Ahead of his lunchtime recital, the inspirational musician reveals his own inspirations.

William Barton is an Australian giant in every sense of the word. A musician at the very top of his game, he’s broken more barriers and glass ceilings than you can count. He’s also got to be well over 6’2’’, and is easily spotted as he turns into Sydney’s Angel Place ahead of our interview. Still only 34, Barton has been playing didgeridoo for well over 20 years, touring internationally since the age of 15 and a professional soloists since he was 17. “I guess I was inspired by my uncle, traditionally speaking,” Barton tells me. “The power of the instrument and the ability to communicate through a musical language soon became my world. To converse with people from my background, the Kalkadunga nation, but also to the rest of the world.”

His teacher, Uncle Arthur Petersen was a storyteller and a traditional lore-man (“a full-blooded medicine man,” according to his nephew) in Mount Isa, far north-western Queensland where the young William Barton grew up surrounded by music. “Mum used to play classical music to me before I was born,” he reveals pointing to his other great...