On September 1 2026 the Australian National University advised me that the Associate Dean (HDR) of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences has decided to award me the degree of Master of Philosophy (Music) in Indigenous Composition. My Thesis includes a Portfolio of 46 notated scores (112 min of music).

The Thesis is posted on the ANU Open Research Repository website, and may be viewed at

https://hdl.handle.net/1885/733814104

There are three files in the whole Thesis – the Dissertation, the Exegesis, and the Portfolio of Compositions. The filenames are

Sheppard_MPhil Thesis_1_DISSERTATION_2026.pdf

Sheppard_MPhil_Thesis_2_EXEGESIS_2026.pdf

Sheppard_MPhil _Thesis_3_PORTFOLIO.pdf

The “tattoo” in my Thesis title refers to the British military curfew drumbeat that was played each evening at the Sydney Cove camp at Warran in 1788. “Yoora” means clapsticks in the Noongar (var. Nyungar) language of South West Western Australia. British Tattoo drumbeats and Indigenous Australian Clapstick beats first met in 1788, and clapstick beats and drumbeats have been beating in and out of synch within and outside Australian homelands, tents, homes, pubs, churches and concert halls, ever since. The Thesis is based on my conviction that two way contextual Indigenous song-making, called composition in English, can tune and reconcile unsynchronised musical beats to Country and people, and reconcile human societies that have been disturbed and / or dislocated from Country.

As Australians hear and reflect on intersecting music cultures, we have always responded to what we hear by making new music that continues ancient traditions and reinterprets them for our generation. Our musical responses to what we hear happening in and on our local, regional and national Country forums, are gradually forming Australia’s new living music traditions, through living oral and literate music composition, performance, recording, and ongoing responsive creative cycles. This kind of intersectional composition / songwriting / voicing – has always shaped Australia’s lingua franca conversations. The art of making these border-crossing songs has always been known in Indigenous Australian Composition, the most ancient of the world’s Indigenous music cultures. I am just one of millions of Australians who work together to make two-way music. When we document and publish as well as record our oral-literate music, we will be able to sing it louder, and the world will hear it better.

The notated scores in my Portfolio are just one woman’s demonstration of the transformation that takes place when people from different cultures tell the truth as they see it, listen to opposite views, and walk together to seek and promote the hidden, but perceivable songs of the Country that sustains them. I began from the music I knew best – church music – and listened to Country – and look what happened.

1. The Reveille Mass – Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, Agnus Dei
2. Karollini Christmas (Ten Australian Christmas Carols) – Blue Sky Country, Mary Moorditj Ngaangk / Mary Gentle Mother, Golden Summer, On This Day, The Kamay Carol, Ngangk Yira Sunrise Carol, Listen my Spirit, The Coolamon Carol, Not in a Golden Palace, Kaya Mary
3. Minninup Pool String Quartet 1. Bina Dawnlight 2. Walken Creation 3. Karla Home 4. Miyak Moon
4. Kooranginy 1. Walken Rainbow 2. Yoora Tattoo 3. Koordaboodjar Heartland
5. Warangka Makialo
6. Mana Dharook Gathering Yams
7. Six Songs from the Heart – Cross Country, Kaouwi Two Children Cooee, Ngaala Maaman, Koorlangka Children, Noonakoort Karnya Respect
8. Missa Bina Benang – 1. Koort Kwabba 2. Ngaala Maaman 3. Yanganan Moorditj 4. Boolangka Yira 5. Kangya Kooranyi 6. Kaya Mary 7. Ngalak Noonook Balga
9. Kaouwi ex Cordis – 1. Gathering 2. The First Sovereign Nations 3. Sovereignty 4. Miyaldjan Teardrops 5. Australia’s Nationhood 6. A Rightful Place 7. Enshrinement 8. Makaratta 9. A Better Future

I began this research project by listening to the words and songs I heard from the Countries I was living on at the time. They are there for the singing, and they truthfully reflect how we experience life here in Australia. As we walk and make music together, we are building two way communities and and sharing this great Country. I owe thanks to many people for their help with this project, as have mentioned in my Thesis acknowledgements (I may make the Guiness Book of Records as the extremely grateful woman who wrote the longest ever thesis acknowledgements!)

By pulling together, Australia’s music community has succeeded in introducing great changes, that can be seen in the exponential post-2020 growth of brilliant, culturally aware two way composition in today’s Australia. Australians who are open to learning about and and valuing the diversity, depth and power of our many foundational Indigenous Australian music cultures are more than equal to the task of working together to grow and perform Australia’s Country-aware music repertoire.