Australia’s National Songbook has been launched with 10 songs spanning almost a century of music, including Waltzing Matilda, the Easybeats’ Friday On My Mind and The Presets’ My People.
The inaugural selections were unveiled at a gala event in Canberra on Wednesday by APRA, Australia and New Zealand’s peak songwriting organisation, and the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA).
The songs were chosen for their contribution to Australia’s cultural identity, with the list bringing together an unofficial national anthem, protest songs, works rooted in Indigenous culture and compositions from the country’s contemporary music scene.
“No 10 songs could ever tell the whole story of Australia but together these inaugural inductees help us understand, as a nation, where we’ve come from, who we are and the values we’ve carried through generations,” said APRA AMCOS chief executive Dean Ormston.
Alongside the three headline selections are Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman, Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning, Christine Anu’s My Island Home, Archie Roach’s Down City Streets, Yothu Yindi’s Treaty, The Necks’ The Boys and Peter Sculthorpe’s Earth Cry.
The songs chosen for Australia’s National Songbook
Eligibility required each song to have been written or co-written by an Australian APRA member, released at least 10 years ago and shown to have had “significant cultural impact within Australia”.
Friday On My Mind, written by Harry Vanda and George Young, was recognised as an anthem of “five days of drudgery, two days of freedom”. It topped the charts in Australia and the Netherlands, reached the UK and European top 10 and peaked at number 16 in the United States.
The track was later performed by Bruce Springsteen and E Street Band guitarist Steve Van Zandt, who opened their Sydney show in 2014 with a cover version.
More than half of the inaugural choices reflect Indigenous culture and experience. Down City Streets, written by Ruby Hunter and recorded by her husband Archie Roach, drew on her experience as a member of the Stolen Generations.
Treaty, written by Yothu Yindi with Paul Kelly, Peter Garrett and others, addressed the broken promise made to Australia’s First Nations people by then-prime minister Bob Hawke in 1988. Its 1991 remix by Filthy Lucre became a major track on Triple J.
My Island Home, written by Neil Murray and made famous by Christine Anu, was described as expressing “the enduring pull of home and belonging”. Anu performed the song at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning also features, while The Necks are represented by The Boys, their film score for the 1998 film. Sculthorpe’s Earth Cry was praised for bringing together European and First Nations traditions to create a distinctly Australian sound.
The Presets’ My People is the only selection from outside the 20th century. Released in 2007 during Sydney’s electronic music boom, the dance track was also a rallying cry over Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers and emerged from an independent music scene where activism and music frequently overlapped.
Waltzing Matilda and I Am Woman were among the better-known inclusions, but the absence of acts including Cold Chisel, AC/DC, The Saints and Nick Cave may prompt debate over the first selection.
The inaugural panel consisted of 10 songwriters, broadcasters and historians. Further songs will be added to the National Songbook each year.
NFSA chief curator Meagan Loader said: “The National Songbook reflects the remarkable breadth of Australian songwriting and composition, from songs of protest, belonging and identity to works that have become woven into our national story and our DNA.”
“The NFSA will ensure these songs and stories are preserved in our national collection, providing a new way for Australians now and into the future to engage with the songs and songwriters who have shaped us.”
