Sculthorpe used his knowledge of the World Heritage listed Kakadu National Park from studying photographs and listening to recordings of Northern Australian Aboriginal music.
This enormous wilderness area stretches from coastal tidal plains to rugged mountain plateaux, and in it may be found the living culture of its Aboriginal inhabitants, dating back for fifty thousand years.
[citation needed] The music is scored for two flutes, two clarinets, two oboes, a cor anglais, two bassoons, a contrabassoon, four French horns, four trumpets, two tenor trombones, a bass trombone, a tuba, a timpani, three percussive parts, as well as string parts.
[5] The work was commissioned by Emanuel Papper as a present for his wife upon her birthday and first performed by the Aspen Festival Orchestra, under Jorge Mester on 24 July 1988.
[citation needed] The Australian premiere was given by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra to celebrate Sculthorpe's 60th birthday in April 1989.