Connecting you with Australian culture online
UNESCO states that Indigenous populations number some 350 million individuals in more than 70 countries in the world, and that this represents more than 5000 languages and cultures. Today, many Indigenous peoples live on the fringes of society and are de...
A number of organisations promote Australian music and assist Australian musicians and composers. This Fellowship acts on behalf of Australian composers in matters of copyright, composers' fees and the amount of Australian music broadcast on radio and te...
In the early days of the Australian colonies, convict ballads and songs became the foundation of Australia's later day folk music and its first original compositions. Bush songs, ballads and music influenced and defined the folk music of the 1950s. Indi...
Australian independent (indie) music fills a space left by rock and pop music. With the punk movement came a formation of a new style of music, new bands, and independent music labels generally ran from backyard operations. One of the pioneering bands fo...
Marvellous Melbourne Jazz Festival - Bernie McGann Group - Bernie McGann, sax; John Pochee , drum; Chuck Yates, keyboard; Jeff Kluke, bass. An Australian jazz sound has developed through a practice of innovation where performers improvised within particu...
Australian singer Little Pattie and the band, Col Joye and the Joye Boys, perform for soldiers of Headquarters Australian Force Vietnam, in the Free World Military building, Saigon, Vietnam. Like rock music, popular, or pop music had its origins in the 1...
Australian rock music has its roots in the 1950s and '60s when the style of music was growing in popularity around the world. In the 1970s Australian rock bands became well known for classic hard rock. First appearing in the United States of America, ro...
Peter Dodds McCormick's Advance Australia Fair was officially declared Australia's national anthem by the Governor-General on 19 April 1984, close to 160 years after the first alternative anthems were put forward. South Australian Carl Linger wrote Song ...
Community radio stations receive government funding through the Community Broadcasting Foundation, which was established in 1984 as an independent, non-profit funding body for community broadcasting in Australia. The Community Broadcasting Association of...
In 1788, the eleven ships of the First Fleet landed their 'cargo' of around 780 British convicts at Botany Bay in New South Wales. From 1788 to 1823, the Colony of New South Wales was officially a penal colony comprised mainly of convicts, marines and th...
Australian films and filmmakers receive acclaim on the world stage, and the achievements of Australian women onscreen are celebrated. The play's success encouraged Kate to turn the play into a film (1920), which she co-directed with Charles Villiers, mak...
For example, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders these ceremonies bring together all aspects of their culture - song, dance, body decoration, sculpture and painting. Anny Nungarrayi (centre) with other Warlpiri women perform a traditional dance dur...
The songs and music that has come from people's experiences of living and surviving in the Australian bush has become known in Australia as 'bush music'. The convict songs of the early days of the Australian colonies became the foundation of Australia's ...
Portrait of Slim Dusty at the Australia Day Concert (i.e. Australia Day Live), Sydney Entertainment Centre, 1984, transparency. Country music, a derivative of folk music, originated in southern and western USA and consisted mainly of rural songs accompan...
The Australian Institute of Music has been preparing young Australians for music careers since 1968. This is a portal to other Australian music websites of various genres, including jazz, blues, pop, rock and classical. Australian country and folk music...
Indigenous music in Australia uses the environment itself to generate unique sounds and rhythms. Australian musicians performing across a range of genres, or styles, have achieved international recognition with a unique Australian approach. The opera sin...
New media art is an exciting and integral part of the contemporary art scene in Australia. New media art, as defined by the Australia Council, is a process where new technologies are used by artists to create works that explore new modes of artistic expr...
Cable Beach, Broome, north-west Kimberley Coast, Western Australia. Most of Australia's population lives close to the coastline and the beach has long occupied a special place in the Australian identity. Based on this definition, the Coastal Studies Uni...
Australia has had a strong and vibrant jazz scene since the 1920s, commencing with visiting performers and reciprocated by Australian jazz performers touring regularly in America and Europe. Mainstream jazz centres on 'swing', although most jazz styles co...
Indigenous film either portrays Indigenous people, issues and stories or is film made by Indigenous Australians. The portrayal of Indigenous issues and people in film provides a unique insight into Australia's relationship with its Indigenous peoples and...
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