TUCKED in the hills of Mundaring is a studio where a group of Indigenous men from Midland are recording an album of lullabies sung in Noongar language.

Indigo Junction’s Moorditj Maaman men’s group in Midland have come together every Friday for the past few months to share and learn language.

Their language sessions include writing and composing original lullabies as a legacy for their children and grandchildren.

In July, they began recording their first songs at Aerial Recording Studio in Glen Forrest.

Swan Aboriginal partnerships and development officer John Mogridge, who is also a Moorditj Maaman member, said this was a special Lullabies project as it’s the first that’s composed of almost all men.

“Moorditj Maaman men’s group was asked if we wanted to participate in the lullabies project and at first we were apprehensive,” he said.

“The members were not singers or songwriters going into this project, and were thinking, ‘lullabies?’, but we’ve always tried to push the envelope for the brothers, comfortably.

“The Community Arts Network (CAN) made sure we were all supported and fully guided through the process and working as a collective, it’s been empowering.”

CAN language facilitator Cyndy Moody said the Noongar language nearly got lost as it was taboo to speak it when cultural and racial discrimination was at its peak.

“People got flogged or thrown in jail for speaking it, and it wasn’t until the Elders came together to revive the language and get dictionaries written that it’s gotten stronger again,” she said.

“The project is a celebration of language and culture, and having the men involved is a big statement.

“We’ve written a song about Yagan who is a warrior from the Midland area, whose mother’s side is the Beeliar people.

“Booraka Yagan, meaning brave Yagan, is a group song written and sung by the group celebrating the theme of leadership.

“Yagan was a father, uncle and brother too.”

Ms Moody said the album would be named Maaman Weitj, which means father emu.

“This is the Mookaroo season, between June and July, where emus lay their eggs,” she said.

“The men are like father emus, who look after the eggs and care for them, so that’s why we’ve chosen that name.”

Parkerville youth and childcare cultural lead Anthony Culbong said there had to be a holistic approach to language.

“I grew up not too focused on properly learning the language until I got older and began realising how important language was to identity,” he said.

“But I always had people around me who spoke the language and I was glad it was still there for me to learn when I did realise.

“If we didn’t learn language, we lose sight of who we are as a race and a culture.

Mr Culbong said he had gotten a copy of their group-written song Yeyi Yokai, which means now celebrate in Noongar language, as soon as it was recorded and shared it with his daughter.

“She showed it to my three-month-old grandson who was smiling and laughing to the song,” he said.

“He really enjoyed the lullaby, and I think when you can surround our young people in our songs and language and imbed a love for it at a young age, they’ll come back one day and want to learn more – it’s a cycle.

“I think falling asleep to Noongar language, you’re bound to pick up some of it.

“It’s a beautiful space and a chance to show a softer side as Noongar men.

"We can be gentle, we can nurture, and be great role models.

“When we first started writing and singing our personal songs, we were all standing scared but once we got over it, we said, ‘we’ll give it a crack’.

“We don’t have the best rap, but this is a great chance to show a positive example of who we are and can be.”

The lullabies will be performed at the Midland NAIDOC event and an album will be released once recordings are complete.