Ten new titles have been inducted into the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s (NFSA) prestigious Sounds of Australia registry of sound recordings that have helped shaped Australia’s culture.
“Since 2007, the Sounds of Australia Registry has become the defining list of Australia’s recorded sound history. It highlights our unique cultural development through our most ubiquitous cultural expression – recorded sound in all its forms. Being part of Sounds of Australia means that the recordings will live on at the NFSA, for future generations to discover and enjoy.” NFSA Curator, Thorsten Kaeding commented. Kaeding said that this year’s additions represent a broad range of sound recordings across 11 decades of history, from surf pop, and community radio, to famous speeches and a film soundtrack.
The 2021 inductees include Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know, The Man From Snowy River soundtrack, and Renée Geyer’s Heading In The Right Direction. Also included is a Rudyard Kipling poem used to raise money for soldiers fighting in the Second Boer War, Kevin Rudd’s 2008 apology to Indigenous peoples, and the first parliamentary sitting to be broadcast, announcing the surrender of Germany during the Second World War, Sydney’s first gay and lesbian radio program, Gaywaves, Little Pattie’s surf pop hit, He’s My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy, and Wide Open Road by The Triffids.
Kaeding said that Sounds of Australia is the NFSA’s selection of sound recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance, which inform or reflect life in Australia. Kaeding went on to explain that they can be popular songs, advertising jingles, famous speeches, radio broadcasts, or any other sound recordings – as long as they’re Australian and more than 10 years old. Each year, the Australian public nominates new sounds to be added with final selections determined by a panel of industry experts.
The 2021 Sounds of Australia are:
1. Absent minded beggar, J.J. Virgo – 1900
2. Where the dog sits on the tuckerbox, Jim Davidson’s Dandies and Dick Cranbourne (Jack O’Hagan) – 1938
3. Parliamentary announcements of the Victory in Europe : First parliamentary sitting broadcast – 8 May 1945
4. He’s My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy, Little Pattie – 1963
5. Heading in The Right Direction, Renee Geyer – 1975
6. Gaywaves, Gaywaves Collective (2SER) – 1979-2005
7. The Man from Snowy River Soundtrack, Bruce Rowland – 1982
8. Wide Open Road, The Triffids – 1986
9. Apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples, Kevin Rudd – 2008
10. Somebody That I Used to Know, Gotye ft. Kimbra – 2011