This song's history contains video, voices and names of the deceased, while also briefly covering British colonialism and the subsequent genocides and dispossession.

Australia is a country built on colonialism. In 1788 the British sailed to the land and began to create penal colonies. Of course, the British were not the first to live on the land, which had been the home of hundreds of First Nations communities for tens of thousands of years. While they were initially welcoming to the Europeans, the conflict soon began, and the British would end up claiming land and committing genocide. Since then, the Indigenous communities of Australia have fought to be recognized by the country, and in 1988 Prime Minister Bob Hawke would become the focal point of an important moment. While visiting the Barunga Festival, he was presented the Barunga Statement: a document surrounded by paintings which calls upon the Australian government to recognize their rights while creating new protections and organizations to help the people. Hawke responded by saying that there would be a treaty between Indigenous people and the rest of the population by 1990. It never materialized.
Hawke’s hollow words inspired the band Yothu Yindi to write a song. That song was “Treaty,” a piece that targets his false promise while focusing on the colonization that First Nations communities still suffer the consequences of. The song, a blend of Yolŋu music from north Arnhem Land and balanda (non-Aboriginal) ‘80s new wave and rock, was released as a single in June of 1991 with a music video, though it failed to chart at the time. It reappeared a few months later on the album Tribal Voice alongside a remix by Filthy Lucre. This led to “Treaty” being the first song by an Aboriginal band to hit the charts in Australia, climbing to number eleven on the ARIA singles chart that September and placing at number twenty nine on ARIA’s Top 50 Singles of 1991 chart. It also won both “song of the year” and “single of the year” at the 1992 ARIA Music Awards, while receiving numerous other nominations.
Since the song’s release it has been used as an anthem for Aboriginal voices and movements to recognize Indigenous Australians. In 2023 for instance, radio station Triple J played the song on repeat for an hour following the rejection of the Voice Referendum, which would have recognized Indigenous Australians in the Constitution and allowed for their representation at Federal Parliament. The band and their music has also inspired Australian musicians, including King Gizzard. Before a performance of “Hypertension” on 2024-11-03, Joey mentioned that hearing them (and Warumpi Band) while growing up in northern Australia was the reason he got into music. According to his father Joey was four years old when “Treaty” hit the charts, and the family embraced the Indigenous bands of the time.