The Hon Peter Garrett AM MP
Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts
Iconic choices for 2009 Sounds of Australia Registry
Media release
18 August 2009
PG/322
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The instantly recognisable Happy Little Vegemites jingle, the sound of a news broadcast of boxer Lionel Rose winning the 1968 World Bantamweight Title and Helen Reddy's feminist anthem I am Woman are among the ten recordings added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia registry, Arts Minister Mr Peter Garrett announced today.
"Sounds of Australia is a fantastic compilation of the Australian songs and recordings that have endured over the years to become part of our story and these new additions will resonate around our country.
"From Vic Simms' 1973 song The Loner about racism and Indigenous dispossession to Dorothea Mackellar's recitation of her own iconic poem My Country and Smoky Dawson's Adventures of The Singing Bullet, these sounds are very familiar and help tell the Australian story," Mr Garrett said
"It is my great pleasure to announce their inclusion in the registry and to see them celebrated in this way, preserved for future generations to enjoy."
The Archive's Sounds of Australia project was launched in 2007 with a foundation list of 10 sounds, and since then the Australian public has been invited each year to add to the register.
A 21 member panel cased through the public nominations and came up with a list of ten sounds that reflect the breadth and depth of Australia's concerns and passions.
Other new entrants to the list include:
- The Newcastle Steelworks Band, 1925 – a recording by the first Australian brass band to undertake a major tour of the UK.
- Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under, 1960 – Georgia Lee was the first Indigenous artist to record a blues album in Australia.
- Nigel Butterley's work In the Head the Fire, 1966 – the first modern Australian classical composition to win the Prix Italia.
- Yothu Yindi's Treaty hit from 1991.
All the iconic recordings on the registry are available to listen to at the National Film and Sound Archive website:
http://www.nfsa.gov.au/whats_on/soundsofaustralia/
Notes to editors
Media access to the 2009 Sounds of Australia (including broadcast quality mp3 files, high res
images and background information) is online at:
http://www.nfsa.gov.au/whats_on/soundsofaustralia/media_resources/
Username: media; password: media
For all media requests about the Sounds of Australia 2009 list please contact Sarah Finney phone: 02 6248 2173 or 0400 197 558; email sarah.finney@nfsa.gov.au
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