Spinifex Gum is an Australian musical collective based in Cairns, a collaboration between the Indigenous ensemble the Marliya Choir, Felix Riebl and Ollie McGill of the Melbourne band The Cat Empire, Lyn Williams, and Deborah Brown.
[3] Their songs tell traditional stories of the Yindjibarndi people, protest the treatment of Indigenous Australians by the justice system, and decry the effect of dams and mining in the Pilbara, such as the threats to the Weelumurra Caves and the destruction of Juukan Gorge.
[1] Unlike a traditional choir, each singer has an individual microphone, and their choral harmonies are combined with recorded environmental samples of the Pilbara region over contemporary pop basslines.
[4][5] The song cycle was recorded as the studio album Spinifex Gum in 2017, and toured with activists and artists Emma Donovan, Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett, and Adam Briggs.
[1] The group also released a single with Briggs, "Locked Up", and another, "Mrs Dhu", both protesting the treatment of incarcerated Indigenous people.