Jerrika Pevitt and Tyleah Barr lent their voices to a world premiere event on the weekend.
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The Gunditjmara girls were one of 16 members of the Dhungala Children’s Choir to become the first to sing the war requiem Eumeralla entirely in the language of the Gunditjmara people.
Seventeen year-old Jerrika Pevitt said being involved in the sold-out closing gala of the 2018 Port Fairy Spring Music Festival was momentous.
“It’s amazing,” she said.
“Gunditjmara language is a language that was buried extremely deep after the colonisation and invasion of Australia in 1788.
"This is the first time in over two centuries that the land itself has heard the language, and the idea of that is completely insane.”
Eumerella, A War Requiem for Peace is the creation of Indigenous opera singer and composer Deborah Cheetham.
The performance was the final act for the festival, now in its 29th year.
The three-day event included traditional music and dance at venues across Port Fairy.
