top of page
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.
Search
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
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 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
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
On This Day, 4 February 1939: The Cummeragunja Walk-Off.
On 4 February 1939, a quiet but revolutionary act unfolded on the banks of the Murray River. About 200 Aboriginal men, women and children walked off Cummeragunja Aboriginal Station, near Moama in southern New South Wales, in what became one of the first mass Indigenous strikes in Australian history. This was no spontaneous protest. It was a carefully considered act of resistance against years of neglect, abuse and control imposed by the NSW Aborigines Protection Board, the go
Groote Broadcasting
Feb 42 min read
January 26: A Date That Still Divides a Nation.
Each year, January 26 arrives carrying two very different meanings. For some Australians, it marks the foundation of the modern nation — the day the First Fleet raised the British flag at Sydney Cove in 1788. For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, however, it represents the beginning of dispossession, violence, and the systematic disruption of cultures that had thrived on this continent for tens of thousands of years. This is why the date is widely referred t
Groote Broadcasting
Jan 261 min read
Colonisation: A Global Story of Displacement and Survival.
Colonisation is often taught as a chapter of expansion and exploration. For Indigenous peoples, it is remembered as a profound rupture — one that reshaped lands, laws, cultures, and lives across continents. In Australia, British colonisation from 1788 was built on the false premise of terra nullius, the claim that the land belonged to no one. This legal fiction ignored the existence of hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations, each with their own laws, langua
Groote Broadcasting
Jan 212 min read
Auriel Andrew - "an enduring influence on Australian music."
Auriel Andrew occupies a unique and quietly dignified place in Australian music history — a country singer whose voice carried the vastness of the Northern Territory and whose songs bridged gospel, country, and lived experience with remarkable grace. Best known for her 1969 album Just For You, Andrew’s work stands as an important, often overlooked chapter in the story of Indigenous Australian music. 'Just For You' is a gentle, heartfelt record that reflects both its era and i
Groote Broadcasting
Jan 172 min read
Plastic began as a “miracle.” Now, it’s one of our greatest environmental challenges.
Plastic’s story began with good intentions. In 1907, Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland created Bakelite, the world’s first fully synthetic plastic—hailed as a miracle material that could replace scarce natural resources like ivory and tortoiseshell. By the mid-20th century, plastics were mass-produced worldwide, woven into everything from packaging to medicine, transport, and electronics. Cheap, durable and versatile, plastic spread faster than any other material in huma
Groote Broadcasting
Dec 3, 20252 min read
Ivan Sen: The Visionary Storyteller of Two Worlds.
Ivan Sen is one of Australia’s most distinctive cinematic voices — a filmmaker whose lens captures both the vastness of the Australian landscape and the quiet, often painful introspection of those who inhabit it. A proud Indigenous storyteller of Gamilaroi descent, Sen’s work stands at the intersection of identity, belonging, and the struggle for self-definition in modern Australia. Over more than two decades, he has reshaped how Indigenous stories are told — rejecting stereo
Groote Broadcasting
Nov 5, 20252 min read
Samson and Delilah – A Haunting Masterpiece of Silence and Survival.
Warrick Thornton’s Samson and Delilah (2009) is an unflinching poem of isolation, love, and resilience. Told with sparse dialogue and extraordinary visual power, it captures the raw, often devastating reality of life for two Aboriginal teenagers in a remote Central Australian community. It’s a story that refuses sentimentality, instead revealing beauty through endurance and quiet connection. The film follows Samson (Rowan McNamara), a volatile young man numbed by boredom and
Groote Broadcasting
Oct 29, 20252 min read
bottom of page