My name's Richard Frankland. I'm a Gunditjmara fellow, which in my language means Family of Man. [MUSIC] I've been a musician since I was maybe 11, and I wrote my first song when I was 12. When I was growing up in Australia, there was the Assimilation Policies, which we're about taking away aboriginal children from their homes. Strangely enough, more aboriginal children in Australia and Victoria are being removed from their homes now. My whole life has been about when you've got art, you've got voice, and when you've got voice, you've got freedom. And with freedom comes responsibility. And I often ask people, what are you doing with your freedom? What are you doing with your voice? And what voice are you facilitating? I used to be a soldier, a fisherman, I was a Royal Commission investigator, investigating the deaths of my people in jail. I've been all over this country, and some wars around the world too. Not as a soldier, but as an artist. Let me give you an example of why I say art is voice. Because there's lots of different voices. A long time ago, when I was young, a man was locked up because he spat on a white man. And he got sentenced to two months hard labor. [MUSIC] And he appealed the sentence and the next magistrate said, Mr. Neal, you're an agitator and a stirrer. I've been locking your people up for years and they're perfectly happy with their lot, and gave him six months. So Mr. Neal appealed to the county court, which in Australia is a powerful court. A bloke called Justice Lionel Murphy said, Mr. Neal, I note that when the magistrate locked you up, he said that you're and agitator and a stirrer. Well if you are sir, you're in perfectly good company. [MUSIC] Because, as Oscar Wilde says, in The Soul of Man Under Socialism, agitators and stirrers are a meddling bunch of people who go down to perfectly content levels of society and sow seeds of discontent, thereby shaping a better civilisation and humanity. Which is why they're so absolutely necessary. he said, agitators and stirrers are a meddling bunch of people who go down to perfectly content levels of society and sow seeds of discontent, thereby shaping a better civilisation and humanity. Which is why, why, why, Which is why, why, why, they're so absolutely necessary. Lawbreaker what law, what laws have you broken? lawbreaker, yeah, yeah what laws, what laws have they made, made, made and do they call you those people of dispossession Are you a healer born a soldier, soldier made do they call you people of dispossession, with these laws they made Are you a healer born a soldier, soldier made two hundred years is a long long time two hundred years, I’ve been crying all this time two hundred years, I’ve been crying all this time two hundred years, what is yours, what is mine two hundred years ain’t no more crying this time When you got art you got voice when you got voice, you got freedom and with freedom comes responsibility and you gotta ask yourself Are you being responsible with your freedom? agitators and stirrers are a meddling bunch of people who go down to perfectly content levels of society and sow seeds of discontent, thereby shaping a better civilisation and humanity which is why, why, why, which is why, why, why, which is why, why, why, You're so absolutely necessary.