In a heartening update to our A Drive For Culture column from Limelight’s June 2023 issue, Daniel Wilfred has taken delivery of a culture car following a successful fundraising effort.

Daniel Wilfred (centre) and the car. Photo courtesy of Peter Knight

With donations from Australian Cultural Fund and GoFundMe among others, the fundraising effort raised over $65,000, allowing Wilfred and his community to purchase a low-mileage 2020 Toyota Prado, which will be used to facilitate vital cultural duties across the Northern Territory.

“I feel happy. The Wágilak clan, we are happy. We want to say thanks to the people for what they donated. It’s as really good car and we can use it to keep our culture strong. I will use it for teaching the young people to know the songs and the songlines and the dances. It’s really important work,” Wilfred tells Limelight.

Wilfred is a Wägilak songman and cultural leader. Alongside composer-trumpeter Peter Knight, vocalist Sunny Kim, yidaki player and vocalist David Wilfred and clarinettist Aviva Endean, he is a member of Hand to Earth, winner of the 2024 Music Victoria Award for Best Experimental or Avant-Garde Work, and nominee for...