Archie Roach, Shellie Morris And More Team Up For Compilation Album

National arts and social-justice company Big hART has paired some of Australia's most renowned Indigenous artists and some pretty talented non-Indigenous musicians with the Western Australian town of Roebourne in the Pilbara to create a beautiful commemoration project.

Marking the 30th anniversary of John Pat's 1983 passing in a police cell, creatives, prisoners and community members have been collaborating on two and half years worth of workshops run by Big hART in the Roebourne Prison as apart of the inter-generational arts, multi-platorm Yijala Yala Project.

Enlisting the help of John Bennett, Archie Roach, Shellie Morris, Emma Donovan, Lucky Oceans, Harry Hookey, Bill Chambers, The Last Kinection, Trevor Jamieson and David Hyams, the prisoners and community collaborated with the musicians to write songs for LP Murru.

The musicians involved have been blown away by the project, honoured and privileged to be on board.

 “Being able to create songs about strength, courage and fortitude was a really important part of the project for me,” said Shellie Morris.

“There is so much history, so much to be done, so much that has been done, that each song and each lyric has a whole lot of history behind it.

“I am truly proud to have been part of it.”

Big hART hopes the album and local theatrical production Hipbone Sticking Out will create awareness and discussion about the need for decreasing Indigenous incarceration rates and stop preventable deaths in custody.

In a great first step, Murru's Our Ways, Our Stories written by Tyson Mowarin of Roebourne and performed by John Bennett has been nominated for the WAM Song of the Year in the Indigenous category.

Additionally, at the same time as the album's September launch in Fremantle, the Western Australian government passed a bill to apologise to John's mother, Mavis Pat and her family for John's tragic death.

Murru is on sale now at JB Hi Fi and iTunes.