Kinja

When Ron Murray plays his didgeridoo, he wears a wreath of cockatoo feathers in his hair. At his side, Sarah James’ hair flows wild and free as she plays fiddle and sings Celtic and Australian folk songs. Sarah and Ron are from different worlds. She’s a city girl, of Scottish ancestry. He’s a descendent of the Wamba Wamba people, whose traditional area was around Victoria’s Swan Hill. However, both worked in Aboriginal Affairs, and a commitment to social justice and equity for Indigenous people brought them together. Now married, their haunting partnership of violin and didgeridoo transcends cultural differences. They perform under the name of ‘Kinja’: “Kinja means ‘my home’ in Wamba Wamba; it’s about homelands and heritage,” Sarah says. (Interview by Virginia Imhoff, Country Style Magazine, October 2006, p42)