Warlpiri Elder Ned Hargraves puts call to action in new song ahead of Walker Inquest findings

With the Coroner handing down her findings in the Kumanjayi Walker case, one Elder is demanding change – and he’s releasing a single to spread the message further. Find out more.

Senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves with Julien Jampijinpa Poulson, Warlpiri bassist Donovan Jampijinpa Rice, and percussionista Stuart "Tart" Robertson recording the song “Karrinjala Muajarri Mi – Jails are full of our children” inside the old Alice Springs Courthouse. Picture: Supplied

A new project is weaving “spoken word, ancestral language, and bush-band grit” into a clear message from one NT Elder, who’s demanding change five years after a 19-year-old was killed by a police officer in his community.

Recording in the Old Courthouse in Alice Springs – now run by Music NT – Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves, with the help of a band, has recorded the song “Karrinjala Muajarri Mi (put out that fire)”.

Senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves in Alice Springs. Picture: Gera Kazakov

Mr Hargraves said the song was for 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker, who was fatally shot by NT Police constable Zachary Rolfe in Yuendumu in 2019 during an arrest attempt.

In 2022, Mr Rolfe was acquitted of murder charges over the shooting after a six-week Supreme Court trial.

“I wrote [the song] because we lost a young fellow who was shot and that we were all terrified and very angry and we didn’t know what to do really,” he said.

“The message, actually, it’s clear … it’s very clear for white people as well as for Indigenous people, as the chorus in Warlpiri tells it all – it tells it all because it never should happen again.”

Musician Julien Poulson – who’s part of the Cambodian Space Project – is working with Mr Hargraves on the song.

“We’re weaving spoken word, ancestral language, and bush-band grit into a tapestry that rejects disposable music,” he said.

“While Karrinjala Muajarri Mi is a rallying cry against oppression, and an excellent stand-alone song, it’s Ned’s husky vocals sung and spoken in Warlpiri and our studio rehearsals that have sparked ideas for a full album or even a musical play.”

Mr Poulson said the song had been sent to Berlin, where it was getting mixed, with a proper launch planned at the Old Courthouse on July 23.

After Mr Rolfe was acquitted in the Supreme Court, the coronial inquest into Kumanjayi Walker’s death began.

On Monday, Coroner Elisabeth Armitage will deliver her findings in Yuendumu, roughly 293km northwest of Alice Springs.

NT Coroner Elisabeth Armitage. Picture: Glenn Campbell

A senior elder of the community, Mr Hargraves is calling for guns to be banned within the community – one of five demands by the family.

The family is also calling for an independent police ombudsman to hold police accountable for racism, violence, and deaths in custody; a divestment of prisons and punitive policing; greater self determination for Aboriginal communities; and a “reckoning” with the Territory’s mass incarceration crisis.

Ahead of Monday, Mr Hargraves said “we’ll just how it comes” when Ms Armitage delivers her findings, but had a different message for police.

“We don’t want any policeman to talk about it and say sorry, sorry, sorry. No, we heard that 100 times,” he said.

“We want them to drop the guns and then we will talk, we will listen to them.”