Blak History Month: Jimmy Little

Jimmy Little — a proud Yorta Yorta man from Cummerangunja Mission in New South Wales — holds a distinction that should be far more widely known: he was the first Indigenous Australian to achieve mainstream chart success.

His 1963 recording Royal Telephone was the first recording by an Indigenous Australian to achieve mainstream chart success, reaching number one on the Sydney charts and number ten nationally. To fully grasp how remarkable that was, consider the context — in the 1950s, Australia's First Peoples were still more than a decade away from being recognised as citizens.

Jimmy recorded his first single in 1956 and rose to prominence throughout the 1960s, some years before the 1967 referendum. Royal Telephone topped the charts and became a household name, selling over 75,000 copies and going double gold. He was one of the first Indigenous Australians to write, perform and release a song, and to make a recording featuring an all-Aboriginal back-up band. As Archie Roach said of him: "He was a hero. He was our first pop star."

At the ARIA Music Awards of 1999, Little was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame, and on Australia Day 2004 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his service to the entertainment industry and to the community through reconciliation and as an ambassador for Indigenous culture. His career spanned six decades. A gentleman and a giant.