A new digital archive called the National Songbook was launched at the National Film and Sound Archive in Canberra. The initiative, developed jointly by the NFSA and music rights organisation Apra Amcos, aims to celebrate and preserve songs that have influenced Australia’s national cultural character. The inaugural selection comprises ten songs chosen by a panel of eleven music experts, including broadcasters, composers, and musicians.
The first group of inductees spans multiple decades and genres. The oldest selection is Waltzing Matilda, written in 1895 by bush poet Andrew “Banjo” Paterson and later composed by Christina Macpherson, with its 1927 recording described as one of Australia’s most enduring works. Other selections include Midnight Oil’s Beds Are Burning from 1987, Helen Reddy’s feminist anthem I Am Woman from 1971, and the Easybeats’ garage-rock track Friday on My Mind from 1966. More recent additions include the Presets’ 2008 electronic protest song My People and the score to the 1998 film The Boys by avant garde jazz trio the Necks.
Yothu Yindi’s Treaty was recognized as a landmark protest anthem written in 1991 around a campfire in East Arnhem Land. Collaborator Paul Kelly described the song’s evolution through multiple hands and locations before becoming an international dancefloor hit. Ruby Hunter’s Down City Streets, addressing displacement from the Stolen Generations, and Peter Sculthorpe’s 11-minute orchestral work Earth Cry featuring yidaki also earned inclusion. Neil Murray’s My Island Home, released by Warumpi Band and later covered by Christine Anu, was selected for its evolving relevance to themes of home and belonging.
The selection process involved what NFSA chief curator Meagan Loader described as a “very robust conversation” between panel members and leadership from both organizations. To qualify for inclusion, songs must have been written or co-written by an Australian Apra member, be at least a decade old, and demonstrate measurable cultural impact. The songbook is designed to expand annually, with new panels appointed each year to select additional songs for the archive.
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