"The acoustics of this location are amazing: rocks towering up and inwards over 20 metres high help keep the reverb in the gorge and provide a thick, diffused reverb with an epic decay," he says. Bart Willoughby records a drum track with field sound recordist and audio engineer, Nick Harrison in at the base of the Cathedral Gorge. Credit:Cole Bennetts "Separate recordings amongst the beehive rocks that typify the Bungle Bungles picked up massive reverberant echoes along with the natural soundscape, including the insects and birds that at times seemed remarkably in tune and time with my playing." Accompanied by producer Nick Harrison and photographer Cole Bennetts, Willoughby also ventured to the nearby Warmun Community, 3000 kilometres north of Perth, to perform a concert with Steve Pigram, from Broome-based band the Pigram Brothers, and make audio recordings with Aboriginal elder Uncle Gabe. They conducted music and photography workshops for children from Warmun and nearby Frog Hollow too.

Willoughby is a legendary figure in Indigenous music, renowned for songs including We Have Survived, Black Man's Rights and Aboriginal Woman. Willoughby on the Town Hall organ at the Melbourne Indigenous Arts Festival in 2014. Credit:Justin McManus He was a member of reggae band No Fixed Address in the early 1980s, Mixed Relations in the '90s and has performed with Goanna, Coloured Stone, Yothu Yindi and the Black Arm Band among others. The 55-year-old musician embarked on the long journey to the Bungle Bungles after deciding that the unique landscape would provide a similar acoustic environment to the Melbourne Town Hall, where he was recorded playing the grand organ. Indigenous singer/songwriter Bart Willoughby treks into the Cathedral Gorge. Credit:Cole Bennetts

"Meeting and talking to the Elders about permissions before going into the Bungle Bungles was an important way of connecting with the land through its people and their knowledge of their country," he says. But setting up a makeshift recording studio in the World Heritage site was no easy task. Bart Willoughby poses for a photoshoot in front of the "bee-hives" in the Bungle Bungles, Purnululu National Park. Credit:Cole Bennetts Pigram provided local insight into the best time to visit, and "the spirits looked after us through the trip, missing both the flood that preceded us and the rain that fell shortly after we left", Willloughby says. "But the day had to be started early in order to limit noise interference from other people and vehicles in the park whilst recording, and avoid the afternoon heat."

The recording equipment also had to be portable for the trek and run off batteries, yet sophisticated enough to capture both Willoughby's music and natural sounds, Harrison says. "Trekking in and out of the recording sessions amongst the rocks was exhausting but far more enjoyable and rewarding than hitting the studio," he says. Harrison says the community gigs performed by Willoughby and Pigram followed by corroborees danced by local children were a highlight of the 10-day journey. Willoughby agrees. "The children at Frog Hollow overwhelmed me - all keen eager and grateful about being taught. "Also a bonfire concert in Frog Hollow after which all the kids did a traditional dance led by Elder Gabe. And finally the results of the recordings in Cathedral Gorge surpassed what I had imagined, as did most of the trip."

Meeting the Warmun elders and discovering their connection to his father's ancestors in the Simpson Desert was another highlight for Willoughby, in addition to working with Uncle Gabe, "who both sang a verse on one of my songs and recorded his own words based on issues of youth suicide in the Kimberley".