These West Australians are crafting magic from their home state’s natural wonders, inviting you to answer the call of Country.
Feature by: Carolyn Beasley
Tourism Western Australia’s latest iteration of the Walking On A Dream campaign immerses viewers in otherworldly experiences that only Western Australia can deliver. From the initial desktop ideation, to an iconic orchestral score, the story of Western Australia is told by locals that live and breathe its wonders every day.
Angela Raso is Tourism Western Australia’s Director of Brand and Creative, and leads the team creating the campaign.
“Walking On A Dream continues to celebrate Aboriginal culture, and that every part of the natural world is connected,” Angela says. “When you allow yourself to connect to Western Australia’s landscapes, the land calls you to deepen your connection and experience.”
Western Australia Walking On A Dream
The new campaign presents these concepts in a refreshed way, including a new take on Empire of the Sun’s iconic song Walking On A Dream.
“It was really important to have the music reimagined by local West Australians,” Angela explains. “And what better way to do it than with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.”
Along with the orchestra (known as WASO), the track features the vocals of Billy-Jo Shoveller, a proud Karajarri man from Bidyadanga, south of Broome (Rubibi). This is the first time the track has been recorded by other artists, with the band’s frontman and vocalist, WA-raised Luke Steele, in the studio assisting. Billy-Jo also plays instruments on the track, including tapping sticks, boomerangs, and seed pods.
“We know that music creates emotion,” Angela says. “People will recognise the track, but when you hear WASO and Billy-Jo's vocals it's beautiful. ”
Angela explains that the lead actors in the campaign embody Western Australia. Nelson Baker is a Nyikina Aboriginal man from Broome, and Angelica Blazeska is Perth born and raised with Macedonian heritage. Both graduated from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and are examples of WA’s extraordinary talent pool.
The new iteration of this campaign was conceptualised by The Brand Agency, who also created the original concept. Copywriter Alida Henson and Art Director Stephen Hansen, both based in Perth (Boorloo), led the creative process.
Behind the scenes of 'Walking On A Dream' with Billy-Jo
“The original Walking On A Dream, was quite stylised,” Alida says. “But Walking On A Dream 2.0 is ‘magical realism,’ it feels like it could almost be possible. It starts with our couple connecting to the land and Country. And then Country responds by calling them to immerse themselves in Western Australia's natural wonders; it’s a conversation.”
The campaign features a theme of ‘murmuration,’ a term usually applied to birds that flock together tightly, like a single, mesmerising entity. In the campaign, natural phenomena create magic through imagined murmurations.
“We had this realisation that this murmuration is present all throughout nature,” Stephen says. “It's the way birds flock, but it's also the way fish school, the way mist falls off a waterfall, or sand comes off a sand dune.”
Beyond the striking visuals, the campaign needed a worthy and emotional musical score to imbed the concepts.
“There’s an authentic feeling of the music being the voice of Country,” Alida says.
Stephen agrees, saying the WASO and Billy-Jo Shoveller version of Walking On A Dream is extraordinary.
“I remember being in the room and hearing that music for the first time,” he says. “It was a real ‘wow’ moment. I was speechless.”
Behind the scenes of 'Walking On A Dream' with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra
One of the people involved for the re-imagined music is Joshua Davies, Principal Trombone at WASO, and the Orchestrator of the re-recorded Walking On A Dream.
“It's a real honour to be part of an orchestral version of this song,” Joshua says. “It is so recognisable, and it’s wonderful to see it in a new light.”
For the WASO team, recording a track is a little different to their mainstream performance work.
“All of the different sections of the orchestra, the strings, the woodwinds, the brass and percussion are all recorded separately on a click track,” Joshua says. “It's interesting because we're used to just playing together and figuring out where our parts sit in the mix.”
For Joshua, it also brings great pride.
“We've produced a really wonderful breadth of musicians here who can stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone from the East Coast,” he says. “We've got a heck of a lot of talent here.”
Road from Tom Price to Karijini National Park
In crafting a campaign about the call of Country, each of these creatives has experienced its truth. For Joshua, the re-recorded Walking On A Dream particularly invoked memories of the outback.
“There are a lot of indigenous elements to the track,” he says “I went to Tom Price and Karijini National Park a few years back, so it’s particularly those classic West Australian, red earth, unique landscapes.”
For Alida, being welcomed to Country by Traditional Owners as she was on location for the campaign was a grounding experience.
“The welcome at Zebedee Springs (at El Questro Wilderness Park) was so beautiful ,” Alida says. “I now have to go back and explore these places properly.
Stephen notes that this assignment took him to some otherworldly landscapes for the first time, like Mirima National Park in Kununurra (Goonoonoorrang) and Ningaloo Reef (Nyinggulu) near Exmouth.
“I remember thinking, ‘this place that I've lived in the majority of my life, it really is unlike anywhere else’,” he says. “It just made me want to see more of WA.”
That’s how Country calls, and it’s a feeling that never leaves.
Published in February 2026.