Jimmy Chi

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, which was adapted for film in 2009.

Early life and education James Ronald Chi

Career The five friends from Broome formed the band Kuckles It went on to tour Australia extensively and it was Australia's most successful musical play of the early 1990s.

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. It brought acclaim for many Aboriginal artists, including Ernie Dingo, Josie Ningali Lawford, and Leah Purcell, and its success was key in the establishment of the Black Swan Theatre Company. Corrugation Road concerns mental health, abuse, sexuality, and religion.

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.

Che was awarded the Centenary Medal 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 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 himself Red Ochre Award (wins only)

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

Discography Title Details Bran Nue Dae - Original Cast Recording (with Kuckles) Released: 1993 Label: BND Records Pty Ltd, PolyGram (BNDCD 002) Format: CD, Cassette Corrugation Road (with The Pigram Brothers and Kuckles) Released: 1997 Label: Angoorrabin (AR-8) Format: CD

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)