Timor-Leste’s President, Dr. José Ramos-Horta, has bestowed one of the nation’s highest honours, The Order of Timor-Leste, on Melbourne’s legendary ska, soul, and reggae collective, The Dili Allstars, recognising their decades-long commitment to the country’s struggle for independence and ongoing community support.
The story of The Dili Allstars begins in 1993, when Paulie Stewart — frontman of the Australian rock band Painters and Dockers — met Gil Santos, a musician from the East Timorese reggae outfit The Natural Mystics. Their shared grief over the Indonesian invasion of 1975, in which Stewart lost a brother and Santos lost his father, inspired them to collaborate on a protest song.
That first recording, a bilingual Tetum and English version of Rose Tattoo’s We Can’t Be Beaten, was a direct response to the capture of East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmão by Indonesian forces. It marked the birth of The Dili Allstars, a band that would blend infectious rhythms with uncompromising political activism.
In the lead-up to the 1999 independence referendum, the band heard reports that pro-Indonesian songs were being played at Dili airport by the territory’s governor. In defiance, they recorded Liberdade and six other tracks, pressing 500 cassette tapes with the help of Melbourne University students and smuggling them into East Timor.
Those songs became a soundtrack to the independence campaign and remain etched in the Timorese cultural memory.
Later that year, following the referendum, Gusmão — newly freed — joined the band on stage at Melbourne’s National Tennis Centre to sing Liberdade. At the time, the group’s line-up included Stewart, Santos, East Timorese musicians Paulo Almeida and Nelito Ribero, trombonist/vocalist Sonja Parkinson, and saxophonist Jenny Pineapple.
Also in 1999, Liberdade was included on a Mushroom Records compilation of the same name, curated by Stewart and Santos, alongside songs by Midnight Oil, Crowded House, and Yothu Yindi. The project raised $100,000 for East Timor.
This was not their first charitable venture. Over the years, Stewart and Santos produced compilation albums such as All in the Family (1993), Love From a Short Distance (1996), and Hau Abut: I Am Woman (2008), raising funds for farmers, war widows, education scholarships, and medical care in Timor-Leste.
Because of their deep ties to the Timorese cause, The Dili Allstars were invited to perform at the 1999 Tour of Duty concert alongside John Farnham, Doc Neeson, The Living End, and Kylie Minogue for Australian peacekeeping troops. Their debut major album, Hanoin, followed, featuring Liberdade, Freedom, and a version of The Living End’s Revolution Regained.
The band continued to represent Australia and Timor-Leste on the world stage. In 2002, they were official guests at Timor-Leste’s independence celebrations. In 2003, they toured Portugal, performing at the prestigious Avante! Festival and club shows in Lisbon and Sintra.
Their 2004 album, Viva La Musica, blended political songs (Rise Up, Peace & Unity, Advance Australia Where?) with celebratory tracks (That Girl, Thank You Mama) and traditional Timorese music (O Hele Le).
In 2006, the Allstars appeared in and provided music for the Australian/Canadian TV mini-series Answered by Fire, about the 1999 referendum. That same year, driven by crises in Timor-Leste and remote Aboriginal communities, they released Increase the Peace.
In 2009, Stewart and Santos served as music consultants for the acclaimed Australian film Balibo, later accepting the ARIA Award for Best Soundtrack. They also met members of the Alma Nuns, who care for disabled and abandoned children in Timor-Leste. Over the next 12 years, the band helped raise more than $250,000 for the nuns’ work, even hosting them in Australia for fundraising tours.
A refreshed line-up, including ex-Daddy Cool guitarist Ross Hannaford, trumpet player Dave Pace, saxophonist Clare Murrell, percussionist Zeca Mesquita, and rapper/actor Osme Gonsalves, recorded a cover of Graham Parker’s Hey Lord Don’t Ask Me Questions at the ABC studios in Melbourne.
In 2010, members of the band visited Papua New Guinea and the USA to speak about their work, and attended the São Paulo Film Festival in Brazil for the Balibo screening, which won the audience award for most popular film. Later that year, ABC Music released The Best of the Dili Allstars.
In 2020, they reunited with former Australian Army chief Sir Peter Cosgrove to mark 20 years since the Tour of Duty concert. In 2021, the band contributed to the Shrine of Remembrance exhibition Changed Forever: Legacies of Conflict, sharing stories of migration, war, and peacekeeping.
In May 2022, they performed at St Kilda’s Memo Music Hall for the 20th anniversary of Timor-Leste’s independence, alongside the Timor-Leste Students Choir and Cisco & Son.
Early 2023 saw the Allstars collaborating with cultural group Timor Oan Australia at the Womadelaide Festival, while Paulo Almeida represented Timor-Leste at world music conventions. Later that year, Stewart and Santos performed in Dili with members of art collective KISS MY ART at a mural unveiling.
In September 2024, the Timorese government flew the band to Dili to perform at the Presidential Palace for hundreds of peacekeeping veterans. In 2025, they headlined the main stage at Melbourne’s Moomba Festival before thousands of fans.
From the streets of Melbourne to the presidential palace in Dili, The Dili Allstars have built a career that is as much about activism and solidarity as it is about music. They have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Timor-Leste’s communities, amplified the country’s cause on the global stage, and kept its music and stories alive through ska, soul, and reggae rhythms.
The awarding of The Order of Timor-Leste is a formal recognition of a relationship that spans more than three decades, a friendship forged in grief, fuelled by hope, and sustained by the universal language of music. For Stewart, Santos, and every musician who has passed through the ranks of The Dili Allstars, the honour is not just a medal, but a symbol of the shared journey between Australia and Timor-Leste.
Watch the 2020 Paulie Stewart Noise11.com interview about Painters & Dockers:
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