"Waltzing Matilda" is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad. It has been described as the country's "unofficial national anthem".
Yothu Yindi are an Australian musical group with Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a white rock group called the Swamp Jockeys, and an unnamed Aboriginal folk group consisting of Mandawuy Yunupingu, Witiyana Marika, and Milkayngu Mununggur. The Aboriginal members came from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land. Founding members included Stuart Kellaway on bass guitar, Cal Williams on lead guitar, Andrew Belletty on drums, Witiyana Marika on manikay, bilma and dance, Milkayngu Mununggurr on yidaki, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu on keyboards, guitar, and percussion, past lead singer Mandawuy Yunupingu and present Yirrnga Yunupingu on vocals and guitar.
Eric Bogle is a Scottish-born Australian folk singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Scotland, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 25, to settle near Adelaide, South Australia. Bogle's songs have covered a variety of topics and have been performed by many artists. Two of his best known songs are "No Man's Land" and "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda", with the latter named one of the APRA Top 30 Australian songs in 2001, as part of the celebrations for the Australasian Performing Right Association's 75th anniversary.
"I Am Australian" is a popular Australian song written in 1987 by Bruce Woodley of the Seekers and Dobe Newton of the Bushwackers. Its lyrics are filled with many historic and cultural references, such as to the "digger", Albert Namatjira and Ned Kelly, among others. Its popularity has made it one of a number of Australian patriotic songs considered as alternatives to the current national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair". It is commonly taught in primary schools. In the years since the song's release, there have been calls for it to become Australia's national anthem, notably in 2011 by former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett.
The Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, also known as Soapbox Circus or Matchbox, were an Australian jug band formed in 1969. It centred on Mic Conway on lead vocals, washboard and ukulele; and his brother, Jim Conway, on harmonica, kazoo and vocals. They issued four studio albums, Smoke Dreams, Wangaratta Wahine, Australia and Slightly Troppo (1978), before they disbanded in September 1980. The Conway brothers reformed the group in 2010 as Captain Matchbox Reignited and disbanded again two years later.
A bush band is a group of musicians that play Australian bush ballads. A similar bush band tradition is also found in New Zealand.
Bruce William Woodley is an Australian singer-songwriter and musician. He was a founding member of the successful folk-pop group the Seekers, and co-composer of the songs "I Am Australian," "Red Rubber Ball," and Simon & Garfunkel's "Cloudy."
Redgum were an Australian folk and political music group formed in Adelaide in 1975 by singer-songwriter John Schumann, Michael Atkinson on guitars/vocals, Verity Truman on flute/vocals; they were later joined by Hugh McDonald on fiddle and Chris Timms on violin. All four had been students at Flinders University and together developed a strong political voice. They are best known for their protest song exploring the impact of war in the 1980s "I Was Only 19", which peaked at No. 1 on the National singles charts. The song is in the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) list of Top 30 of All Time Best Australian Songs created in 2001.
"And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile and gruesome, while criticising those who seek to glorify it. This is exemplified in the song by the account of a young Australian serviceman who is maimed during the Gallipoli Campaign of the First World War. The protagonist, who had travelled across rural Australia before the war, is emotionally devastated by the loss of his legs in battle. As the years pass he notes the death of other veterans, while the younger generation becomes apathetic to the veterans and their cause. At its conclusion, the song incorporates the melody and a few lines of lyrics of the 1895 song "Waltzing Matilda" by Australian poet Banjo Paterson.
Andrew Charles Farriss is an Australian rock musician and multi-instrumentalist best known as the keyboardist, backing vocalist, and main composer for rock band INXS. Farriss released his debut studio album in 2021.
Bush dance is a style of dance from Australia, particularly where the music is provided by a bush band. The dances are mainly based on the traditional folk dances of the UK, Ireland and central Europe.
Australian folk music is the traditional music from the large variety of immigrant cultures and those of the original Australian inhabitants.
Frontline is the fourth studio album by the Australian folk-rock group Redgum. It was the last album that John Schumann performed on before he left the group at the end of 1985.
Boy & Bear are an Australian indie folk band formed in 2009, consisting of David Hosking, Killian Gavin, Tim Hart, Jonathan Hart, and David Symes (bass). The band has released two EPs and five studio albums. The first two albums, Moonfire and Harlequin Dream, reached the top ten of the Australian albums chart. Their third album, Limit of Love, was released on 9 October 2015, in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada, and on 30 October in the UK and Europe. On 27 September 2019, after a four-year break, they released their long-awaited fourth studio album, Suck on Light. After yet another break between 2020 and 2022 due to the COVID pandemic, the band finally released their self-titled fifth studio album on 26 May 2023.
The Beards were an Australian comedy folk rock band which formed in 2005 in Adelaide and disbanded in October 2016. The group played music themed around the virtues of having a beard. They had developed from a four-piece rock band, the Dairy Brothers, which were established in 2003.
The Wilson Pickers is a country blues band formed in 2008 and comprises three Queenslanders, Ben Salter, Danny Widdicombe, Andrew Morris, and two Victorians, Sime Nugent and John Bedggood.
Kamerunga is an Australian folk band from Cairns, Queensland, consisting of six members. The band's music derives from traditional Celtic-influenced Australian folk music, which it mixes with elements of rock, reggae, jazz and blues. It plays classic Australian folk songs using these elements to produce eclectic and unusual versions of recognisable tunes. Instruments used in Kamerunga's music include guitar, drums, mandolin, fiddle, saxophone, keyboards and violin.
The Peep Tempel was a punk rock band from Melbourne, Australia. The band's line-up for most of its tenure was Blake Scott, Steven Carter (drums) and Stewart Rayner. The band released three studio albums: The Peep Tempel (2012), Tales (2014) and Joy (2016).
The Bushwhackers, initially named "The Heathcote Bushwhackers", Australia's first "revival" bush band were arguably the catalyst for Australia's folk revival of the 1950s; prior to that revival, similar bush bands, utilizing a mixture of commercially available and sometimes home-made instruments, had performed a social function in rural areas since the late 19th century. The Bushwhackers performed from 1952 to 1957, when founder John Meredith disbanded the group and its members dispersed into other activities.. Over its relatively brief existence, the group evolved from an initial novelty act to one with a more serious mission of presenting and promoting to Australia its neglected bush song heritage, and laid the foundation for similar groups to follow through the 1960s and to the present. Its members also operated—at least initially—from a Marxist / Australian Communist Party ideology, attempting to embody the struggle of the working class against the ruling classes, although this may have been less than obvious to their audiences under the guise of popular entertainment.
Dobe Newton OAM is an Australian musician and member of folk and country music group the Bushwackers from 1973. He co-wrote the patriotic song "I Am Australian" in 1987 with Bruce Woodley. For his service to the performing arts as an entertainer and advocate he was appointed to the Order of Australia in 2013.
