A Taste of Sounds of Australia

Here are 25 of the Sounds of Australia: recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance.

Each year, the Australian public nominates new sounds to be added with final selections determined by a panel of industry experts.

See the complete Sounds of Australia list.

Took the Children Away by Archie Roach

Although not the first song about the enforced separation of Indigenous children from their families, Archie Roach’s song, based on his own life and experience, was released at a time when there wa

The Nosebleed Section by Hilltop Hoods

Adelaide hip-hop artists Hilltop Hoods first gained widespread attention with this track in 2003, which propelled the album The Calling to become the first Australian hip-hip CD to be awar

The Aeroplane Jelly Song by Joy King

A popular radio jingle advertising an Australian brand of jelly crystals. The song was recorded in 1938 and broadcast on Sydney radio in the 1940s – up to 100 times a day.

Recording of a Superb Lyrebird at Healesville, Victoria

Lyrebirds are great mimics, copying many sounds in their environment. In nature this consists predominantly of other birds.

Keating Speech: The Redfern Address

This clip is in three parts:

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons

From Little Things (Big Things Grow) by Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody

Kevin Carmody and Paul Kelly discuss the song 'From Little Things Big Things Grow’.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons

It's A Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) by AC/DC

TNT was the second studio album from AC/DC and defined their style of hard edged, riff-based rock music.

The Atlantics in a promotional photo for Vox amplifiers

Bombora by The Atlantics

The summer of 1963-64 saw a brief flowering of Australian surf music.

I Still Call Australia Home by Peter Allen

While I Still Call Australia Home reached only No. 72 on the charts when it was first released, it has become firmly cemented in the national consciousness.

Sampling Sounds: Fairlight CMI

The Fairlight CMI was the world’s first polyphonic digital sampling synthesizer, invented in 1979 by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie, based on a dual-6800 microprocessor created by Tony Furs

Bird and Animal Calls of Australia: Male koala grunting

The voice-over announces 'the male koala grunting’. We hear a series of deep-voiced grunts similar to the sounds of a large pig.

Summary Maryanne Doyle

The 1930 Australian XI: Winners of the Ashes

In this clip you hear the team’s new star, Don Bradman, begin to speak.

Fanny Cochrane Smith’s Tasmanian Aboriginal Songs

In this recording, Fanny Cochrane Smith talks about being the last of the Tasmanians. She then sings in both English and her own language.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons

Dad and Dave from Snake Gully by the George Edwards Players

Dad (George Edwards) and Dave (John Saul) discuss Dave’s hope to marry Mabel, as Dad examines the farm’s finances.

Black and white portrait of Thomas Rome wearing hat and tie

The Hen Convention by Thomas Rome

Vocalist John James Villiers, with piano accompaniment, performs a song which features imitations of chooks.

Menzies Speech: Declaration of War

There is no audible ceremony on Menzies’s arrival in the room, just a short introduction by another speaker. Menzies settles at the microphone and we hear a faint rustle of his papers.

Curtin Speech: Japan Enters Second World War

In a national broadcast Prime Minister Curtin announces that Australia is now at war with Japan.

Summary by Maryanne Doyle

Dame Enid Lyons: Maiden Speech

Dame Enid Lyons reads her maiden speech, originally presented in the House of Representatives in Canberra on 29 September 1943.

Summary Maryanne Doyle

Chant Vénitien by Dame Nelle Melba

Dame Nellie Melba’s early recording of 'Chant Vénitien’, a song composed by Herman Bemberg, who accompanies her in this recording.

The Recordings of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits by Alfred Cort Haddon and others

A man, identified by British Library records as ‘Maino of Yam’, sings a traditional song entitled Yamaz Sibarud. He sings the song a capella.

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following clip may contain images and voices of deceased persons

Senator Dorothy Tangney: Maiden Speech

Recorded by the ABC in Sydney on 21 April 1944, Senator Dorothy Tangney reads the maiden speech that she originally presented in the Senate in Canberra on 24 September 1943.