Buga Yanu Junba (Songs for young children) is an album that shares original songs created as part of Tura’s ongoing Sound FX music residencies in Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, directed by Dr Gillian Howell. Each track was recorded by the songwriters and their family members, along with Kimberley musicians, other members of the Fitzroy Crossing community, and the Sound FX team.<p></p>
NTRO Output Type
- Recorded or Rendered Work
NTRO Output Category
- Recorded or Rendered Work : Audio / visual recording
Place
Perth, WANTRO Publisher
TuraMedium
audio recordingResearch Statement
Research background
This album emerges from a community-led songwriting project in Fitzroy Crossing that sought to strengthen First Languages and Indigenise early childhood education. The research asked how collaborative songwriting and vocal performance could support language transmission, wellbeing, and cultural continuity for young children. Situated within community music, Indigenous education, and composition, the album responds to a gap in culturally grounded musical resources for early years learning. It asks how facilitation, co-creation, and recording processes can be mobilised to create high-quality language-learning artefacts grounded in local epistemologies.
Research contribution
The album offers original compositions co-written with 30 contributors, including senior language speakers, educators, families, and children. As co-composer of 16 tracks, I helped develop and articulate an innovative relational songwriting and recording methodology that foregrounds Indigenous knowledge and intergenerational participation. The album advances music composition research by demonstrating how collaborative song facilitation can be adapted for endangered-language contexts. It also extends First Nations education research by generating new evidence of how song-based creative processes can embed cultural knowledge, build educator capacity, and strengthen linguistic confidence.
Research significance
The album’s excellence is demonstrated through significant community uptake: the songs are now embedded in daily practice at Baya Gawiy and Fitzroy Valley District High School. Dissemination includes 10 radio interviews, a national NITV news feature, and extensive local performances. The work contributed directly to Tura’s successful $505,000 Indigenous Languages and Arts grant and has been endorsed by the Kimberley Language Resource Centre. Its integration into early childhood and school curricula demonstrates its enduring cultural, educational, and artistic impact.Size or Duration of Work
58 min 49 secAffiliation
Gillian Howell, University of Melbourne
