Sarah Herrmann, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

Narungga young people are learning how to sing in language thanks to a short film included in this year’s Nunga Screen program.

Created by Narungga and Kaurna filmmaker Jacob Boehme, Wild Dog Dreaming tells the story of a cheeky boy cursed to walk the earth as a gadli (dingo).

Mr Boehme said inspiration struck at a family barbecue in 2017 during a discussion about a gadli songline connecting Narungga mob up through the Central Desert into the Northern Territory and Far North Queensland.

Mr Boehme conceived an immersive installation and exhibition called Wild Dog in collaboration with Narungga, Kaurna, Lardil (Mornington Island) and even Bunun people from Taiwan, because the dingo shares DNA with wild dogs from Asia.

The Narungga contributions were visual art shadow boxes created by Central Yorke School, Maitland, students, and the dance and puppetry short film Wild Dog Dreaming.

“It was all filmed on Guuranda, we shot it in four days and we had to shoot around tides, which meant very early mornings,” Mr Boehme said.

“I remember Caleena Sansbury, a Narungga dancer and family member, dancing out on the sand banks in Ardrossan, just below the cliffs when the tide was out.

“And we were so engrossed in filming Caleena that we didn’t realise the tides had come in around us, so we were stuck on sandbanks and we’re like ‘how do we get back to shore with all this camera gear?'”

Mr Boehme collaborated with Narungga songwoman Sonya Rankine to create the film’s soundtrack.

“With my work I try to do as much in language as possible, so we wrote lyrics in English to retell the story, we translated those into Narungga, and then Sonya found melodies to them,” he said.

“Now we have all these new songs in Narungga that tell the Creation stories of the Yorke Peninsula, so we’re hoping to get those into the schools so the schoolkids can sing them in language.

“The message of the film is not only is Narungga culture alive and strong, but our Country is beautiful and our language is beautiful.”

Ms Rankine said creating songs in language was a special project for her, having spent many years involved with language learning in Nharranga Aboriginal Progress Association and the Department for Education.

“It really began a whole new space for my songwriting, my love of First Nation language, and being able to create songs for Narungga people, families and community to hear,” she said.

“It’s really about cultural revival and maintenance because of the loss of language.

“Through the history of being forced to live on the mission at Point Pearce there was the mandate that it was illegal to speak your language and you would be punished by the mission managers.”

Mr Boehme and Ms Rankine recently held workshops at central and southern Yorke Peninsula schools ahead of NAIDOC Week (July 6-13), teaching the songs, which will link into the upcoming Grounded Art Festival (August 16-23).

“Seeing all these Aboriginal high school students embracing the opportunity to learn song and Jacob as a dancer showing them movement — these kids have never had access to this,” Ms Rankine said.

“It’s honouring and reinvigorating the work that has been done before us.

“We were singers and makers of dance so it’s continuing that tradition.”

Wild Dog Dreaming was screened at Kadina, Port Victoria and Yorketown earlier this month as part of Nunga Screen, a free program of First Nations animation, documentaries and scripted drama.

Nunga Screen runs between Reconciliation Week (May 27 to June 3) and NAIDOC Week, the latter of which is an annual celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

You can learn more about the Wild Dog exhibition by visiting countryarts.org.au/discover/first-nations-program/wild-dog.

This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 22 July 2025.