Solid Rock by Goanna

‘Solid Rock’ deals with issues of land rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and was the lead single from Goanna’s debut studio album, Spirit of Place.

According to songwriter Shane Howard, the inspiration for the song came on a 10-day camping trip at Uluru in 1980, where he saw ‘an incredible injustice that needed to be dealt with … I had to reassess my whole relationship with the land and the landscape, and understand that we had come from somewhere else, and we had disempowered a whole race of people when we arrived.’ 

The protest message resonated with the Australian public, with the single peaking at number 3 on the Australian Kent Music Report and winning Best Debut Single at the 1982 Countdown Music and Video Awards.