Della Rae Morrison is an Aboriginal actress, songwriter and activist of the Bibulman Noongar people.
The daughter of Patricia Morrison and Eddie Parfitt, she was born in Narrogin, Western Australia and grew up in Albany, Perth and South Hedland. She left school at the age of 14 and began working at a checkout counter to help support her family. She later attended Hedland Business College and began doing office work. She lived in Melbourne and Sydney, later returning to Perth. [1]
Morrison began singing and acting at a young age. She performed in the musical Bran Nue Dae . [1] Morrison appeared in the Australian children's television series Lockie Leonard and has also appeared in various theatre productions and film. [2] She is musical director and co-founder of Madjitil Moorna, a community choir performing in the Nyungar language. [3] Morrison and Jessie Lloyd, vocalists for the award-winning group Djiva, created the Chocolate Martini series of shows for National Indigenous Television. [4] [5]
In 2009, she was one of the founders of the West Australian Nuclear Free Alliance.
She also helped establish a Noongar tent embassy on Heirisson Island in 2012. [1] [6]
At the 2020 Perth Festival she played the title role in Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company's production of Hecate. The performance won her Best Actor (Female) at the Performing Arts WA Awards in 2021.
The WAM Song of the Year was formed by the Western Australian Rock Music Industry Association Inc. (WARMIA) in 1985, with its main aim to develop and run annual awards recognising achievements within the music industry in Western Australia. [7]
Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result (wins only) |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | "Moodjebing" (with Jessie Lloyd) | World and Folk Song | Won |
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is part of the South West Land Division of Western Australia, with most of the metropolitan area on the Swan Coastal Plain between the Indian Ocean and the Darling Scarp. The city has expanded outward from the original British settlements on the Swan River, upon which the city's central business district and port of Fremantle are situated. Perth is located on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people, where Aboriginal Australians have lived for at least 45,000 years.
The Noongar are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast. There are 14 different Noongar groups: Amangu, Ballardong, Yued, Kaneang, Koreng, Mineng, Njakinjaki, Njunga, Pibelmen, Pindjarup, Wadandi, Whadjuk, Wiilman and Wudjari. The Noongar people refer to their land as Noongar boodja.
Yagan was an Aboriginal Australian warrior from the Noongar people. Yagan was pursued by the local authorities after he killed Erin Entwhistle, a servant of farmer Archibald Butler. It was an act of retaliation after Thomas Smedley, another of Butler's servants, shot at a group of Noongar people stealing potatoes and fowls, killing one of them. The government offered a bounty for Yagan's capture, dead or alive, and a young settler, William Keats, shot and killed him. He is considered a legendary figure by the Noongar.
Heirisson Island is an island in the Swan River in Western Australia at the eastern end of Perth Water, between the suburbs of East Perth and Victoria Park. It occupies an area of 285600 m2, and is connected to the two foreshores by The Causeway. The next upstream island is Kuljak Island, then Ron Courtney Island, with no islands in the Swan River downstream between Heirisson Island and the Indian Ocean other than the artificial islet in Elizabeth Quay.
The Pilbara is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a global biodiversity hotspot for subterranean fauna.
The Australian Aboriginal Flag represents Aboriginal Australians. It is one of the officially proclaimed flags of Australia, by which it has special legal and political status together with the national flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag, with which it is often flown.
Richard Barry Walley OAM is a Nyungar man, one of Australia's leading Aboriginal performers, musicians and writers, who has been a campaigner for the Indigenous cause. Walley is also a visual artist.
Noongar is an Australian Aboriginal language or dialect continuum, spoken by some members of the Noongar community and others. It is taught actively in Australia, including at schools, universities and through public broadcasting. The country of the Noongar people is the southwest corner of Western Australia. Within that region, many Noongar words have been adopted into English, particularly names of plants and animals.
Gina Williams is an Australian singer-songwriter from Western Australia. Williams has released five studio albums and is the recipient of seven West Australian Music Industry Awards.
6AR was a community radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. It was operated by the Western Australian Aboriginal Media Association and was on air between 1994 and 2006.
Noongar Radio 100.9 FM is an Aboriginal community radio station in Perth, Western Australia.
Yabu Band is an Indigenous Australian rock, roots band formed in 1998 in Kalgoorlie. The word yabu is Wongutha – a western desert tribal language – for 'rock' or 'gold'. Core members are brothers Delson (vocals) and Boyd Stokes ; and Jade Masters (drums) with Lionel Sarmardin. When performing live they are joined by Roy Martinez (bass), Elizabeth Gogos (vocals), Tony Shaw (didgeridoo) and Tim Ayre (keyboards)and other Supporting artist. They won a Deadly award in 2009 for Most Promising New Talent in Music. Delson Stokes Jr was the 1999 NAIDOC Male Youth of the Year. Boyd Stokes won Guitarist of the Year and Jade Masters won Drummer of the Year at the 2009 TOO SOLID Music Awards held in Perth. Yabu are a four time WAMi award winner.
Kylie Bracknell, formerly Kylie Farmer and also known as Kaarljilba Kaardn, is an Aboriginal Australian writer, director and actress.
Iron ore mining in Western Australia, in the 2018–19 financial year, accounted for 54 percent of the total value of the state's resource production, with a value of A$78.2 billion. The overall value of the minerals and petroleum industry in Western Australia was A$145 billion in 2018-19, a 26 percent increase on the previous financial year.
Kelton Pell is an Aboriginal Australian (Noongar) stage, TV and film actor, best known for his role as the court liaison officer, Sam Wallan, in the SBS legal drama The Circuit set in north-western Australia. Pell is from Western Australia.
Karla Hart is a writer, film-maker, dancer, actress and director and has been the event co-ordinator for Wardarnji Festival 2011- 2015, is currently the Drive time presenter for Noongar Radio which broadcasts in Perth, Western Australia.
Benedict "Ben" Taylor AM, also known as Cuimara is a Noongar elder from the south-west of Western Australia. Taylor is a well-known Indigenous activist.
Trevor Jamieson is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actor, playwright, dancer, singer and didgeridoo player.
Dorinda Rose Cox is an Australian politician and a Yamatji-Noongar woman. She is the first Indigenous woman to represent Western Australia in the Senate. In 2020 she won preselection as the Australian Greens' lead Senate candidate in Western Australia, and the following year she was appointed to fill the casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Rachel Siewert. Dorinda Cox was then elected as the Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia at the 2022 Federal Election.
Hannah McGlade CF is an Australian academic, human rights advocate and lawyer. She is a Kurin Minang Noongar woman of the Bibulman nation and is as of May 2022 an associate professor at Curtin University's law school. She was appointed Senior Indigenous Fellow at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2016 and has been a member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues since 2020.