Take A Listen
Click on a song and it will open a new window with the song playing. Close that window to return to this page OR click the arrow and watch the video.
- Black Velvet Band - "The Black Velvet Band" is a traditional English and Irish folk song describing transportation to Australia, a common punishment in 19th century Britain
- Botany Bay - "Botany Bay" is a song that can be traced back to the musical burlesque, Little Jack Sheppard, staged at the Gaiety Theatre, London, England, in 1885 and in Melbourne, Australia, in 1886.
- The Dieing Stockman - "The Dying Stockman", also known as "Wrap Me Up In My Stockwhip and Blanket", is part of Australia's folk music tradition. As is common with folk songs which have been passed around by word of mouth, there are several variations of the same song in existence.
- Wild Colonial Boy - "The Wild Colonial Boy" is a traditional anonymously penned Irish-Australian folk ballad which tells the story of a bushranger in early colonial Australia who dies during a gunfight with local police. Versions of the ballad give different names for the bushranger involved: some based on real individuals and some apparently fictional. A common theme is romanticisation of the bushranger's battle against colonial authority.
- The Wild Rover - The song tells the story of a young man who has been away from his hometown for many years. When he returns to his former alehouse, the landlady refuses him credit, until he presents the gold which he has gained while he has been away. He sings of how his days of roving are over and how he intends to return to his home and settle down.
- Waltzing Matilda -
The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a "matilda" (swag) slung over one's back. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or "swagman", making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat.
- Dijeridoo Sound (WAV)
- Australian National Anthem -
Advance Australia Fair – written and composed by Peter Dodds McCormick in 1878 – was proclaimed Australia's national anthem on 19 April 1984. The former national anthem God Save the Queen remained the Royal anthem to be played at occasions in Australia attended by members of the Royal family.
- Pub With No Beer - Gordon Parsons wrote and arranged the song about his local pub at Taylors Arm, New South Wales, adapted from Irish poet Dan Sheahan's original poem "A Pub Without Beer" about the Day Dawn Hotel in Ingham, North Queensland, now known as Lees Hotel, Ingham, Queensland.