# Songs about Australia **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 20, 2009, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433 "2009-10-20T03:17:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/21 "2009-10-20T15:03:59Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > [I Hate Wogs](http://www.lyrics007.com/Bogle%20Eric%20Lyrics/I%20Hate%20Wogs%20Lyrics.html) - by Eric Bogle (it’s sarcasm) > [@spoke-](#): > > [And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZqN1glz4JY) - The Pogues While i love The Pogues’ version of that song, it was actually written by the same guy that **Telemark** mentions here, Eric Bogle. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/22 "2009-10-20T15:06:23Z")
Then there’s the old kids’ song “Kookaburra”. We used to sing that in grade school (in New England!). ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/23 "2009-10-20T16:29:00Z")
Here’s Eric Bogle singing - [And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WG48Ftsr3OI). It’s been covered many, many times. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/24 "2009-10-20T16:37:35Z")
The Australian band [Redgum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redgum) have various songs that deal with aspects of Australian culture and history. [“I was only 19”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7TXBuVUQJw) deals with the Australian experience of the Vietnam War. [I’ve been To Bali Too](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9toD_R6t1pI) is a comment on tourism and consumerism. [The Diamantina Drover](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM2eNHuWh7Q) about droving on the Diamantina river. And here’s The Irish Rover’s doing [The Overlanders](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPQlNwJxPuo). ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/25 "2009-10-20T16:39:36Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > [Australia](http://www.lyricstime.com/steve-howe-australia-lyrics.html) - \*\*Steve Howe \*\*(YES, _that_ Steve Howe). That was so subtle, I missed it at first. Well done! ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/26 "2009-10-20T16:50:30Z")
Does **I Come from the Land Down Under** count? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/27 "2009-10-20T18:26:42Z")
> [@Icerigger](#): > > Does **I Come from the Land Down Under** count? Yes, which is probably why the OP mentioned it. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/28 "2009-10-20T19:11:36Z")
Four from musical theatre: Australia (Nield) The Ragged Child Australia (Markham) Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day I Still Call Australia Home (Allen, P.) The Boy from Oz Seven little Australians waltz (Reeves) Seven Little Australians ---
**Author:** ![Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/das_glasperlenspiel/32/2944_2.png) [@Das\_Glasperlenspiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Das_Glasperlenspiel)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/29 "2009-10-20T19:25:47Z")
“Shelter” - Eric Bogle No direct reference to Australia, but generally understood to be about coming home to Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/30 "2009-10-20T19:33:59Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > Then there’s the old kids’ song “Kookaburra”. We used to sing that in grade school (in New England!). Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, Very merry king of the bush is he, Laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra, gay your life must be. ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/31 "2009-10-20T23:07:01Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:30, topic:514433”] Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree, Very merry king of the bush is he, Laugh kookaburra, laugh kookaburra, gay your life must be. [/QUOTE] Or the far more popular version (amongst kids anyway) of Kookaburra sits on the electric wire jumping up and down with his pants on fire. 😃 And it also brings to mind a song I haven’t heard in ages, and cannot for the life of me find a version of it playable online - ‘I made a 100 in the backyard at Mum’s’ ---
**Author:** ![BurnMeUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@BurnMeUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BurnMeUp)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/32 "2009-10-20T23:43:40Z")
The Battle of Brisbane - The Pogues ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/33 "2009-10-21T00:36:39Z")
Nobody has mentioned Monty Python’s “Philosopher’s Drinking Song”? [http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/guide/hum/philosophy/philos\_song.html](http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/guide/hum/philosophy/philos_song.html) ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/34 "2009-10-21T09:37:33Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Also, almost anything by John Williamson, Ooh yeah, almost forgot to mention [Home Among the Gum Trees](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2qihozUSMM) "Give me a home among the gum trees, with lots of plum trees, a sheep or two, a ka-kangaroo. A clothes line out the back, verandah out the front, and an old rocking chair. " ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/35 "2009-10-21T09:56:26Z")
Convict songs: [Botany Bay](http://www.imagesaustralia.com/botanybay.htm) [Back Home in Derry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Home_in_Derry) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/36 "2009-10-21T10:31:38Z")
[My Boomerang Won’t Come Back](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_prtbj4MtDU) ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/37 "2009-10-21T11:30:31Z")
The Outback Steakhouse song :ducks & runs: ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/38 "2009-10-21T15:18:58Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Convict songs: > > [Botany Bay](http://www.imagesaustralia.com/botanybay.htm) > > [Back Home in Derry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Home_in_Derry) This reminded me of the song “Van Diemen’s Land” by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band. Turns out there’s a whole passel of references to Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) in song, as listed here: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van\_Diemen%27s\_Land](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Diemen%27s_Land) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/39 "2009-10-21T15:35:46Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Convict songs: > > [Botany Bay](http://www.imagesaustralia.com/botanybay.htm) > > [Back Home in Derry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_Home_in_Derry) Add Moreton Bay to this. It is traditionally sung to the tune of Boulavogue but Andy Irvine does a fantastic version with a different melody. ---
**Author:** ![flano1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f14d63/32.png) [@flano1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flano1)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2009, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433/40 "2009-10-22T10:50:52Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > And it also brings to mind a song I haven’t heard in ages, and cannot for the life of me find a version of it playable online - ‘I made a 100 in the backyard at Mum’s’ try the coodabeens website, greedy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-about-australia/514433.md?page=3)