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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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Backstory
Across continents and centuries, stories weave the fabric of who we are. From the unbroken spirit of First Nations people and Australia’s untold truths, to revolutions, leaders, and turning points that echoed across the globe — these are the voices and moments that shaped our shared story.
3 June, marks one of the most significant days in Australian history.
It begins with a man called Eddie Koiki Mabo. Eddie was born in 1936 on Mer — Murray Island — a small jewel of land in the eastern Torres Strait, homeland of the Meriam people. He grew up knowing exactly who he was, where he came from and where he belonged. His family's connection to that land wasn't something that needed to be proven. It was simply true. It had always been true. Then one day in 1974, while working at James Cook University in Townsville, Eddie sat down with l
Groote Broadcasting
6 days ago3 min read
Garma Festival.
Every August, something happens in the Top End that most Australians never get to see — and it's honestly one of the most extraordinary things this country has to offer. It's called Garma Festival...and our radio team will be heading there this year. The word "Garma" itself is a Yolŋu Matha term for "two-way learning process" — a place where freshwater and saltwater meet, where old and young, Yolŋu and balanda (non-Indigenous people) come together as one. That philosophy isn'
Groote Broadcasting
May 292 min read
National Reconciliation Week.
National Reconciliation Week starts today. And this year, the message is simple: All In. Not some of us. Not when it's convenient. Not just during the one week a year when it appears on the calendar and organisations put up a poster in the lunchroom. All of us. Every day. All in. National Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May to 3 June every year — and those two dates aren't chosen randomly. They mark two of the most significant moments in this country's history. On 27 May 196
Groote Broadcasting
May 272 min read
World Football Day.
Football has always been more than a game. Anyone who's ever kicked a ball around with family, or watched a community come alive around a match, already knows that. It connects people across language, across culture, across everything that usually divides us. Right now, with the FIFA World Cup 2026 just weeks away — the biggest tournament in history, spanning Canada, the United States and Mexico — the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has done something quietly extraordinary. They've a
Groote Broadcasting
May 252 min read
Bees are running the world.
Bees are basically running the world. Quietly. Without a salary. Without a single complaint. Just buzzing around doing the most important job on the planet while we largely ignore them. Here's the thing most people don't realise. Around 75% of the world's food crops depend at least in part on pollination. Mangoes. Watermelons. Almonds. Avocados. Coffee. Gone without bees. No bees. No breakfast. It really is that simple. And here's where it stops being fun. Wild bee species re
Groote Broadcasting
May 202 min read
Groote Eylandt is one of Australia’s most extraordinary island escapes.
Remote, rugged and deeply connected to ancient culture, Groote Eylandt is one of Australia’s most extraordinary island escapes. Located in the Gulf of Carpentaria off the Northern Territory coast, this wild and beautiful island is home to the Anindilyakwa people, Traditional Owners whose connection to the land and sea stretches back thousands of years. Their culture, language, art and storytelling remain a living part of everyday life on the island, giving visitors a rare opp
Groote Broadcasting
May 131 min read
65,000 years of unbroken connection to Country.
When Aboriginal people were already living, cooking, making tools and painting on the walls of rock shelters across this continent — the pyramids of Egypt were still 60,000 years from being built. Rome didn't exist. Neither did Greece. The entirety of what we call Western civilisation hadn't yet formed as a concept. First Nations Australians were here. Not just surviving. Flourishing. The evidence isn't mythological — though oral traditions carry their own profound authority.
Groote Broadcasting
May 112 min read
Cinco de Mayo.
Today, May 5th, is one of those celebrations that's travelled so far from its origins that most people celebrating it couldn't tell you what it actually commemorates. And that's kind of the story of Cinco de Mayo in a nutshell. It's not Mexican Independence Day. That's September 16th. What today actually marks is the Battle of Puebla — May 5th, 1862 — when a smaller, under-resourced Mexican army pulled off a stunning defeat against French imperial forces who were considered v
Groote Broadcasting
May 51 min read
Indigenous art is having a moment. A big one.
Indigenous art is having a moment. A big one. And that's both wonderful and complicated. Walk into any gallery in a major Australian city right now and you'll find stunning First Nations artwork commanding serious attention — and serious money. The world has woken up to the power, the depth and the extraordinary beauty of the oldest living art tradition on the planet. That recognition is long overdue and genuinely exciting. But here's where it gets uncomfortable. An estimated
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 302 min read
Anzac Day 2026.
This year, we want to make sure we remember some of the people who have too often been left out of that promise. When Australia answered the call in 1914, thousands of young men signed up to serve a country they believed in. Among them were an estimated 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who served with the Australian Imperial Force in the First World War. The precise figure will never be known — because a number of those who served changed their names and bir
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 252 min read
International Mother Earth Day 2026.
Today is 'International Mother Earth Day'. And the theme this year is "Our Power, Our Planet." Which feels about right. Because if there's one thing that's become pretty clear, it's that nobody's coming to save this place for us. Not a government. Not a corporation. Not some far-off agreement signed in a conference room somewhere. It's on all of us. Every single one. Now before your eyes start glazing over — stay with us. This isn't a lecture. Here's the thing about Mother Ea
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 222 min read
A glimpse into the life and legacy of Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM.
"Don't try and suppress me." Those were the words that stopped a nation in its tracks — and they came from an extraordinary woman. Here is a glimpse into the life and legacy of Rosalie Kunoth-Monks OAM — Arrernte Anmatjere woman, film pioneer, nun, activist, politician, and 2015 NAIDOC Person of the Year. Born in 1937 at the remote Utopia Station in the Northern Territory, Rosalie's life journey reads like something far too remarkable for any single human being to have lived.
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 152 min read
Gwoja Tjungurrayi: His story is one every Australian should know.
Next time you pull a $2 coin out of your pocket, take a proper look at it. That face looking back at you? That's Gwoja Tjungurrayi. A Warlpiri-Anmatyerre loreman from the Tanami Desert. And his story is one every Australian should know. Born around 1895, north-west of Alice Springs, Tjungurrayi lived a life that was extraordinary, brutal, dignified and quietly remarkable. He was a stockman, a station hand, a cultural custodian, a father — and a survivor of one of the darkest
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 92 min read
7th April: World Health Day.
The theme this year is "Together for Health. Stand with Science." Science has given us vaccines, antibiotics, clean water systems and treatments that have transformed human life. We are living longer and healthier than any generation before us. Most of us, anyway. Australia has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. But this high national rate is not one shared equally across society. First Nations males can expect to live nearly nine years less than non-Indigenou
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 71 min read
She stepped up to the bell of a gramophone and sang. What came out changed everything.
For more than a century, the world was told a lie. When Truganini passed away in 1876, British colonists declared the Aboriginal people of Tasmania — the Palawa — extinct. A people written off like a footnote in someone else's history book. They were wrong. Fanny Cochrane Smith was still very much alive. And she had something to say. Born in 1834 at the Wybalenna Aboriginal Establishment on Flinders Island, Fanny grew up absorbing the languages, songs and traditions of her pe
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 42 min read
Remember when "scrolling" meant looking through a photo album?
Somewhere between then and now, the world got a little bit... addicted. And Australia finally said enough is enough — last December, anyone under 16 got the boot from social media. Just like that. And honestly? Hard to argue with. Think about what kids used to do. They'd disappear outside after school and come back when the streetlights flickered on — dirty, tired and happy. Nobody knew exactly where they were. Mum wasn't worried because the whole neighbourhood was basically
Groote Broadcasting
Apr 12 min read
March 30th: International Day of Zero Waste.
International Day of Zero Waste — and this one will blow your mind... Picture this. The world produces MORE than enough food to feed every single person on the planet. Every man, woman, and child. Sorted, right? Wrong. In 2022 alone, the world wasted over 1 BILLION tonnes of food. That's roughly one in every five meals just... gone. And here's the thing — every single day, households around the world are throwing away the equivalent of at least one billion meals. Food that co
Groote Broadcasting
Mar 301 min read
Winning the War… But Losing Control?
In recent days, Donald Trump has declared victory — claiming Iran’s military capabilities have been destroyed and the conflict effectively won. But if that’s the case, why is the tone shifting? Why the softening language? Why the calls for allies to step in? Why the sudden talk of “productive conversations” instead of ultimatums? Because war isn’t just about firepower. It’s about leverage. And right now, that leverage sits in one place: the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly a fifth of
Groote Broadcasting
Mar 251 min read
Tropical Cyclone Narelle.
Even though cyclones are a familiar part of life across northern Australia, they’re still one of nature’s most powerful and fascinating systems. Cyclones don’t just “appear” — they build step by step. They begin over warm ocean waters (usually above 26–27°C), where heat and moisture rise into the atmosphere. As this warm air lifts, it leaves behind an area of low pressure at the ocean’s surface. Air from surrounding areas rushes in to fill that gap… and that’s where things st
Groote Broadcasting
Mar 232 min read
The logic of nuclear deterrence.
Deterrence means that if two countries both have nuclear weapons, neither side is likely to start a war because the consequences would be catastrophic. This is sometimes called Mutually Assured Destruction. During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union built enormous nuclear arsenals. Yet despite intense rivalry and proxy wars, they never fought a direct war. The reason: both knew that nuclear retaliation would destroy both countries. So in that sense, nucl
Groote Broadcasting
Mar 182 min read
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