Thousands of students gathered at the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall from 12-16 August to perform in the 2024 Festival of Choral Music showcase.

More than 3500 primary choir students in total, and 700 each night, performed an ancestral Tiwi Island song, Wunijaka - Ancestral Voices of the Wind, composed by the Tiwi Island Strong Women’s group, which featured in the Australian feature film Top End Wedding.

Six members of the group flew in from the islands to attend the Australis concert on 13 August. The visitors surprised the students with a meet and greet prior to the show to share stories and sing with them.

The Strong Women’s Group has been proactive in creating songs in newer musical forms since the 1970s, encouraging their own children and grandchildren to learn Tiwi language and continue the Tiwi tradition of passing down ancestral knowledge to subsequent generations of custodians.

‘Wunijaka - Ancestral Voices of the Wind’ is one of the most loved and regularly requested arrangements. The song is about listening to the earth, trees, rivers, seas, and animals.

The group created a simplified version of the song for the concert series.

While the arrangement maintains the deep connections to Tiwi Country, it can also be performed by non-Tiwi people outside of the islands.

The NSW Department of Education’s Arts Unit worked with Dr Genevieve Campbell and members of the group to arrange the song for the primary school choir.

Strong Women’s group leader and Wurangku traditional owner, Jacinta Tipungwu, said the group simplified some of the words to make them easier for non-Tiwi children to learn.

“We want to share our songs with our countrymen down south,” she said.

“We are all (First Nations) mob together you know? All proud of who we are. Everyone can sing this song.

“(It doesn’t matter) what language they learn from their own Elders or their own mob maybe, like other Aboriginal languages. All of the languages are good for children to know about.”

The festival also featured the NSW public schools senior and junior wind bands, orchestra, Sinfonia, symphonic wind orchestra, stage band and the NSW public schools state choir, singers and junior singers.

Young performers have been nurtured and inspired through the Festival of Choral Music since 1947. The showcase is the longest running music festival associated with public education in NSW.

Relieving Student Music Programs K-8 officer Luke Wallace said performing in the Combined Choir was an exhilarating and rewarding experience that inspired students to pursue further musical endeavours.

“This concert series is one of the core state level arts programs managed by The Arts Unit. The series provides a unique opportunity for schools to access targeted high-quality repertoire and professional learning opportunities,” Mr Wallace said.

“The choirs sing repertoire which is specifically arranged and composed for them.”

The series of five concerts (Argyle, Australis, Barangaroo, Bennelong and Endeavour) involves thousands of schools and students from across NSW.