ARIA Award for Best Indigenous Release explained

The ARIA Music Award for Best Indigenous Release was an award presented at the annual ARIA Music Awards. It was presented from 1987 through to 1998. Originally titled Best Indigenous Record in 1987.^[1] It was renamed Best Aboriginal/Islander Release in 1995.^[2] From 1996 it was Best Indigenous Release.^[3]

The award for Best Indigenous Release was first presented to Coloured Stone for their album Human Love. It was retired after the 1998 awards with Archie Roach winning the final award for his album Looking for Butter Boy. Roach won the award three times and Weddings Parties Anything, Yothu Yindi and Christine Anu each won it twice. In 1988 upon Midnight Oil's nomination for Best Indigenous Record, their manager Gary Morris objected to the group being put in that category by ARIA, "an Indigenous Award should go to an indigenous band."^[4]

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the winner is highlighted in a separate colour, and in boldface; the nominees are those that are not highlighted or in boldface.

Year	Winner(s)	Album title
1987
	Coloured Stone	Human Love
	Dave de Hugard	The Magpie in the Wattle
	John Williamson	Mallee Boy
	Sirocco	Voyage
	The Three Chord Wonders	Try Change
1988
	Gondwanaland	Gondwanaland
	Australia All Over	Australia All Over
	Flying Emus	This Town
	Midnight Oil	Diesel and Dust
	Warumpi Band	Go Bush
1989
	Weddings Parties Anything	Roaring Days
	Kev Carmody	Pillars of Society
	Flying Emus	"This Town" / "Darling Street"
	Midnight Oil	"Dreamworld"
	Dave Steel	"The Hardest Part"
1990
	Weddings Parties Anything	The Big Don't Argue
	Coloured Stone	Wild Desert Rose
	Gondwanaland	Wildlife
	Scrap Metal	Broken Down Man
	Yothu Yindi	Homeland Movement
1991
	Archie Roach	Charcoal Lane
	Coloured Stone	Crazy Mind
	Various Artists	Australia All Over Macca's No. 4
	Various Artists	From the Bush
	Wild Pumpkins At Midnight	Little Victories
1992
	Yothu Yindi	Tribal Voice
	Archie Roach	"Down City Streets"
	Kev Carmody	"Eulogy (For a Black Person)"
	Shane Howard	"Escape from Reality"
	Not Drowning, Waving & The Musicians of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea featuring George Telek	Tabaran
1993
	Yothu Yindi	"Djäpana (Sunset Dreaming)"
	Kev Carmody	Street Beat
		Inma Juju
	Gondwanaland	Wide Skies
	Tiddas	Inside My Kitchen
1994
	Tiddas	Sing About Life
		Bloodlines
	Not Drowning, Waving	Circus
	Archie Roach	Jamu Dreaming
		Freedom
1995
	Christine Anu	Stylin' Up
	Kev Carmody	"On the Wire"
		Thoughts Within
	Tiddas	"Changing Times"
		"Dots on the Shells"
1996
	Christine Anu	"Come On"
		Images and Illusions
		Blekbala Mujik
	Various Artists	Our Home, Our Land
		Too Much Humbug
1997
	Archie Roach	Hold On Tight
	George Telek	Telek
	Tiddas	Tiddas
	Warumpi Band	Stompin' Ground
	Yothu Yindi	Birrkuta - Wild Honey
1998
	Archie Roach	Looking for Butter Boy
	Gondwana	Xenophon
	Singers for the Red Black and Gold	"Yil Lull"
	John Williamson & Warren H Williams	"Raining on the Rock"
	Bart Willoughby	Pathways

Notes and References

1. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20001216041000/http://www.aria.com.au/ariaawards/awards/before/1986.htm . The First Annual ARIA Music Awards . O'Grady . Anthony . Anthony O'Grady . Australian Recording Industry Association . 16 December 2000 . 24 October 2020 . dead .
2. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20001216140100/http://www.aria.com.au/ariaawards/awards/before/1994.htm . The 9th Annual Aria Music Awards . O'Grady . Anthony . Australian Recording Industry Association . 16 December 2000 . 24 October 2020 . dead .
3. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20011101115330/http://www.aria.com.au/ariaawards/awards/before/1995.htm . The 10th Annual ARIA Music Awards . O'Grady . Anthony . Australian Recording Industry Association . 1 November 2001 . 24 October 2020 . dead .
4. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20001216051800/http://www.aria.com.au/ariaawards/awards/before/1987.htm. The 2nd Annual ARIA Music Awards . O'Grady . Anthony . Australian Recording Industry Association . 16 December 2000 . 24 October 2020 . dead .