When the National NAIDOC Committee unveiled this year’s theme – 50 Years of Deadly – it was marking not just a milestone but what NAIDOC Co-Chair Steven Satour called “a moment of responsibility”. For Western Australia, that responsibility carries particular resonance. For it was here, in 1976, that Noongar performer and artist Richard Walley and Ernie Dingo helped create the modern Welcome to Country ceremony – a cultural gift now woven into the fabric of Australian civic life. 50 years on, Co-Chair Aunty Professor Lynette Riley frames the theme as honouring “the people who stood firm, who kept organising, creating and leading, and who ensured culture and community remained at the centre of everything NAIDOC stands for.” In Western Australia this July, those words find vivid expression across the entire state – from the Kimberley to the south coast, from the Pilbara to the heart of Perth. 

One of the most anticipated events of Perth’s NAIDOC Week celebrations is arguably Songs from the Six Seasons with Dr Richard Walley, a concert at Perth Town Hall on Friday 10 July bringing together Noongar Elder, OAM holder, and 2021 WA Senior Australian of the Year Dr Richard Walley with the Junkadelic Collective and vocalist Adriel Opum. The program maps the Noongar calendar – Makuru, Djilba, Kambarang, Birak, Bunuru, and Djeran – through an exuberant range of genres: blues, choral, jazz, reggae, funk, rock, and hip-hop. It’s a great concept – one whose logic Walley articulates with typical ease. 

“The seasons are a mixture,” he says. “And so is the music. You have bluesy, laid-back and lazy; you have reggae and a funky, jumping around where things are bouncing; you have the hip-hop, the whirring… so if you look at the seasons, they just blend in nicely to the different types of music. That’s part of the beauty of looking at nature’s influence.” 

The collaboration between Walley and the Junkadelic Collective – Ken Allen’s New Orleans-inflected junk percussion ensemble, founded in 2002 on a philosophy of “making funk from junk” – began with a spontaneous jam in Geraldton. The formal partnership crystallised in 2018 when Allen proposed recording a single track for the Birak season. Walley said no. “He told us that if we were going to collaborate, we had to do justice to all six seasons, not just one,” Allen recalls. “And just like that, the Six Seasons Band was born.” 

The conceptual alignment runs deeper than musical genre. Allen sees Junkadelic’s sustainability ethos as a natural counterpart to the Six Seasons framework. “At its core, our ‘Funk on Junk’ philosophy is about mindfulness and resourcefulness – finding value and rhythm in what society discards,” he says. “As Richard has explained to us, the Six Seasons framework is a masterclass in reading nature’s subtle shifts and living in harmony with seasonal cycles.” Musically, that alignment has required genuine transformation. “Normally, Junkadelic is a full-throttle, high-octane street party band,” Allen says. “But you can’t play with maximum volume when you are trying to capture the mood of Djilba or Djeran. Our percussionists have had to become incredibly sensitive ‘colourists’ – sometimes holding back entirely to let the horns tell the story.” 

For this Town Hall performance, Opum takes lead vocals across the warmer seasons, while the Djilba choral track has been reimagined as a purely instrumental piece with Walley on didgeridoo and spoken word. On paper, New Orleans brass and traditional Noongar didgeridoo might seem worlds apart; in practice, Allen says, “they lock together seamlessly. The didgeridoo sets the spiritual anchor, while our brass and junk percussion build the community house on top of it.” 

Walley, who founded the Middar Aboriginal Theatre in 1978 and has spent five decades taking Noongar culture to global audiences, frames what he does in terms not of responsibility but of something more fundamental. “There’s no such thing as responsibility – there’s obligation,” he says. “You’re obliged to pass those skills, what you know, onto the young ones so they can learn – but also they’re passing back to you some new ways and energies as well. So it’s a two-way thing.” On the question of legacy, he’s characteristically deflective. “It’s on the recipients to see what they say about the legacy. It’s about other people thinking, well, Middar has made an impact, this music has made an impact, Noongar has made an impact. We become a part of that legacy by sharing something that people can appreciate.” 

For Allen, working alongside Walley has been transformative in ways that transcend music. “When we work with Richard, we are very much the students in the relationship rather than the tutors,” he says. “It has honestly been the most profound musical journey of my career.” 

Songs from the Six Seasons with Dr Richard Walley, Perth Town Hall, Friday 10 July, doors 7pm, performance 7:30–8:30pm. General admission $20, mob tickets $10. Ages 12+. Book tickets 

Around the State: A Selection of NAIDOC Week Events.  

NAIDOC Week runs 5-12 July 2026. What follows is a small selection of events; there are plenty of other events and activities taking place across Western Australia throughout the week and beyond. To discover more, visit the official NAIDOC website. 

Broome – Kullarri NAIDOC Festival Broome’s signature annual celebration spans the full NAIDOC Week with community events, performances, and cultural activities in the heart of the Kimberley. visitbroome.com.au 

El Questro, Kimberley – Celebrate Culture and Country From 1-7 July, free daily sessions (4:30-6pm) at El Questro Station on the Gibb River Road offer intimate engagement with First Nations culture in one of WA’s most spectacular remote landscapes. Details here.  

Karratha – PKKP Community Event On Thursday 9 July, the PKKP NAIDOC Week Community Event at 7 Hedland Place (10am-2pm) brings together community for a full day of activities. pkkp.org.au 

Albany – Opening Ceremony, Symposium, Film and Family Day Albany hosts one of the state’s most detailed regional programs. Sunday 5 July sees an official NAIDOC Opening at Albany Town Hall (11:30am-1pm), followed immediately by the Kalyagul: Connections to Menang Country symposium (1-5pm). On Thursday 9 July, Albany Public Library screens Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra over lunch, while the Wagyl Kaip Family Fun Day runs on Friday 10 July at the Albany Leisure and Aquatic Centre. albany.wa.gov.au 

Geraldton – Opening Concert and Awards Ceremony The Geraldton NAIDOC Opening Concert and Awards Ceremony takes place at Queens Park Theatre on Sunday 5 July (10am-3pm) – a fitting way to open the week and mark the region’s First Nations connections through music and community recognition. cgg.wa.gov 

Kalamunda – Kaaditj Emerging Artist Exhibition Opening Saturday 4 July at Zig Zag Gallery and running through 26 July (10am-4pm), Kaaditj showcases emerging First Nations artists. A strong reason to take the short drive to the hills. kalamunda.wa.gov.au 

Armadale – NAIDOC Festival The NAIDOC Festival – 50 Years of Deadly at Bob Blackburn Reserve, Seville Grove (Tuesday 7 July, 10am-3pm) is a full community day with cultural activities, stalls, and entertainment for all ages. my.armadale.wa.gov.au 

Mirrabooka – NAIDOC Community Event Stirling Leisure Centre hosts the Mirrabooka NAIDOC Event on Thursday 9 July (10am-2:30pm) – a strong community celebration in Perth’s northern suburbs. stirling.wa.gov.au 

Merriwa – Mookaroo Festival The Mookaroo Festival brings community celebration to True North Block, Jenolan Way, Merriwa on Friday 10 July (10am–2pm). Details here. 

Perth City – Ngalak Nidja Bilya (We Are the River) On Friday 10 July from 7:30pm, The Rechabite hosts this powerful evening of music and First Nations storytelling – one of the week’s most atmospheric Perth events. moshtix.com.au 

Joondalup – Two Girls from Amoonguna, Film Series, and Workshops The nationally touring ACMI exhibition Two Girls from Amoonguna, featuring work by Arrernte and Southern Luritja artist Sally M Nangala Mulda and Western Arrarnta artist Marlene Rubuntja, opens at Joondalup Contemporary Art Gallery on 7 July and runs to 15 August, Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm, free. A six-week First Nations film series screens every Tuesday at Hoyts Joondalup from 7 July ($5 per ticket), and Saturday workshops run at the gallery from 11 July to 15 August (from $10–$15). joondalup.wa.gov.au/NAIDOC-Week-26