Jahmarley Dawson: Didgeridoo teacher strives to keep Indigenous youths out of jail

Despite falling on some hard times and having a checkered past, the busker says he wants to use his skills and experience to bring joy to the community and support children, teaching them important cultural lessons through music.

A Warwick didgeridoo player who has fallen on some hard times hopes to play a key role in keeping young Indigenous people out of jail by using his own experiences to share important life lessons.

Jahmarley Dawson from the Indigenous group Koomurri has been playing the didgeridoo since he was two years old and mastered the art by the time he was 14.

“I learnt how to play back to front, how to buzz my lips first to make my sound and then learnt the animal sounds and circular breathing,” he said.

Jahmarley Dawson has been playing the didgeridoo for most of his life. Photo: Madison Mifsud-Ure / Warwick Daily News

Dawson said it was this talent for playing the didgeridoo that helped him to turn his life around after struggling to hold down a job after being in and out of court for various crimes during his teens.

“I do (busking) to make money, but I also do it because I’m very proud. It’s also a skill set I’ll never lose and can always fall back when I don’t have a job to keep the money coming in,” he said.

Dawson said he wanted to use his experience to teach children important life lessons through music and how to put their energies into leading a successful life.

“My satisfaction is I want to teach young people like me the culture, I want to achieve a stronger resilient Aboriginal Australian community,” he said.

“I want to stop kids from going in and out of youth justice and put their minds into learning culture and knowing you can make money playing the didgeridoo in any place, as confidence is all you need.

“My main purpose in life is to rebirth our culture and make it strong, I want to carry on our legacy.”

Jahmarley Dawson busking outside the Rose City Shopping Centre. Photo: Madison Mifsud-Ure / Warwick Daily News

The now 25-year-old moved to Warwick a month ago to be with his mother and said he had so far enjoyed meeting the friendly people in town who acknowledged his Aboriginal culture while he busked.

“People are more (likely) to come up and have a yarn while I play here,” he said.

“I want them to leave Warwick having experienced the best didgeridoo player in Australia who lives in Warwick.”

Dawson also uses his spare time to carve boomerangs out of Australian eucalyptus using a jigsaw and a sander.

Originally published as Jahmarley Dawson: Didgeridoo teacher strives to keep Indigenous youths out of jail