A two-year-old Dan Sultan witnessed history. He doesn’t remember it, but he was there in 1985 as governor general Sir Ninian Stephen returned the land title of Uluru and Kata Tjuta to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people.
On Sunday, the Australian blues, roots, rock and soul singer stepped out of the studio to return to the rock and perform at the 30th anniversary celebrations of that day.
It was supposed to herald new opportunities for the people who lived at Mutitjulu but the government had failed to make good on that implicit part of the agreement, Indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion had earlier told the crowd gathered.
The festivities did not gloss over the issues and disadvantage that persist for Indigenous Australians. Many speeches included moments of protest. It was a day of mixed feelings.
“I’ve been lucky enough to come here and perform here a few times now throughout the years, but to be here, and the handover [anniversary], it’s great,” Sultan told Guardian Australia.
“It’s obviously really important to these people, this is their country, this is their spirit. I’m from even more central Australia, north of here, so I’m as much a guest as anyone. I feel very honoured to be here. It’s very humbling.”
Sultan is an Aboriginal man, his country in the central desert, north of Uluru. His 2014 Apra-nominated song Kimberley Calling was inspired by a search for the grave in Western Australia of his maternal grandmother, whom he never knew after his own mother was taken from her parents as a child.
He was hesitant to be drawn on the issues presented on Sunday: “I think it’s unfortunate that being an Aboriginal person with a profile automatically makes you political. I think that’s a shame. But I think we’ve got a long way to go in this country.”
Sultan previously worked with Black Arm Band, an Indigenous arts organisation, whose name references the 2006 statement by former prime minister John Howard.
He says he doesn’t do much with them anymore, and doesn’t consider himself a political person. Instead, he says: “I see myself as opinionated.”
“The way we treat Aboriginal people, and the way we treat immigrants and refugees, I think we’ve got a long way to go. Like I said, I’m not a politician and I don’t know what the answers are but I’ve got an opinion about it.”
Sultan has previously spoken out about misguided segregation in the music industry, and racism in Australia. In 2012, he headlined the Rock for Recognition concerts, pushing for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
“For me it’s not a left or right-wing issue, or a black or white issue,” he told Guardian Australia on Sunday. “It’s just a matter of what’s right or what’s wrong. I don’t mean to simplify it, but in a lot of ways it is that simple. It’s nice to be nice.”
Once he gets back to Melbourne from the red centre, Sultan will return to the studio, but he’s not giving much away. “It’s feeling really good, we’re on our way,” he said.
“I don’t have the record label breathing down my neck – if anything they’re telling me to slow down and take my time. I’ve got a bit of an idea this time around, you’ll have to wait and see though. I’m changing it up a bit, keep myself on the edge a bit and have a few surprises.”
Later in the evening Sultan stood in front of the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags to play his set, as the sun set on Uluru.
- This article was amended on 26 October to reflect that land title at Uluru-Kata Tjuta belongs to the Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara people.
