I was quietly captivated by the Warumungu Elders – Rosemary Plummer, Marlene Plummer, and Miriam Frank – who joined Dr Shellie Morris AO on the open-air stage to perform their collection of homegrown children’s songs on a perfect, tropical ‘dry’ season Darwin afternoon. Joseph Shannon (guitar) and Matthew Cunliffe (piano) completed the ensemble for this event. 

From beginning to end, this unassuming and charming show offered the entire audience – of ‘little ones’ and ‘bigger ones’ – an entertaining, poignant, and positive inter-cultural encounter.

Note:  The Festival’s program flagged this as a ‘sensory friendly’ show – meaning that it was designed as (relatively) “less sensory-stimulating and overwhelming”.  It included a cosy hide-away (tent) furnished with soft toys, cushions, wraps and supervised by qualified local therapists – a ‘sensory calming space’ for ‘little ones’ who may have felt overwhelmed or overstimulated during the show. 

The show opened with an empty stage and a voiceover of words spoken in English and Warumungu – describing a storm’s journey and impact on desert country – which guided my thoughts almost 1000km south of Darwin, to Warumungu country. 

Through a collaboration with Dr Morris – who notably sings in multiple First Nations languages, though apparently only relatively recently in Warumungu, for this project –  their joint efforts have created engaging tunes – some upbeat, some soothing – cheerful harmonies, and easy actions paired with basic words conveying stories in both languages about common features of everyday life: seasons, animals, the environment, mornings and evenings.  As might be expected, these certainly appealed to the many ‘little ones’ in the audience who readily got up to sing, dance and copy the performers’ actions. A goodly number of adults – even those without any ‘little ones’ in tow – joined in with the songs and movements (including me).

Some of the show’s deeper resonances touched me in a different way and linger with me still; a standout being the astute observation that “…our stories are now your stories, and your stories are now our stories…our problems have become your problems, and we need to work together to find solutions and move forward.”   

Inspired by the sad reality that prior to 1788 there were at least 250 languages in use on the continent now known as ‘Australia’ and now the number of fluent Warumungu speakers is reduced to around 50, this show captures the Elders’ resilience, creativity and aspirations to enable younger people to more fully engage with their language and cultural heritage  – “…to speak in proper sentences, not just use single words.”  It’s also of note that the Waramungu Elders are one group among a significant groundswell of emergent ‘language champions’ across the continent reclaiming the power of their heritage in similar ways – including others who have successfully collaborated with Dr Morris. Singing For Our Little Ones gently reinforced for me that today there are many ways to “walk together, as one” if we all try, notwithstanding the different language/s that might be used. 

Singing For Our Little Ones was performed on the Inpex Sunset Stage on 9 August as part of Darwin Festival 2025

BY LESLEY MERRETT