David Bridie Awarded Honorary Doctorate From Deakin University

Acclaimed musician, composer, and activist David Bridie has received an honorary doctorate from Naarm/Melbourne’s Deakin University on Thursday.

Bridie, who has been constant figure in the Australian music landscape for more than 40 years, emerged out of the Melbourne music scene, though has spent much of the past 35 years focused on the Pacific, specifically the likes of Papua New Guinea.

Launching an ongoing collaboration with Papuan music icon George Telek in the ‘80s, Bridie, Telek, and his Not Drowning, Waving bandmates released the Tabaran album in 1990 on the 15th anniversary of Papua New Guinea’s independence.

Since then, Bridie has been a passionate and constant advocate for building a more welcoming Australia that is connected to and respectful of First Nations cultures and our Pacific neighbours, while also championing the careers of Pacific and Indigenous Australian artists through his not-for-profit record label, Wantok Musik Foundation

“Australia is a better country for knowing more and engaging more with the Pacific—our region is quite special,” Bridie said in a statement. “PNG is a really important place for an Australian artist to go. There is such a rich relationship between our two countries, most of us have family members who have been there in the first World War, or working there in the lead-up to independence.

“Many Australians with PTSD after the war went to work in PNG because it was a place they could be in the world,” he added. “The country is gob-smackingly gorgeous, and the people are warm, friendly and generous.”

While Not Drowning, Waving were a constant presence on the Australian music scene until their initial split in 1994, Bridie co-founded My Friend The Chocolate Cake in 1989, with his musical career up-ending the final stretch of his arts degree.

Though he might have won two ARIA Awards for My Friend The Chocolate Cake, one with Not Drowning, Waving, and one for his 2004 album Nautical Forlorn, Bridie explains that it’s a massive highlight to accept the doctorate.

“I never got my arts degree completed much to my mum and dad’s chagrin,” he explains. “They passed a few years ago, so this makes me feel quite emotional. They would’ve loved to have seen this.

“I am accepting the doctorate on behalf of all the wonderful artists I’ve worked with in PNG over the years. It’s theirs as well.”

Bridie performed with both Telek and a reformed Not Drowning, Waving performed Tabaran in full just last month for the Sydney Festival to celebrate 50 year's of Papua New Guinea’s independence.