A GROUP OF YOUNG ABORIGINAL MEN FROM A TRIBE ON THE VERGE OF CULTURAL EXTINCTION HAVE JUST DISCOVERED THAT A LAW BOSS FROM A NEIGHBORING TRIBE KNOW SOME OF THEIR CULTURAL SONGS AND DANCES. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN PERFORMED FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS AND IT WAS THOUGHT THEY HAD BEEN LOST FOREVER. THE SONGS AND DANCES ARE VERY SIGNIFICANT - THEY WERE GIVEN TO THE MEN’S TRIBE, THE DJUGUN TRIBE, BY THEIR CREATOR DURING THE BUGURAGARRA (THE DREAMTIME). THEY GIVE THE PEOPLE THEIR IDENTITY AND SET OUT THE LAWS THEY MUST LIVE BY. THEY ARE PART OF A BROADER “SONGLINE”, A SERIES OF SONGS SUNG BY TRIBES THROUGHOUT THE REGION AND BEYOND, THAT RECOUNT THE JOURNEY OF THE CREATOR AS HE TRAVELED THE LAND GIVING THE PEOPLE THEIR LAW AND CULTURE. “SONGLINES ARE A LIBRARY OF INFORMATION. THEY ARE MANY THINGS: A ROAD MAP, A BIBLE, OUR HISTORY. THE EXAMPLES AND STORIES IN SONG-LINES GUIDE THE WAY WE LIVE AND GIVE US OUR UNIQUE CULTURAL IDENTITIES. BUT OUR CULTURE AND HISTORY IS AN ORAL CULTURE AND HISTORY AND IF IT IS NOT TALKED ABOUT IT’S FORGOTTEN. IN ORDER FOR OUR CULTURE TO SURVIVE IT MUST MOVE FROM ORAL TO DOCUMENTED. WE MUST USE ANY DEVICES AT OUR DISPOSAL TO KEEP OUR TRADITIONS ALIVE.” ELDER ROY WIGGAN REVEALED HIS KNOWLEDGE OF DJUGUN SONG AND DANCE ASSOCIATED WITH THE SONGLINE. UNTIL THIS POINT IN TIME IT WAS THOUGHT THE SONGS AND DANCE PRACTICES HAD BEEN LOST. DJUGUN PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED THROUGH MANY WAVES OF COLONISATION AND DISCONNECTION FROM CULTURAL PRACTICE IN THE BROOME REGION. DJUGUN PEOPLE CONFIRM BROOME IS THEIR SOVEREIGN COUNTRY.

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