The Song of Australia

About this arrangement

The prize song of 1859, with Carl Linger’s music and the first verse of Caroline Carleton’s poem. It is in C major, so there are no sharps or flats in the key signature, and two notes come from outside the key: a C sharp in bar 3 (“gleam-ing”) and F sharp in bars 5 and 6 (“witch-ing har-mo-nies”). The tune runs from the G below middle C up to the G above it, with dotted rhythms, long-short, and pairs of slurred quavers (eighth notes) sung to one word. The left hand plays two chords a bar, mostly C and G7, with A, D minor, D7, G and F on the way, and rests when the singer does.

Practice tip: Mark the C sharp and the F sharps in pencil before you start. Count the dotted notes carefully, and let the last “Aus-tra-li-a” broaden out.

The words

There is a land where summer skies Are gleaming with a thousand dyes, Blending in witching harmo nies, in harmo nies, And grassy knoll and forest height Are flushing in the rosy light, And all above is azure bright Australia, Aus tralia, Australia!

A short history

In 1859 the Gawler Institute, in the South Australian town of Gawler, held a competition for a patriotic “Song of Australia”: first for the words, then for music to fit the winning poem. The poem chosen was by Caroline Carleton, an English-born poet living in Adelaide, and the music by Carl Linger, a German-born musician and choir conductor in Adelaide. The first edition, printed in 1859, gives the tune with five verses.

Linger conducted the Adelaide Liedertafel in one of its first performances, in December 1859. The song was sung in South Australian schools for generations, and in 1924 George Yates, the member for Adelaide, proposed it in federal Parliament as the national anthem and sang the first verse there.

In the 1977 national poll it came last of the four choices across Australia but first in South Australia. Its tune is also said to be used for the anthem of Bougainville, in Papua New Guinea.

Quick facts

Tune

Carl Linger, 1859

Words

Caroline Carleton, 1859

Key

C major

Time signature

4/4

Length

18 bars and a pickup

Tempo

Moderately, crotchet = 92

Difficulty

Level 6: Moving on (piece 181 of 201)

Type

Australian

Hands

Both: melody in the right hand, chords in the left

Copyright

Public domain tune; arrangement by Digital Greenhouse, free for personal and classroom use

Questions and answers