Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

All music

39 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

A

Along the Road to Gundagai 1931

This is a famous recording of one of Australia’s most popular songs.

B

Bye Bye Baby 1959

The first big hit from Australia’s original rock’n'roll star.

C

The Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to the Torres Strait 1898

Yamaz Sibarud is a traditional song performed by ‘Maino of Yam’, recorded during an anthropological expedition to the Torres Strait in 1898.

Chant Vénitien 1904

This is an early surviving commercial recording made by international opera star Nellie Melba in her London home in 1904.

Corroboree 1950

Incorporating Indigenous themes, this Australian orchestral work achieved international recognition.

Country Gardens 1919

A pianola version of Percy Grainger’s ‘Country Gardens’ performed by the composer.

D

Down Under 1981

Released in 1981, this catchy pop song was written as a light ‘tongue-in-cheek’ dig at Australian values and became a number one hit in Australia, the UK and US.

E

Eagle Rock 1971

Dancing the Eagle Rock was one of Australia’s favourite pastimes in the early seventies and it still is today.

F

Fanny Cochrane Smith’s Tasmanian Aboriginal Songs 1899

These are the earliest recordings of traditional Tasmanian Aboriginal songs and language.

Friday on My Mind 1966

‘Friday on My Mind’ was the first international pop hit by an Australian band, and a landmark in the distinguished career of songwriting team Harry Vanda and George Young.

From Little Things Big Things Grow 1993

‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’ is inspired by the Aboriginal man who led the Gurindji Strike in 1966 – the catalyst for the land rights movement.

G

Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under 1962

Georgia Lee was the first Indigenous Australian female singer to release an album. This was also the first Australian album to be recorded in stereo.

Give a Little Credit to your Dad; Lonesome for You, Mother Dear 1939

Two songs by then unknown country singer Buddy Williams, recorded in 1939.

H

The Hen Convention 1897

The oldest surviving Australian sound recording is a novelty song featuring chicken impersonations.

Honest Toil March 1924

Award-winning Australian brass band puts Newcastle on the map.

I

I Am Woman 1972

‘I am Woman’ by Helen Reddy was a worldwide hit and the first song by an Australian artist or composer to reach number one in America.

I’ll Never Find Another You 1964

A 1964 song by The Seekers, written and produced by Tom Springfield, which became the first million-selling record by an Australian band.

(I’m) Stranded 1976

A seminal Australian punk song.

Irkanda IV 1967

This is a 1967 recording of the first major work by leading Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe.

I Should Be So Lucky 1987

The second single from Kylie’s debut album, Kylie (1988), penned by English pop writing-producing phenomenon Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

J

Jack Luscombe 1953

An oral history containing the first recorded collection of Australian folk song.

Jailanguru Pakarnu (Out from Jail) 1983

'Jailanguru Pakarnu’ ('Out from Jail’) was the first rock song recorded and released in an Aboriginal language (Luritja).

Just the Beginning 1971

'Just the Beginning’ was the first Australian jazz recording to earn a gold record for sales.

L

Living in the 70’s 1974

Unrestrained by cultural cringe, the title song of this Skyhooks album captured what it was like growing up in the suburbs of Australia in the 1970s.

The Loner 1973

‘The Loner’ by Vic Simms is regarded as Australia’s great lost classic album of Aboriginal protest songs.

M

Majestic Fanfare 1943

The original 1943 recording of the ABC’s much loved ‘Majestic Fanfare’, used in various forms since 1952 to introduce news broadcasts.

Maranoa Lullaby 1950

Harold Blair was the first Aboriginal Australian to achieve recognition as a classical singer.

Most People I Know (Think That I’m Crazy) 1972

The song ‘Most People I Know (Think That I’m Crazy)’ saw the coming of age of Australian rock music.

P

A Pub With No Beer 1957

Slim Dusty’s original recording from 1957 of one of his most famous songs.

R

Rebetika: Songs of Greece 1986

Rebetika music evolved in the 1920s, combining jail songs and hashish-smoking songs of the Greek underworld with music brought to Greece by refugees from the Greek-Turkish War.

S

She’s My Baby 1959

One of the biggest hits for Australia’s first rock’n'roll star.

Swanston St Shamble; Two Day Jag 1944

The first published recordings of Graeme Bell’s Dixieland Band made in Melbourne in 1944.

Sydney Opera House Opening Concert 1973

A magical night in the history of Australian music: the first official concert in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall.

T

Treaty 1991

Aboriginal pop song from the 1990s with a powerful political message.

Tribal Music of Australia 1953

These are the first commercially available recordings of Australian Aboriginal music.

V

Voss 1987

Voss is an opera about the fateful outback expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt, as recreated by Patrick White in his iconic novel.

W

Waltzing Matilda 1926

This was the first recording of Australia’s national song.

We Have Survived 1981

The No Fixed Address version of Bart Willoughby’s ‘We Have Survived’ has became an unofficial anthem for Australia’s Aboriginal community.

Wrap Me Up With My Stockwhip and Blanket 1936

New Zealand-born Tex Morton created an awareness that country and western music could be an Australian form as much as it was an American form.