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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 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
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
![Music Spotlight: From My Eyes [1982].](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c5356_333729ee3d674455853045ca8770e4d6~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_1080,h_811,fp_0.50_0.50,q_35,blur_30,enc_avif,quality_auto/4c5356_333729ee3d674455853045ca8770e4d6~mv2.png)
![Music Spotlight: From My Eyes [1982].](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/4c5356_333729ee3d674455853045ca8770e4d6~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_1080,h_811,fp_0.50_0.50,q_95,enc_avif,quality_auto/4c5356_333729ee3d674455853045ca8770e4d6~mv2.png)
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
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
The media has enormous power to shape what people know.
What happens when the stories we hear about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are overwhelmingly stories about crime, disadvantage and conflict? We start to believe that those stories are the whole story. That was one of the concerns raised during the Australian Parliament's current inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The inquiry is examining not only racism itself, but also the influence of social media
Groote Broadcasting
Aug 132 min read
Our closing story for Blak History Month: Amethea Mamarika.
Amethea Mamarika is one of the leading voices on Groote Eylandt, combining a passion for community, language and culture with a remarkable career in broadcasting. A proud member of the Mamarika Clan—one of the 14 major clan groups of Groote Eylandt—Amethea joined Groote Broadcasting's Anindilyakwa Radio in 2019. Her natural leadership, commitment to community and exceptional broadcasting skills quickly saw her rise through the ranks, and in April 2021 she was appointed Statio
Groote Broadcasting
Jul 312 min read
Blak History Month: The Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir. Voices That Carry Culture Across Generations.
Music has always been a powerful way to share stories, preserve culture and bring people together. Few groups embody that spirit more beautifully than the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir. Made up of women from remote communities across Central Australia, the choir is unlike any other. Their performances blend centuries-old Lutheran hymns with the rich sounds of Aboriginal languages including Arrarnta and Pitjantjatjara, creating a musical tradition that is both de
Groote Broadcasting
Jul 112 min read
Blak History Month: Warumpi Band; The Sound of a New Australia.
Before Indigenous music was regularly heard on mainstream radio, four young men from the remote community of Papunya were quietly changing Australian music forever. Formed in 1980, Warumpi Band became one of the country's first Aboriginal rock bands to achieve national recognition. Their music blended infectious rock rhythms with stories of Country, family and identity, creating a sound that was unmistakably Australian. What made Warumpi Band truly groundbreaking was their fe
Groote Broadcasting
Jul 42 min read
Blak History Month: The hidden history of Aboriginal stockmen and stockwomen.
This is a story that doesn't get told nearly enough — the hidden history of Aboriginal stockmen and stockwomen, and the back-breaking, brilliant, largely unacknowledged role they played in shaping rural Australia as we know it. From the earliest days of European pastoral expansion, Aboriginal people didn't just work the land — they made the industry possible. Station owners conceded they could not survive without Aboriginal knowledge and labour — pastoralists were even willin
Groote Broadcasting
Jul 33 min read
Blak History Month 2026.
This July 2026, we celebrate Blak History Month — a powerful time to honour the strength, survival, and sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It’s more than a look back — it’s a spotlight on the truth, brilliance, and resistance that continues to shape this country. Blak History Month is about truth-telling — unfiltered, unapologetic, and proud. This is a time to remember our warriors, our artists, our trailblazers. A time to reflect on injustices, cel
Groote Broadcasting
Jul 11 min read
NAIDOC Week is almost here — and this year is a big one. The 50th.
Most people know NAIDOC Week as a time of celebration. Flags flying, art, dancing, community events, kids learning culture at school. And it absolutely is all of that. But the story of how it began? That's something every Australian should know. Because NAIDOC didn't start as a party. It started as a protest. Back in 1938, on the 150th anniversary of British colonisation, Aboriginal leaders organised what they called the Day of Mourning. While the rest of the country celebrat
Groote Broadcasting
Jun 262 min read
Music Spotlight | Frank Yamma
Central Australia has a sound. It's in the heat that radiates off red rock at dusk, in the dry creek beds, in the silence that stretches further than most people are comfortable with. Frank Yamma somehow put all of that into a guitar and a voice — and the result is some of the most honest music this country has ever produced. Frank was born at a waterhole in Kaltukatjara in Australia's Northern Territory and grew up in Alice Springs. His father, Isaac Yamma, was a pioneer — o
Groote Broadcasting
Jun 132 min read
Barunga Festival: What It Is, Why It Matters, and Why You Should Know About It
If you've never heard of Barunga Festival, you're not alone — but you probably should have. Every King's Birthday long weekend in June, something quietly extraordinary happens in a small Aboriginal community 80 kilometres southeast of Katherine in the Northern Territory. Thousands of people roll in from across Australia — and beyond — set up tents in the red dust, and spend three days immersed in one of the most authentic Indigenous cultural experiences this country has to of
Groote Broadcasting
Jun 84 min read
Music Spotlight | BRIGGS.
Some artists make music. Briggs makes history. And he's been doing it so consistently, so fearlessly, for so long, that it's easy to forget just how much ground this bloke has covered. Adam Briggs — born and raised in Shepparton, Victoria — is a proud Yorta Yorta man, and he wears that identity literally: the name of his people is tattooed on both forearms. "So every time I rock the mic," he's said, "people know that I am representing." That says everything about where he's c
Groote Broadcasting
May 303 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
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
We are now LIVE at 5.00am!
New broadcasting times are now in effect and don't forget the sensational sista's Amathea and Jaslyn will be starting their new Daily Show soon! Stay tuned.
Groote Broadcasting
May 41 min read
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