James Ronald Chi (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical ''

Bran Nue Dae __NOTOC__ ''Bran Nue Dae'' is a 1990 musical set in Broome, Western Australia, that tells stories and of issues relating to Indigenous Australians. It was written by Jimmy Chi and his band Kuckles and friends, and was the first Aboriginal Aust ...

'', which was adapted for film in 2009.

Early life and education

James Ronald Chi was born in

Broome, Western Australia Broome, also known as Rubibi by the Yawuru, Yawuru people, is a coastal Pearl hunting, pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The town recorded a population of 14,6 ...

in 1948 to a father of Chinese and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

descent and a mother of

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

and Aboriginal ( Bardi and Nyulnyul) descent. Chi attended a Catholic school in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

, and went on to university in WA. However, he was involved in a serious car accident, and, after coming out of a three-week coma, developed bipolar affective disorder. He became severely depressed, but was helped by his faith. After returning to Broome in 1970, he bought a guitar and started writing songs, initially on his own. Stephen Pigram and Michael Manolis joined him in songwriting, and in the early 1980s the three of them, along with Garry Gower and Patrick Bin Amat moved to

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, to study music at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music (CASM) and the

University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide is a public university, public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. Its main campus in the Adelaide city centre includes many Sa ...

Career

The five friends from Broome formed the band Kuckles in 1981, with Chi as one of the three songwriters, along with Manolis and Pigram. Chi's most acclaimed work is ''

'', written in collaboration with his band Kuckles,

Scrap Metal Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

, The Pigram Brothers, and friends. ''Bran Nue Dae'' is a partly autobiographical work which took many years to write. It celebrates family, forgiveness, and

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Books * Reconciliation (Under the North Star), ''Reconciliation'' (''Under the North Star''), the third volume of the ''Under the ...

, and was a hit at the Festival of Perth in 1990 where it was performed by the Black Swan Theatre. It went on to tour Australia extensively and it was Australia's most successful musical play of the early 1990s. A documentary film about it was made in 1991. One of the famous verses from a song in the musical sums up Chi's dry humour and sharp political approach:

There's nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine
and watch you take my precious land away.
For nothing gives me greater joy
than to watch you fill each girl and boy
with superficial existential shit.

The musical won the prestigious Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards in 1990. The following year the published script and score won the Special Award in the

Western Australian Premier's Book Awards The Western Australian Premier's Book Awards is an annual book award provided by the Government of Western Australia, and managed by the State Library of Western Australia. History and format Annual literary awards were inaugurated by the Wes ...

. It brought acclaim for many Aboriginal artists, including

Ernie Dingo Ernest Ashley Dingo Member of the Order of Australia, AM (born 31 July 1956) is an Indigenous Australians, Indigenous Australian actor, television presenter and comedian, originating from the Yamatji people of the Murchison (Western Australia), ...

, Josie Ningali Lawford, and

Leah Purcell Leah Maree Purcell (born 14 August 1970) is an Aboriginal Australian stage and film actress, playwright, film director, and novelist. She made her film debut in 1999, appearing in Paul Fenech's ''Somewhere in the Darkness'', which led to rol ...

, and its success was key in the establishment of the

Black Swan Theatre Company Black Swan State Theatre Company, formerly known as the Black Swan Theatre Company, is Western Australia's state theatre company. It runs an annual subscription season in Perth, Western Australia, Perth at the State Theatre Centre of Western A ...

. Chi also wrote the musical '' Corrugation Road'', which was first performed by the Black Swan Theatre at the Fairfax Studio in Melbourne in 1996 before an Australian national tour. ''Corrugation Road'' concerns mental health, abuse, sexuality, and religion. Chi's songs have been covered by such artists as the Irish singer

Mary Black Mary Black (born 23 May 1955) is an Irish folk singer. She is well known as an interpreter of both traditional folk and modern material which has made her a major recording artist in her native Ireland. Background Mary Black was born into a m ...

and Aboriginal singer

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian (Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalung) singer-songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach wa ...

. Broome's Opera Under the Stars festival has featured Chi's "Child of Glory", from ''Bran Nue Dae'', at every festival since 1993. His hymns are regularly sung at Aboriginal funerals in Broome.

Other activities

Chi was patron of SANE Australia.

Awards and honours

In 1991, Chi was awarded the

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission The Australian Human Rights Commission is the national human rights institution of the Commonwealth of Australia, established in 1986 as the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) and renamed in 2008. It is a statutory body ...

Drama Award for ''Bran Nue Dae''. Che was awarded the

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or g ...

by the federal government, for his contribution to Australian society, and he was acknowledged by the WA Government as a State Living Treasure.

Australia Council for the Arts

The

Australia Council for the Arts Creative Australia, formerly known as the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia Council, is the country's official arts council, serving as an arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. The council was announ ...

is the arts funding and advisory body for the Government of Australia. Since 1993, it has awarded a Red Ochre Award. It is presented to an outstanding Indigenous Australian (Aboriginal Australian or Torres Strait Islander) artist for lifetime achievement. , - ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, himself , Red Ochre Award , , -

Deadly Awards

The

Deadly Awards The Deadly Awards, formally titled National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Arts and Community Awards and commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander a ...

were an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. They ran from 1995 to 2013. (wins only) , - , rowspan="2",

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, ''Corrugation Road'' (with Kuckles and The Pigram Brothers) , Excellence in Film or Theatrical Score , , -

Later life and death

Chi spent most of his later life at home in Broome with his family and friends. He died in Broome Hospital on 26 June 2017. An inquest into his death published its results in 2019. It said that Chi had been an involuntary patient under the ''Mental Health Act 2014'', and had died in the

emergency department An emergency department (ED), also known as an accident and emergency department (A&E), emergency room (ER), emergency ward (EW) or casualty department, is a medical treatment facility specializing in emergency medicine, the Acute (medicine), ...

from

chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a type of progressive lung disease characterized by chronic respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation. GOLD defines COPD as a heterogeneous lung condition characterized by chronic respiratory s ...

and coronary atherosclerosis, although he had also suffered from a number of other diseases.

Discography

Works

* ''Broome songwriters'' with Michael Manolis and Ron Harper (Hodja Educational Resources, 1985) *'' Bran Nue Dae'' (Currency Press, 1991) * ''Corrugation Road'' (sound recording – Angoorrabin Records, p1996)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chi, Jimmy 1948 births 2017 deaths Australian dramatists and playwrights Australian people of Chinese descent Australian people of Japanese descent Australian people of Scottish descent Indigenous Australian musicians Indigenous Australian writers Indigenous Australians from Western Australia People from Broome, Western Australia People with bipolar disorder Musicians from Western Australia Australian musical theatre composers Male musical theatre composers