The Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir contains 25 core members. The women (and 4 men) come from six remote communities within a thousand-kilometre radius throughout central Australia - Hermannsburg, Areyonga, Titjikala, Mutitjulu, Docker River, and Alice Springs. The choir was formed as an amalgamation of various individual community choirs, including the renowned choirs from Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Areyonga and Ernabella.
Morris Stuart, the choir’s charismatic Artistic Director and Conductor, is the person who is responsible for bringing Central Australia’s sacred sounds to the world - Morris said, “I am deeply proud of this choir, when I started out little did I know that my work and this choir would become the stuff of legend in Central Australia and the subject of both a documentary and an ABCTV episode of Australian Story. There is something about music, especially singing, choral singing, which is powerful, transformative, therapeutic, that brings people together.” He added, “the choir's greatest achievement so far has been a 12,000km trip to Germany to share some of the 53 hymns that German missionaries translated into local languages in the 19th century. The songs had all but vanished from use in Germany but had been preserved in the Central Australian desert for 140 years.” Morris says, “the preserved German hymns are like an "outback secret".
Producer Andrew Kay said, “It is always a privilege to collaborate with the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir and with Morris Stuart, who I have known for many years now through our collaborations and love of supporting our Indigenous communities. It is a strong and special association, and it is most exciting to be bringing the choir back to perform in three states/with four performances”
The Central Australian Women’s Choir are proudly featured in the ABC’s current brand campaign for the celebration of the broadcasters 90th year. Focused on connecting Australians, the creative content is showcasing and highlighting the different communities the ABC engages with across its services. Four hundred individuals feature at the heart of the campaign. Led by our renowned Choir Director Morris Stuart, ninety choir singers including members of the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir perform on Arrernte Country singing a stirring rendition of the song in Pitjantjatjara language.
