If you've ever visited the coastal regions of northern Australia, you've probably come across a djilawurr — an orange-footed scrubfowl.
NOTE: Gurrumul Yunupingu's family has given permission for his name and image to be used.
For the Northern Territory's Yolgnu people, this chicken-sized bird is a generational symbol of a relationship few modern Australians realise ever existed.
South-East Asian fishers frequently visited sites across Australia's north as early as 1700 — decades before European settlement — forging ties with Indigenous Australian groups, influencing their language and establishing international trade.
And now thanks to a new release of Rraywun Maymuru's song Bayini performed by Gurrumul Yunupingu, the little-known relationship between Australia's First Nations people and the Makassar of the Indonesian archipelago is back in the spotlight.
Bayini was first performed with Sarah Blasko, and then with Delta Goodrem, and now Gurrumul's voice has been posthumously released alongside Makassan singer Dian.
Together, they sing a Yolgnu story that has been passed down through generations.
During a trip across the Timor Sea, a woman is caught committing a crime. As punishment, she is tied up with chains and rocks and thrown overboard.
In the end, her spirit washes ashore in Arnhem Land, taking the form of the djilawurr.
'It's such a privilege'
Fresh off a plane from Indonesia, Dian sits in the cool aircon of Darwin's Skinnyfish recording studio, the grumbling of a wet season thunderstorm above.
She is visiting the Northern Territory on Friday, the same day her version of Bayini is released, and sitting in the same studio where Gurrumul sang many of his most famous works before his death in 2017.
Dian says she was "speechless" when first presented with the opportunity of singing in Makassar alongside Gurrumul. The assignment, she says, brought up a "mixed feeling".
"I was actually doing a duet with someone who's already not there," she says.
"I learned about the song for myself when we started the conversation with Skinnyfish about reproducing the song ... but in Indigenous languages from two cultures: Indonesia and Australia."
In the end, she says, the opportunity to collaborate on a project that symbolised the relationship between the two cultures was too important to pass up.
"[I] felt a connection to the song, and it was such a privilege when [I] learned that it's Gurrumul's song. Gurrumul is such a huge, prominent figure in Australia," Dian says.
"My music and Gurrumul's music — they are totally different.
"My music is kind of like the music you can find anywhere, but for me, Gurrumul represents a simple yet deep music."
Gurrumul's enduring legacy
Michael Hohnen was — and continues to be — Gurrumul's producer. He remembers fondly when Gurrumul travelled to Makassar to perform Bayini.
"We never got to actually record the version of it at the time," he says.
Releasing a new version that incorporates the Makassan language, Michael says, opens Gurrumul's music up to a new international audience and continues his legacy.
"We were really close, so it's always a pleasure to work on material of his, especially because I know how he thought and worked," he says.
"When I listen to ... his family, and the way they talk about it, it's like they are carrying on someone that they were so proud of into other people's lives and spreading the word.
"To quote his uncle Djunga Djunga — who was kind of like one of his spokespeople all his life — he just said that their message was to try and share with the rest of the world as much as they could about Yolngu culture."
Connection between two cultures reignited
The Makassan contact with Australia's north has become a keen area of study, but the exact date of when this relationship began is still contested.
It is believed to pre-date European contact with Indigenous Australians by up to a century, when South-East Asian fishers discovered and began harvesting trepang — or sea cucumbers — along Australia's coast.
This relationship spanned two to three centuries, up until the 1900s, and resulted in many words and stories being shared between the two cultures.
Dr Lily Yulianti Farid, who hails from Makassar, is researching encounters between the fishers and First Nations people at Monash University in Melbourne.
She says the history of trade between the two cultures is little known in Australia and has been largely forgotten in her hometown.
It's "kind of a footnote for our mainstream histories", she says, adding that she hopes to see it taught in schools.
The new production of Bayini has, in its own way, helped revive this spirit of connection.
Elements of the song's production and mixing were completed in Indonesia and Darwin, while the lyrics are shared between Yolngu Gurrumul and Makassan Dian.
It presents a chance to not only "revive history itself", Dr Farid says, "but to think about how do we shape our future after learning about our past".
"This one is special, because Dian sings in Indigenous language as well — in Makassan language."
