Australian rock band Midnight Oil's song The Dead Heart shone a light on the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and stolen land when it was first released in 1986.
Now, more than three decades after its release, the track has been covered and recorded for the first time in Ngaanyatjarra, which is part of the Western Desert language spoken in Western Australia.
The group of women at Western Australia's Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison recorded the song as part of a music therapy and rehabilitation program.
The group also recorded five original songs primarily in the Ngaanyatjarra language, telling stories of homeland, family and forgiveness.
"I'm a musician. I love my performing too," said group vocalist and translator Betina*, who is an ex-prisoner.
A group of female prisoners have teamed up with Midnight Oil to perform songs in traditional language Source: Supplied/WA Department of Justice
"The music, the lyrics, the songs from Midnight Oil, we've been doing it our way, blackfella way.
"When I finished singing that, it hit me ... like touched me, hard."
The rendition was produced and mixed by Midnight Oil guitarist Jim Moginie at his Sydney studio.
"It just holds a real place in my heart because it's so beautifully expressed. Whatever they did there in the prison is extraordinary," he said.
"I've actually played it to the boys in Midnight Oil and they were all just blown away by it, how gorgeous the voices are and how well expressed [it is]."
Prisoner education coordinator and project facilitator Angela Leech said the experience boosted the women’s confidence and improved their reading and writing.
"It's really exciting to be able to help these women be able to leave here and know that they have a really valuable skill," she said.
"They're not musicians and they've just vulnerably stepped in and put their hearts out there and made this album so I'm really proud of them."
Moginie, who co-wrote the original lyrics, said the new version of the song adds a whole new dimension.
"I think that's really important too that they're singing in their own native tongues. It has a sense of mystery about it to whitefellas like me," he said.
"I don't quite know what they're talking about, but I get the feeling really strongly and hearing that lyric, a lyric I'm really familiar with obviously, being sung in language just blows me away.
"It's just a wonderful thing."
*surname withheld.
