Buga Yanu Junba Launch Celebration
Baya Gawiy Children and Parent Centre, Fallon Road, Fitzroy Crossing WA
2pm, Friday 19 September 2025
An afternoon of language, song, culture and coming together.
Tura, Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre, Baya Gawiy, and the Indigenous Literacy Foundation are excited to invite you to the Buga Yanu Junba songbook and album launch. Please join us for a relaxed afternoon of live music, food, and song-sharing from the Buga Yanu Junba songwriters and Fitzroy Valley community.
“Tanji parlipa martawu ngalimpakura wangki”
(We’ve all got to hold tight to our language)
Marmingee Hand, Senior Teacher (Walmajarri)
“... It’s very important that we preserve our language in songs and keep singing them to our children. These songs ... capture our language, culture and traditions of storytelling”
Patsy Bedford, Senior Language Custodian (Bunuba)
Buga Yanu Junba is a lasting testament to the strength and resilience of Fitzroy Valley educators doing urgent work to keep Indigenous language strong in future generations. Not only do these songs preserve the voices of Bunuba, Gooniyandi and Walmajarri elders, they also provide engaging, accessible teaching resources for language educators in the Fitzroy Valley and beyond.
The songbook published by Indigenous Literacy Foundation will be freely distributed across the Fitzroy Valley and available for purchase nation-wide, and the album will be freely available to everyone, everywhere.
Buga Yanu Junba - Album
Sing, dance, clap and play – the songs of Buga Yanu Junba are made for little ones, but carry big stories of Country, culture and language.
Created in Fitzroy Crossing on Bunuba and Gooniyandi Country, the album to accompany the songbook gathers 22 songs written by educators, Elders and musicians connected with Baya Gawiy - the early childhood education and family centre run by Marninwarntikura Women’s Resource Centre.
Developed across several years of collaboration with support from musician–researcher Dr Gillian Howell, Tura and the University of Melbourne, the collection mixes brand-new compositions with re-recordings of older community songs (shared with permission from the original songwriters and enriched with new accompaniments).
Sung in Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Walmajarri, Kimberley Kriol and English, the album celebrates the strength of Kimberley languages and culture while offering a joyful, practical tool for early-years learning.
Recorded in Fitzroy Crossing, engineered by Kieran Kenderessy and produced by Tura, this project came to life through Tura’s Sound FX program (running in the Fitzroy Valley since 2017), which places music-making at the centre of cultural exchange, language revitalisation and community-led creativity, building long-term partnerships with educators, Elders and families.
Buga Yanu Junba: Songs for young children - Songbook
From the heart of the Kimberley, in far north-west Australia, comes this special collection of original songs in Bunuba, Gooniyandi, Walmajarri, Kimberley Kriol and English. Created for young children - but engaging for all ages - these songs, stories and illustrations reflect the rhythms of daily life in this unique and beautiful part of the world.
The songs were written by early childhood educators, Elders, language educators, musicians, and school students from Fitzroy Crossing, Western Australia, and nearby communities. Many were developed through songwriting action research at Baya Gawiy Buga yani Jandu yani u, an early childhood education and care centre run by Marninwarntikura Women's Resource Centre.
Advisory group and co-researchers
Patricia Cox
Sue Loughlin
Amy Menzies
Annika Moses
June Nixon
Editor and Project Lead
Gillian Howell
Language Checkers and Advisors
Patsy Bedford
Maria Marmingee Hand
Susan Hoad
Joyce Hudson
Lola Jones
June Oscar AO
Eirlys Richards
David Bullen Rogers
Brenda Shaw
Songwriting Mentors/Facilitators
Annika Moses
Gillian Howell
Recording Facilitator and Coordinator
Annika Moses
Music Transcriptions
Lorraine Milne
Introductory Text
Patsy Bedford
Irene Bent
Patricia Cox
Samantha Frank
Maria Marmingee Hand
Susan Hoad
Gillian Howell
Robyn Long
Annika Moses
Eva Nargoodah
June Nixon
Cissy Nugget
Amarillo Oscar
June Oscar AO
David Bullen Rogers
Brenda Shaw
Designer
Lee Burgemeestre
ILF Project Editor
Samantha Mansell
Elizabeth Arrigo
Proofreader
Breanna Blundell
Tura acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn and create. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. With solidarity and friendship we say thank you.
