crime comedy set in Tasmania...appearing both on screen and on its soundtrack. But acting is only one string to her bow. Under the name LEO, she’s a genuinely captivating musician. A proud Makwarra-Barkindji and Wiradjuri songstress, LEO is a multi-disciplinary artist who builds her sound live and raw, looping her guitar and he
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 121 min read
Music Spotlight: Nabarlek Band, Munwurrk (1999)
Hailing from the Northern Territory, Nabarlek emerged from the community of Maningrida in Arnhem Land, bringing together traditional cultural influences with the energy of contemporary rock. Their debut album Munwurrk, meaning “Bushfire” became an important early recording in the story of Indigenous Australian rock. The title track, ‘Munwurrk’, captures much of what made the band distinctive. Guitar-driven rock meets the rhythms, language and cultural identity of Arnhem Land,
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 101 min read
On This Day — 8 October 1975.
John Lennon won a major court decision barring US immigration officials from deporting him over a marijuana conviction. It was the latest and arguably most important chapter in a bizarre legal battle that had begun several years earlier. Lennon had moved to New York with Yoko Ono but his life in America became considerably more complicated when immigration authorities began proceedings to deport him over a 1968 cannabis conviction in Britain. Lennon believed there was more to
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 81 min read
Aaron Pedersen. One of the finest screen actors this country has produced.
If you've watched Australian film or TV over the past three decades, you've seen Aaron Pedersen. That calm, commanding presence. Those eyes that say more in a silence than most actors manage in a whole monologue. He's one of the finest screen actors this country has produced. Born in Alice Springs in 1970, an Arrernte and Arabana man, Pedersen started out not in acting at all but in journalism — completing a media cadetship before stepping in front of the camera in the early
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 52 min read
Music Spotlight: 'Countryman' by Frank Yamma.
There is something elemental about Frank Yamma’s voice...deep, weathered and full of lived experience. On Countryman, released in 2010, the Pitjantjatjara singer-songwriter delivers a powerful collection of songs about Country, family, love, loss, identity and the realities of contemporary Aboriginal life. Produced by David Bridie and Tim Cole with Bart Willoughby on drums, the album is beautifully restrained. Acoustic and electric guitars, piano, keys and understated percuss
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 31 min read
INTERNATIONAL COFFEE DAY — 1 OCTOBER.
For millions of us, coffee is part of the daily ritual. That first cup in the morning. A catch-up with a friend. A break from work. A conversation that lasts longer than expected. Coffee is the world's most widely traded tropical product and one of its most widely consumed beverages. Yet the prosperity generated by coffee isn't shared equally. The people who grow, pick and process the beans are often the most vulnerable part of the supply chain. Smallholder farmers in countri
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 11 min read
In a world of endless choice, 5.39 million Australians still reach for the radio.
Think about that for a second. In an age of Spotify, podcasts, streaming, and an infinite scroll of content in everyone's pocket, more than 5.39 million Australians still tune in to community radio every single week. Not because they have to. Because they want to. There are more than 500 community-owned and operated radio stations across this country, kept alive by around 18,000 volunteers who show up for the love of it. And the reason people keep coming back is the one thing
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 282 min read
Kardajala Kirridarra — Kardajala Kirridarra (2017)
Released in July 2017, Kardajala Kirridarra introduced the world to an extraordinary collaboration of Mudburra women from Marlinja and Kulumindini in the Northern Territory, joined by Melbourne-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Beatrice Lewis. The name translates roughly as “Sandhill Women”, referring to a mysterious bush woman from the sandhills behind Marlinja whose descendants are part of the group’s story. Musically, the album occupies a fascinating space between a
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 262 min read
"They never invented the wheel." An observation on a comment — and the thinking behind it.
By now we've all heard about the comments. A sitting Senator, on a podcast, describing First Nations people as "the most primitive race on Earth." Asking what Aboriginal people have "done in this country" in 60,000 years. Answering her own question with a single word... "nothing." And pointing to the fact that Aboriginal people "never invented the wheel" as proof. We're not going to spend this post being outraged. Outrage is easy, and honestly, it's what these comments are de
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 233 min read
Music Spotlight: A songman from the Gulf. A flamenco guitarist from Barcelona.
Ngulmiya Nundhirribala comes from Numbulwar, a coastal community in Arnhem Land on the Gulf of Carpentaria — just 55 kilometres west of Groote Eylandt, where his mother's family is from. This is Gulf country talent on the world stage. And what a talent. Ngulmiya is a traditional songman and ceremony leader — just as his father and grandfather were before him. His singing style has developed over thousands of years, largely in isolation in one of the most remote corners of the
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 192 min read
The day an Aboriginal man claimed England.
The day an Aboriginal man claimed England. And did it with more manners than the British ever showed us. Picture the scene. 26 January 1988. Exactly 200 years to the day since the First Fleet sailed into Warrane, Sydney Cove and planted a flag on land that was already home to hundreds of nations. Across Australia, the government was throwing a giant birthday party for itself. The Bicentenary. Two hundred years of "settlement," celebrated with fireworks and tall ships, while F
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 162 min read
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Music Spotlight: From My Eyes [1982].
A group of young Aboriginal men, most of them raised on Koonibba Mission near Ceduna in South Australia, came together while studying at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music in Adelaide. It was there, for the first time, that they heard the sounds coming out of Jamaica — Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Jimmy Cliff. Reggae. Music of struggle, of resistance, of a people refusing to be broken. And something clicked. Led by Pitjantjatjara man Bart Willoughby on drums and vocals, th
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 122 min read
Deborah Mailman: A Career That Changed Australian Television.
From a young actor growing up in Mount Isa to one of Australia's most respected performers, Deborah Mailman has spent more than three decades helping change the way Aboriginal people and stories are seen on Australian screens. And now, she's made history. At the 2026 TV WEEK Logie Awards, Mailman became the first Indigenous person inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame—an extraordinary honour and one that was a long time coming. She is also only the sixth woman to receive the
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 112 min read
Big Name, No Blankets : Warumpi Band.
In 1985, a band from the remote Central Australian community of Papunya released an album that would become one of the landmark recordings in Australian music. 'Big Name, No Blankets' was Warumpi Band’s debut studio album, capturing the raw energy of a group that was already breaking down musical and cultural barriers. Led by the charismatic George Rrurrambu, with Neil Murray and brothers Sammy and Gordon Butcher, Warumpi Band fused rock and roll with Luritja, Gumatj and Engl
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 52 min read
Alexis Wright: Writing from an unshakeable Waanyi worldview.
Alexis Wright is a member of the Waanyi nation, from the southern highlands of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Born in Cloncurry in 1950, she grew up to become not just one of Australia's finest writers, but arguably one of the most important literary voices this continent has ever produced. And that's not us being generous. Before the novels, there was the activism. Wright worked for decades across Aboriginal organisations and campaigns...on land rights, on mining, on community. Th
Groote Broadcasting
Sep 12 min read
Music Spotlight: The Fresh Prince of Arnhem Land — Baker Boy.
Born in Darwin in 1996, Baker Boy grew up in Milingimbi and Maningrida — two remote communities in north-east Arnhem Land. A Yolŋu man, raised on Country, immersed in dance, language and culture from the very beginning. And he took all of that — every bit of it — and did something nobody had done before. He became the first Indigenous artist to achieve mainstream success rapping in Yolŋu Matha. Think about how big that is. Rapping...one of the most globally dominant sounds on
Groote Broadcasting
Aug 292 min read
Little J & Big Cuz.
What do you get when you mix two cheeky cousins, a wise Nanna, a mischievous dog and plenty of imagination? Little J & Big Cuz! The much-loved Australian animated series follows Little J and his older cousin Big Cuz as they navigate school, family, friendship and life in their Aboriginal community. Along the way, they learn about culture, Country, language, history and the importance of listening to their Elders—but the clever part is that it never feels like a lesson. It's f
Groote Broadcasting
Aug 281 min read
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