Arts in Australia
Encyclopedia
The Arts in Australia refers to the art produced in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian art, music
and story telling attaches to a 40-60,000 year heritage and continues to affect the broader arts and culture of Australia
. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary
, visual and theatrical traditions began with strong links to the broader traditions of English
and Irish literature
, British art
and English
and Celtic music
. However, the works of Australian artists - including Indigenous as well as Anglo-Celtic
and multicultural migrant Australians - has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent to the global arts scene - exploring such themes as Aboriginality, Australian landscape, migrant and national identity, distance from other Western nations and proximity to Asia, the complexities of urban living and the "beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Notable Australian writers have included the Nobel laureate Patrick White
, the novelist Colleen McCullough
and the bush poets Henry Lawson
and Banjo Paterson
. Leading Australian performing artists have included Robert Helpmann
of the Australian Ballet, Joan Sutherland
of Opera Australia
and the humourist Barry Humphries
. Prominent Australian musical artists have included the Australian country music
singer Slim Dusty
, rising star Cody Simpson
, folk-rocker Paul Kelly
, "pop princess" Kylie Minogue
and rock n roll
bands the Bee Gees
, AC/DC
, INXS
and Powderfinger
. Qintessentially Australian art styles include the Heidelberg School
the Hermannsburg School
and the Western Desert Art Movement. Australian cinema has a long tradition with a body of work producing popular classics such as Crocodile Dundee
and The Man From Snowy River, and arthouse successes such as Picnic at Hanging Rock
and Ten Canoes
. Prominent Australian trained filmed artists include Errol Flynn
, Mel Gibson
, Nicole Kidman
, Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett
.
Notable institutions for the arts include the UNESCO
listed Sydney Opera House
, the National Gallery of Victoria
, the National Gallery of Australia
in Canberra
and the National Institute of Dramatic Art
in Sydney.
The arts in Australia — film
, music
, painting
, theatre, dance
and crafts — have achieved international recognition. While much of Australia's cultural output has traditionally tended to fit with general trends and styles in Western arts, the arts as practiced by indigenous Australians
represent a unique Australian cultural tradition, and Australia's landscape and history have contributed to some unique variations in the styles inherited by Australia's various migrant communities.
At the close of the 19th century, the painters of the Heidelberg School
began to capture the unique colours of the Australian bush, famed writers Henry Lawson
and Banjo Paterson
presented conflicting views of the harshness and romance of life in Australia, and performing artists like Dame Nellie Melba
succeeded internationally in the traditional European arts. During the 20th century, writers and performers like C J Dennis, Barry Humphries
and Paul Hogan
both mocked and celebrated Australian cultural stereotypes, while shifting demographics saw a diversification of artistic output, with writers like feminist Germaine Greer
challenging traditional cultural norms.
Australia's capital cities each support traditional "high culture
" institutions in the form of major art galleries, ballet troupes, theaters, symphony orchestras, opera houses and dance companies. Leading Australian performers in these fields have included the opera Dames Nellie Melba
and Joan Sutherland
, dancers Edouard Borovansky
and Sir Robert Helpmann
, and choreographer/dancers such as Graeme Murphy
and Meryl Tankard
. Opera Australia
is based in Sydney at the world renowned Sydney Opera House
. The Australian Ballet, Melbourne
and Sydney
symphony orchestras are also well regarded cultural institutions.
Organisations such as the Sydney Theatre Company
and National Institute of Dramatic Art
have fostered students of theatre, film, and television several of whom have continued to international success, with actors like Cate Blanchett
and Geoffrey Rush
having been associated with both institutions.
Independent culture thrives in all capital cities and exists in most large regional towns. The independent arts of music
, film
, art
and street art
are the most extensive. Melbourne
's independent music scene, is one of the largest in the world, whilst another can be found in the multitude of international street artists visiting Melbourne and, to a lesser extent, other major cities, to work for a period of time.
The visual arts have a long history in Australia and examples of ancient Aboriginal rock artworks can be found throughout the continent - notably in national parks such as those of the UNESCO
listed sites at Uluru
and Kakadu National Park
in the Northern Territory, but also within protected parks in urban areas such as at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
in Sydney. Since the 1970s, indigenous artists have used acrylic paints - with styles such as that of the Western Desert Art Movement becoming a globally known 20th century art movement.
Following the arrival of permanent European settlement in Australia in 1788, the story of early Australian painting has been described as requiring of artists a shift from a "European sense of light" to an "Australian sense of light". The origins of distinctly Australian painting is often associated with the Heidelberg School
of the 1880s-1890s. Artists such as Arthur Streeton
, Frederick McCubbin
and Tom Roberts
applied themselves to recreating in their art a truer sense of light and colour as seen in Australian landscape. Like the European Impressionists, they painted in the open air. These artists found inspiration in the unique light and colour which characterises the Australian bush.
Among the first Australians artists to gain a reputation overseas was the impressionist John Peter Russell
during the 1880s. Another notable expatriate artist of the era was Rupert Bunny
, a painter of landscape, allegory and sensual and intimate portraits. Ernst William Christmas also made a name internationally.
Among the principle Australian artists of the 20th century are the surrealists Sidney Nolan
, Arthur Boyd
and Russell Drysdale
, the avant-garde
Brett Whiteley
, the painter/sculptors William Dobell
and Norman Lindsay
, the landscapists Albert Namatjira
and Lloyd Rees
, the modernist photographer Max Dupain
, and the Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Each has helped to define the unique character of the visual arts in Australia.
Modernism arrived in Australia early in the 20th century. Among the earliest exponents were Grace Cossington Smith
and Margaret Preston
. Humorist Barry Humphries
has been a provocative exponent of dadaism in Australia. Michael Leunig
has been an Australian artist who has developed renowned style of poetic cartoons.
Popular with the general community have been Ken Done
best known for his design work, Pro Hart
and Rolf Harris
, a British
/Australian living in the UK is popular as a musician, composer, painter and television host. In the wealthy suburbs of the capital cities there are many more artists that while not household names, show diversity and sophistication. Ricky Swallow
, Patricia Piccinini
, Susan Norrie, Callum Morton, Rover Thomas
and Emily Kame Kngwarreye have all represented Australians at the Venice Biennale
using the traditional mediums of sculpture, photography and painting while instilling them with a renewed vigour. Under what may be termed 'post-aboriginal art' also comes a new generation of Aboriginal artists who don't require or desire to be boxed outside the mainstream of the arts community. These artists, while not rejecting the culture of the past, endeavour to move the artistic dialog forward. Gordon Bennett
, Rosella Namok
, Richard Bell and Julie Dowling to name a few, are pioneers in this regard.
In recent years the art market has been democratised and art is judged on its merits rather than snobbery. A cohort of male artists aged under fifty (Dane Lovett
, Adam Cullen
, Ben Quilty
, Anthony Bennett
, Simon Cuthbert, Rhys Lee
, Ben Frost
and Alasdair McIntyre) have an expressive style and use humour in their work.
In addition street art
is also a prominent feature in major cities such as Melbourne
and Sydney
. Though there is some debate over the legality, some councils have expressed greater recognition of the urban art movement.
Australia has a number of notable museums and galleries, including the National Gallery of Victoria
in Melbourne
, the National Gallery of Australia
, National Portrait Gallery of Australia
and National Museum of Australia
in Canberra, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales
in Sydney.
Australia has a long history of film production. Australia's first dedicated film studio, the Limelight Department
, was created by The Salvation Army
in Melbourne in 1898, and is believed to have been the world's first. The world's first feature-length film was the Australian production The Story of the Kelly Gang
of 1906. After such early successes, Australian cinema suffered from the rise of Hollywood.
In 1933, In the Wake of the Bounty
was directed by Charles Chauvel, who cast Tasmanian born Erroll Flynn as the leading actor. Flynn went on to a celebrated career in Hollywood. Chauvel directed a number of successful Australian films, the last being 1955's Jedda
, which was notable for being the first Australian film to be shot in colour, and the first to feature Aboriginal actors in lead roles and to be entered at the Cannes Film Festival. It was not until 2006 and Rolf De Heer
's Ten Canoes
that a major feature length drama was shot in an indigenous language.
The first Australian Oscar was won by 1942's Kokoda Front Line!, directed by Ken G. Hall
.
During the late 1960s and 1970s an influx of government funding saw the development of a new generation of film makers telling distinctively Australian stories, including directors Peter Weir
, George Miller and Bruce Beresford
. Films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock
and Sunday Too Far Away
had an immediate international impact. The 1980s is often regarded as a golden age of Australian cinema, with many successful films, from the historical drama of Gallipoli
, to the dark science fiction of Mad Max
, the romantic adventure of The Man From Snowy River or the comedy of Crocodile Dundee
.
A major theme of Australian cinema has been survival in the harsh Australian landscape. A number of thrillers and horror films dubbed "outback gothic" have been created, including Wake in Fright
, Walkabout
, The Cars That Ate Paris
and Picnic at Hanging Rock
in the 1970s, Razorback
and Shame
in the 1980s, and Japanese Story
, The Proposition
and the world-renowned Wolf Creek
in the 21st century. These films depict the Australian bush and its creatures as deadly, and its people as outcasts and psychopaths. These are combined with futuristic post-apocalyptic themes in the Mad Max series
.
The 1990s saw a run of successful comedies such as Muriel's Wedding
, The Castle
and Strictly Ballroom
, which helped launch the careers of Toni Collette
, P. J. Hogan
, Eric Bana
and Baz Luhrmann
. This group was joined in Hollywood by actors including Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett
and Heath Ledger
who also rose to international prominence.
The domestic film industry continues to produce a reasonable number of films each year. The industry is also supported by US producers who produce in Australia following the decision by Fox head Rupert Murdoch
to utilise new studios in Melbourne and Sydney where filming could be completed well below US costs. Notable productions include The Matrix
, Star Wars
episodes II
and III
, and Australia
starring Nicole Kidman
and Hugh Jackman
.
Australian writers who have obtained international renown include the Nobel winning author Patrick White
, as well as authors Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally
, Colleen McCullough
, Nevil Shute
and Morris West
. Notable contemporary expatriate authors include the feminist Germaine Greer
, art historian Robert Hughes
and humorists Barry Humphries
and Clive James
.
Among the important authors of classic Australian works are the poets Henry Lawson
, Banjo Paterson
, C J Dennis and Dorothea McKellar. Dennis wrote in the Australian vernacular, while McKellar wrote the iconic patriotic poem My Country
. At one point, Lawson and Paterson contributed a series of verses to The Bulletin
magazine in which they engaged in a literary debate about the nature of life in Australia. Lawson said Paterson was a romantic and Paterson said Lawson was full of doom and gloom. Lawson is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest writers of short stories, while Paterson's poems The Man From Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow
remain amongst the most popular Australian bush poems. Significant political poets of the 20th century included Dame Mary Gilmore
and Judith Wright
. Among the best known contemporary poets are Les Murray
and Bruce Dawe
.
Novelists of classic Australian works include Marcus Clarke
(For the Term of His Natural Life
), Miles Franklin
(My Brilliant Career
) and Ruth Park
(The Harp in the South). In terms of children's literature, Norman Lindsay
(The Magic Pudding
) and May Gibbs
(Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
) are among the Australian classics, while eminent Australian playwrights have included Steele Rudd
, David Williamson
, Alan Seymour
and Nick Enright
.
Although historically only a small proportion of Australia's population have lived outside the major cities, many of Australia's most distinctive stories and legends originate in the outback
, in the drover
s and squatters and people of the barren, dusty plains.
Contemporary works dealing with the migrant experience include Melina Marchetta
's Looking for Alibrandi
and Anh Do
's memoir The Happiest Refugee, which won the Indie Book of the Year Award for 2011 and tells the story of the his experience as a Vietnamese refugee travelling to and growing up in Australia.
David Unaipon
is known as the first indigenous author. Oodgeroo Noonuccal
was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse. A significant contemporary account of the experiences of Indigenous Australia can be found in Sally Morgan
's My Place
.
Charles Bean
(The Story of Anzac: From the Outbreak of War to the End of the First Phase of the Gallipoli Campaign May 4, 1915, 1921) Geoffrey Blainey
(The Tyranny of Distance, 1966), Robert Hughes
(The Fatal Shore
, 1987), Manning Clark
(A History of Australia, 1962–87), and Marcia Langton
(First Australians, 2008) are authors of important Australian histories.
Traditional Indigenous Australian dance was closely associated with song and was understood and experienced as making present the reality of the Dreamtime. In some instances, they would imitate the actions of a particular animal in the process of telling a story. For the people in their own country it defined to roles, responsibilities and the place itself. These ritual performances gave them an understanding of themselves in the interplay of social, geographical and environmental forces. The performances were associated with specific places and dance grounds were often sacred places. Body decoration and specific gestures related to kin and other relationships (such as to Dreamtime beings with which individuals and groups). For a number of Indigenous Australian groups their dances were secret and or sacred, gender could also be an important factor in some ceremonies with men and women having separate ceremonial traditions.
The term Corroboree
is commonly used in general Australian culture to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, however this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In a number of places Australian Aboriginal people will perform "corroborees" for tourists.
In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, particularly in contemporary dance with the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association
providing training to Indigenous Australians in dance and the Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Bush dance
has developed in Australia as a form of traditional dance, drawing from English, Irish, Scottish and other European dance. Favourite dances in the community include such as the Irish Céilidh
"Pride of Erin" and the quadrille
"The Lancers". Locally originated dances include the "Waves of Bondi", the Melbourne Shuffle
and New Vogue
.
The Australian Ballet is the foremost classical ballet
company in Australia. It was founded by the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh
in 1962 and is today recognised as one of the world's major international ballet companies. It is based in Melbourne and performs works from the classical repertoire as well as contemporary works by major Australian and international choreographers. As of 2010, it was presenting approximately 200 performances in cities and regional areas around Australia each year as well as international tours. Regular venues include: the Melbourne Arts Centre, Sydney Opera House
, Sydney Theatre
, Adelaide Festival Centre
and Queensland Performing Arts Centre
. Robert Helpmann
is among Australia's best known ballerinos.
Many immigrant communities continue their own dance traditions on a professional or amateur basis. Traditional dances from a large number of ethnic backgrounds are danced in Australia, helped by the presence of enthusiastic immigrants and their Australian-born families. It is quite common to see dances from the Baltic region, as well as Scottish, Irish, Indian, Indonesian or African dance being taught at community centres and dance schools in Australia.
Baz Lurhmann's popular 1992 film Strictly Ballroom
, starring Paul Mercurio
contributed to an increased interest in dance competition in Australia, and a number of popular dance shows including So You Think You Can Dance
have featured on television in recent years.
. This wooden instrument, used amongst the Aboriginal tribes of northern Australia, makes a distinctive droning sound and its use has been adopted by a wide variety of non-Aboriginal performers.
Aboriginal musicians have turned their hand to Western popular musical forms, often to considerable commercial success. Pioneers included Lionel Rose
, and Jimmy Little
, while notable contemporary examples include Archie Roach
, the Warumpi Band
, NoKTuRNL
and Yothu Yindi
. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
(formerly of Yothu Yindi) has attained international success singing contemporary music in English and in the language of the Yolngu
. Christine Anu
is a successful Torres Strait Islander singer.
Australian country music
has been popular among indigenous communities, with performers including Troy Cassar-Daley
rising to national prominence.
Amongst young Australian aborigines, African-American
and Aboriginal hip hop
music and clothing is popular. Aboriginal boxing champion and former rugby league player Anthony Mundine
identified US rapper Tupac Shakur
as a personal inspiration, after Mundine's release of his 2007 single, Platinum Ryder.
The Deadlys
are an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community.
The early Anglo-Celtic
immigrants of the 18th and 19th centuries introduced folk ballad traditions which were adapted to Australian themes: "Bound for Botany Bay
" tells of the voyage of British convicts to Sydney, "The Wild Colonial Boy
" evokes the spirit of the bushranger
s, and "Click Go the Shears
" speaks of the life of Australian shearers. The lyrics of Australia's best known folk song, "Waltzing Matilda
", were written by the bush poet Banjo Paterson
in 1895. Adopted by Australian soldiers during World War I
, this song remains popular and is often sung at sporting events, including the closure of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, by Australian country music
singer Slim Dusty
.
Other well known singers of Australian folk music include Rolf Harris
(who wrote "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport"), John Williamson
, and Eric Bogle
whose 1972 song "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda
" is a sorrowful lament to the Gallipoli Campaign. Bush dance
is a traditional style of dance from Australia with strong Celtic roots, and influenced country music
. It is generally accompanied by such instruments as the fiddle
, accordion
, concertina
and percussion instruments. A well known Bush band is The Bushwackers.
The national anthem
of Australia is "Advance Australia Fair
":
Unofficial pop music anthems of Australia include Peter Allen
's "I Still Call Australia Home
" and Men at Work
's "Down Under
".
The earliest Western musical influences in Australia can be traced back to two distinct sources: the first free settlers who brought with them the European classical music tradition, and the large body of convicts and sailors, who brought the traditional folk music of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The practicalities of building a colony mean that there is very little music extant from this early period although there are samples of music originating from Hobart
and Sydney that date back to the early 19th century.
Nellie Melba
(1861–1931) travelled to Europe in 1886 to commence her international career as an opera singer. She became among the best know Australians of the period and participated in early gramophone recording and radio broadcasting.
The establishment of choral societies (c. 1850) and symphony orchestras (c. 1890) led to increased compositional activity, although many Australian classical composers attempted to work entirely within European models. A lot of works leading up to the first part of the 20th century were heavily influenced by the folk music of other countries (Percy Grainger
’s Country Gardens
of 1918 being a good example of this) and a very conservative British orchestral tradition.
In the war and post-war eras, as pressure built to assert a national identity in the face of the looming superpower of the United States and the "motherland
" Britain
, composers looked to their surroundings for inspiration. John Antill and Peter Sculthorpe
began to incorporate elements of Aboriginal music, and Richard Meale
drew influence from south-east Asia (notably using the harmonic properties of the Balinese
Gamelan
, as had Percy Grainger in an earlier generation).
By the beginning of the 1960s, Australian classical music erupted with influences, with composers incorporating disparate elements into their work, ranging from Aboriginal and south-east Asian music and instruments, to American jazz
and blues
, to the belated discovery of European atonality and the avant-garde
. Composers like Don Banks
, Don Kay
, Malcolm Williamson
and Colin Brumby
epitomise this period. In recent times composers including Liza Lim
, Carl Vine
, Georges Lentz
, Matthew Hindson
, Nigel Westlake
, Ross Edwards
, Graeme Koehne
, Elena Kats-Chernin
, Richard Mills
and Brett Dean
have embodied the pinnacle of established Australian composers.
Well-known Australian classical performers include: sopranos Dame Joan Sutherland
, Dame Joan Hammond
, Joan Carden
, Yvonne Kenny
, Sara Macliver
and Emma Matthews
; pianists Roger Woodward
, Eileen Joyce
, Michael Kieran Harvey
, Geoffrey Tozer
, Geoffrey Douglas Madge
, Leslie Howard
and Ian Munro
; guitarists John Williams
and Slava Grigoryan
; horn player Barry Tuckwell
; oboist Diana Doherty
; violinists Richard Tognetti
and Elizabeth Wallfisch
; cellists John Addison
and David Pereira
; organist Christopher Wrench
; orchestras like the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
, the Australian Chamber Orchestra
and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
; and conductors Sir Bernard Heinze
, Sir Charles Mackerras
, Richard Bonynge
, Simone Young
and Geoffrey Simon
. Indigenous performers like didgeridoo
player William Barton
and immigrant musicians like Egyptian-born oud
virtuoso Joseph Tawadros
have stimulated interest in their own music traditions and have also collaborated with other musicians and ensembles both in Australia and internationally.
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Australia has produced a large variety of popular music from the internationally renowned work of the Bee Gees
, AC/DC
, INXS
, Nick Cave
, Cody Simpson
or Kylie Minogue
to the popular local content of John Farnham
or Paul Kelly
.
Among the brightest stars of early Australian rock and roll
was Johnny O'Keefe
, who formed a band in 1956; his hit Wild One made him the first Australian rock'n'roller to reach the national charts. While US and British content dominated airwaves and record sales into the 1960s, local successes began to emerge – notably The Easybeats
and the folk-pop group The Seekers
had significant local success and some international recognition, while the bands the Bee Gees
and AC/DC
had their first hits in Australia before going on to international success.
The arrival of the 1961 underground movement into the mainstream in the early 1970s changed Australian music permanently. Skyhooks were far from the first people to write songs in Australia by Australians about Australia, but they were the first ones to make good money doing it. The two best-selling Australian albums made up to that time put Australian music on the map. Within a few years, the novelty had worn off and it became commonplace to hear distinctively Australian lyrics and sounds side-by-side with imports.
During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s Australian performers continued to do well on the local and international music scenes, for example Cold Chisel
, INXS
, Men at Work
and Kylie Minogue
, Natalie Imbruglia
, Savage Garden
and Silverchair
. In the early 21st century, bands such as Jet
, Wolfmother
, Eskimo Joe
, Grinspoon
, The Vines
, The Living End
, Pendulum
, Delta Goodrem
and others were enjoying success internationally.
Domestically, John Farnham
has remained one of Australia's best-known performers, with a career spanning over 40 years. Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly
whose music style straddles folk, rock, and country has been described as the poet laureate of Australian music.
The national expansion of ABC
youth radio station Triple J
during the 1990s has increased the profile and availability of home-grown talent to listeners nationwide. Since the mid 1990s a string of successful alternative Australian acts have emerged; artists to achieve both underground (critical) and mainstream (commercial) success include You Am I
, Grinspoon
, Powderfinger
and Jet
.
, which has developed a style quite distinct from its US counterpart, influenced by Celtic folk ballads and the traditions of Australian bush balladeers like Henry Lawson
and Banjo Paterson
. Pioneers of popular country music in Australia included Tex Morton
in the 1930s and Smoky Dawson
from the 1940s onward.
Slim Dusty
(1927–2003) was known as the King of Australian Country Music. His successful career spanned almost six decades and his 1957 hit "A Pub With No Beer" was the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time, the first Australian single to go gold
, and the first and only 78 rpm record to be awarded a gold disc. Dusty recorded and released his one-hundredth album in the year 2000 and was given the honour of singing Waltzing Matilda
in the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
. Dusty's wife Joy McKean
penned several of his most popular songs.
Other popular performers of Australian country music include: John Williamson
(who wrote the iconic song "True Blue"), Lee Kernaghan
, Kasey Chambers
and Sara Storer
. In the United States, Australian country music stars including Olivia Newton John and Keith Urban
have attained great success.
Country music has also been a particularly popular form of musical expression among the Australia
n Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Troy Cassar-Daley
is among Australia's successful indigenous performers.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival
is an annual country music festival held in Tamworth, New South Wales
. It celebrates the culture and heritage of Australian country music
. During the festival the Country Music Association of Australia
holds the Country Music Awards of Australia
ceremony awarding the Golden Guitar
trophies.
The ceremonial dances of indigenous Australians
which recount the stories of the Dreamtime
, comprise theatrical aspects and have been performed since time immemorial during the 40-60,000 year Aboriginal occupation of Australia. European traditions came to Australia with the First Fleet
in 1788, with the first production being performed in 1789 by convicts. Two centuries later, the extraordinary circumstances of the foundations of Australian theatre were recounted in Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
: the participants were prisoners watched by sadistic guards and the leading lady was under threat of the death penalty.
The Theatre Royal, Hobart
, opened in 1837 and it remains the oldest theatre in Australia. The Australian gold rushes
beginning in the 1850s provided funds for the construction of grand theatres in the Victorian style. A theatre was built on the present site of Melbourne's Princess Theatre
in 1854. The present building now hosts major international productions as well as live performance events such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
.
The Melbourne Athenaeum was built during this period and later became Australia's first cinema, screening The Story of the Kelly Gang
, the world's first feature film in 1906. Mark Twain
, Nellie Melba
, Lawrence Olivier and Barry Humphries
have all performed on this historic stage. The Queen's Theatre, Adelaide opened with Shakespeare in 1841 and is today the oldest theatre on the mainland.
After Federation in 1901, theatre productions evidenced the new sense of national identity. On Our Selection (1912) by Steele Rudd
, told of the adventures of a pioneer farming family and became immensely popular. Sydney's grand Capitol Theatre
opened in 1928 and after restoration remains one of the nation's finest auditoriums.
In 1955, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
by Ray Lawler
portrayed resolutely Australian characters and went on to international acclaim. That same year, young Melbourne artist Barry Humphries
performed as Edna Everage for the first time at Melbourne University's Union Theatre. Humphries left for London in his early 20s and enjoyed success on stage, including in Lionel Bart
's musical, Oliver!
. His satirical stage creations - notably Dame Edna and later Les Patterson - became Australian cultural icons. Humphries also achieved success in the USA with tours on Broadway
and television appearances and has been honoured in Australia and Britain.
The National Institute of Dramatic Art
was created in Sydney in 1958. This institute has since produced a list of famous alumni including Cate Blanchett
, Mel Gibson
and Baz Luhrmann
.
Construction of the Adelaide Festival Centre
began in 1970 and South Australia's Sir Robert Helpmann
became director of the Adelaide Festiavl of Arts. The new wave of Australian theatre debuted in the 1970s. The Belvoir St Theatre
presented works by Nick Enright
and David Williamson
. In 1973, the Sydney Opera House
, which had been based on a design by Jørn Utzon
, was officially opened. Opera Australia
made its home in the building and its reputation was enhanced by the presence of the diva Joan Sutherland
.
The Sydney Theatre Company
was founded 1978 becoming one of Australia's foremost theatre companies. The Bell Shakespeare Company
was created in 1990. A period of success for Australian musical theatre came in the 1990s with the debut of musical biographies of Australian music singers Peter Allen
(The Boy From Oz
in 1998) and Johnny O'Keefe
(Shout! The Legend of The Wild One).
In The One Day of the Year, Alan Seymour
studied the paradoxical nature of the ANZAC Day
commemoration by Australians of the defeat of the Battle of Gallipoli
. Ngapartji Ngapartji, by Scott Rankin and Trevor Jamieson, recounts the story of the effects on the Pitjantjatjara people of nuclear testing in the Western Desert during the Cold War
. It is an example of the contemporary fusion of traditions of drama in Australia with Pitjantjatjara actors being supported by a multicultural cast of Greek, Afghan, Japanese and New Zealand heritage.
Indigenous Australian music
Australian indigenous music includes the music of Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, who are collectively called Indigenous Australians; it incorporates a variety of distinctive traditional music styles practiced by Indigenous Australian peoples, as well as a range of contemporary...
and story telling attaches to a 40-60,000 year heritage and continues to affect the broader arts and culture of Australia
Culture of Australia
The culture of Australia is essentially a Western culture influenced by the unique geography of the Australian continent and by the diverse input of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and various waves of multi-ethnic migration which followed the British colonisation of Australia...
. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary
Australian literature
Australian literature is the written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary tradition begins with and is linked to...
, visual and theatrical traditions began with strong links to the broader traditions of English
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
and Irish literature
Irish literature
For a comparatively small island, Ireland has made a disproportionately large contribution to world literature. Irish literature encompasses the Irish and English languages.-The beginning of writing in Irish:...
, British art
Art of the United Kingdom
The Art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the United Kingdom since its formation in 1707. For earlier periods, and some more detailed information on the post-1707 period, see English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art...
and English
British music
British music could refer to:* Music of the United Kingdom* English music* Irish music* Scottish music* Welsh music* Celtic music...
and Celtic music
Celtic music
Celtic music is a term utilised by artists, record companies, music stores and music magazines to describe a broad grouping of musical genres that evolved out of the folk musical traditions of the Celtic people of Western Europe...
. However, the works of Australian artists - including Indigenous as well as Anglo-Celtic
Anglo-Celtic
Anglo-Celtic is a term used to describe people of British and Irish descent. The term today is mainly used outside of Britain and Ireland, particularly in Australia but also in Canada, New Zealand and the United States, where a significant diaspora is located....
and multicultural migrant Australians - has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent to the global arts scene - exploring such themes as Aboriginality, Australian landscape, migrant and national identity, distance from other Western nations and proximity to Asia, the complexities of urban living and the "beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Notable Australian writers have included the Nobel laureate Patrick White
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
, the novelist Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough-Robinson, , is an internationally acclaimed Australian author.-Life:McCullough was born in Wellington, in outback central west New South Wales, in 1937 to James and Laurie McCullough. Her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent. During her childhood, her family moved...
and the bush poets Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
and Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
. Leading Australian performing artists have included Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
of the Australian Ballet, Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
of Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
and the humourist Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
. Prominent Australian musical artists have included the Australian country music
Australian country music
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodelling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers, as well as by popular American...
singer Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
, rising star Cody Simpson
Cody Simpson
Cody Robert Simpson is an Australian pop singer from Gold Coast, Queensland, who is currently signed to US record label Atlantic Records.-Early life:...
, folk-rocker Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
, "pop princess" Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
and rock n roll
Rock N Roll
-Personnel:*Ryan Adams - Bass, Composer, Costume Design, Guitar, Keyboards, Multi Instruments, Vocals, Vocals *Billie Joe Armstrong - Vocals *Melissa Auf der Maur - Vocals...
bands the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
and Powderfinger
Powderfinger
Powderfinger was an Australian rock band that formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their breakup the band lineup consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bassist John Collins, and drummer Jon Coghill....
. Qintessentially Australian art styles include the Heidelberg School
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....
the Hermannsburg School
Hermannsburg School
The Hermannsburg School is an art movement, or art style, which began at the Hermannsburg Mission in the 1930s. The most well known artist of the style is Albert Namatjira...
and the Western Desert Art Movement. Australian cinema has a long tradition with a body of work producing popular classics such as Crocodile Dundee
Crocodile Dundee
"Crocodile" Dundee is a 1986 Australian comedy film set in the Australian Outback and in New York City. It stars Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee and Linda Kozlowski as Sue Charlton....
and The Man From Snowy River, and arthouse successes such as Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1967 drama and mystery novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay. She wrote it over a four-week period at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. It was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was released in...
and Ten Canoes
Ten Canoes
Ten Canoes is a 2006 film. It was directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starred Crusoe Kurddal. The title of the film arose from discussions between de Heer and David Gulpilil about a photograph of ten canoeists poling across the Arafura Swamp, taken by anthropologist Donald Thomson in...
. Prominent Australian trained filmed artists include Errol Flynn
Errol Flynn
Errol Leslie Flynn was an Australian-born actor. He was known for his romantic swashbuckler roles in Hollywood films, being a legend and his flamboyant lifestyle.-Early life:...
, Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
, Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
, Russel Crowe and Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
.
Notable institutions for the arts include the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
listed Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
, the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
, the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
in Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
and the National Institute of Dramatic Art
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...
in Sydney.
Overview
Cinema of Australia
Cinema of Australia, more commonly referred to as the Australian film industry, refers to the system of production, distribution, and exhibition of films in Australia. Film production commenced in Australia in 1906 with the production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, the earliest feature film made...
, music
Music of Australia
The music of Australia is the music produced in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of modern Australia, including its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian music is a part of the unique heritage of a 40–60,000 year history which produced the iconic...
, painting
Art of Australia
Australian art incorporates art made in Australia or about Australian subjects since prehistoric times. This includes Australian Aboriginal art, Australian Colonial art, Landscape, Atelier, Modernist and Contemporary art. The visual arts have a long history in Australia, with evidence of Aboriginal...
, theatre, dance
Dance in Australia
Dance in Australia includes a very broad variety of styles, from Indigenous Australian to the traditional Australian bush dance and from classical ballet, and ballroom dancing to contemporary dance and multicultural dance traditions from the 200 national backgrounds represented in Australia.Notable...
and crafts — have achieved international recognition. While much of Australia's cultural output has traditionally tended to fit with general trends and styles in Western arts, the arts as practiced by indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
represent a unique Australian cultural tradition, and Australia's landscape and history have contributed to some unique variations in the styles inherited by Australia's various migrant communities.
At the close of the 19th century, the painters of the Heidelberg School
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....
began to capture the unique colours of the Australian bush, famed writers Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
and Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
presented conflicting views of the harshness and romance of life in Australia, and performing artists like Dame Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
succeeded internationally in the traditional European arts. During the 20th century, writers and performers like C J Dennis, Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
and Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan
Paul Hogan, AM is an Australian actor best known for his role as Michael "Crocodile" Dundee from the Crocodile Dundee film series, for which he won a Golden Globe award.-Early life and career:...
both mocked and celebrated Australian cultural stereotypes, while shifting demographics saw a diversification of artistic output, with writers like feminist Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
challenging traditional cultural norms.
Australia's capital cities each support traditional "high culture
High culture
High culture is a term, now used in a number of different ways in academic discourse, whose most common meaning is the set of cultural products, mainly in the arts, held in the highest esteem by a culture...
" institutions in the form of major art galleries, ballet troupes, theaters, symphony orchestras, opera houses and dance companies. Leading Australian performers in these fields have included the opera Dames Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
and Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, dancers Edouard Borovansky
Edouard Borovansky
Edouard Borovansky was a Czech- born Australian ballet dancer, choreographer and director. After touring with Anna Pavlova's company, he and his wife settled in Australia where they established the Borovansky Ballet company...
and Sir Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
, and choreographer/dancers such as Graeme Murphy
Graeme Murphy
Graeme Murphy is an Australian dance choreographer. Together with his fellow dancer Janet Vernon, he has guided Sydney Dance Company to become one of Australia's most successful and well-known dance companies....
and Meryl Tankard
Meryl Tankard
Meryl Tankard is an Australian dancer and choreographer who has a wide national and international reputation....
. Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
is based in Sydney at the world renowned Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
. The Australian Ballet, Melbourne
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
and Sydney
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra , commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney...
symphony orchestras are also well regarded cultural institutions.
Organisations such as the Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....
and National Institute of Dramatic Art
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...
have fostered students of theatre, film, and television several of whom have continued to international success, with actors like Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
and Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor and film producer. He is one of the few people who has won the "Triple Crown of Acting": an Academy Award, a Tony Award and an Emmy Award. He has won one Academy Award for acting , three British Academy Film Awards , two Golden Globe Awards and four Screen...
having been associated with both institutions.
Independent culture thrives in all capital cities and exists in most large regional towns. The independent arts of music
Music of Australia
The music of Australia is the music produced in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of modern Australia, including its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian music is a part of the unique heritage of a 40–60,000 year history which produced the iconic...
, film
Cinema of Australia
Cinema of Australia, more commonly referred to as the Australian film industry, refers to the system of production, distribution, and exhibition of films in Australia. Film production commenced in Australia in 1906 with the production of The Story of the Kelly Gang, the earliest feature film made...
, art
Art of Australia
Australian art incorporates art made in Australia or about Australian subjects since prehistoric times. This includes Australian Aboriginal art, Australian Colonial art, Landscape, Atelier, Modernist and Contemporary art. The visual arts have a long history in Australia, with evidence of Aboriginal...
and street art
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
are the most extensive. Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
's independent music scene, is one of the largest in the world, whilst another can be found in the multitude of international street artists visiting Melbourne and, to a lesser extent, other major cities, to work for a period of time.
Art – painting and sculpture
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
listed sites at Uluru
Uluru
Uluru , also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs; by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park....
and Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin.Kakadu National Park is located within the Alligator Rivers Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It covers an area of , extending nearly 200 kilometres from north to south and over 100 kilometres...
in the Northern Territory, but also within protected parks in urban areas such as at Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
Ku-ring-gai Chase is a national park in New South Wales, Australia, 25 km north of Sydney located largely within the Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby, Warringah and Pittwater municipal areas. Ku-ring-gai Chase is also officially classed as a suburb by the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales...
in Sydney. Since the 1970s, indigenous artists have used acrylic paints - with styles such as that of the Western Desert Art Movement becoming a globally known 20th century art movement.
Following the arrival of permanent European settlement in Australia in 1788, the story of early Australian painting has been described as requiring of artists a shift from a "European sense of light" to an "Australian sense of light". The origins of distinctly Australian painting is often associated with the Heidelberg School
Heidelberg School
The Heidelberg School was an Australian art movement of the late 19th century. The movement has latterly been described as Australian Impressionism....
of the 1880s-1890s. Artists such as Arthur Streeton
Arthur Streeton
Sir Arthur Ernest Streeton was an Australian landscape painter.-Early life:Streeton was born in Mount Duneed, near Geelong, and his family moved to Richmond in 1874. In 1882, Streeton commenced art studies with G. F. Folingsby at the National Gallery School.Streeton was influenced by French...
, Frederick McCubbin
Frederick McCubbin
Frederick McCubbin was an Australian painter who was prominent in the Heidelberg School, one of the more important periods in Australia's visual arts history....
and Tom Roberts
Tom Roberts
Thomas William Roberts , usually known simply as Tom, was a prominent Australian artist and a key member of the Heidelberg School.-Life:...
applied themselves to recreating in their art a truer sense of light and colour as seen in Australian landscape. Like the European Impressionists, they painted in the open air. These artists found inspiration in the unique light and colour which characterises the Australian bush.
Among the first Australians artists to gain a reputation overseas was the impressionist John Peter Russell
John Peter Russell
John Peter Russell was an Australian impressionist painter.-Life and work:John Peter Russell was born at the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst, the eldest of four children of John Russell, a Scottish engineer, his wife Charlotte Elizabeth, née Nicholl, from London. J. P. Russell was a nephew of Sir...
during the 1880s. Another notable expatriate artist of the era was Rupert Bunny
Rupert Bunny
Rupert Charles Wulsten Bunny was an Australian painter, born in St Kilda, Victoria. He achieved success and critical acclaim as an expatriate in fin-de-siècle Paris....
, a painter of landscape, allegory and sensual and intimate portraits. Ernst William Christmas also made a name internationally.
Among the principle Australian artists of the 20th century are the surrealists Sidney Nolan
Sidney Nolan
Sir Sidney Robert Nolan OM, AC was one of Australia's best-known painters and printmakers.-Early life:Nolan was born in Carlton, a suburb of Melbourne, on 22 April 1917. He was the eldest of four children. His family later moved to St Kilda. Nolan attended the Brighton Road State School and...
, Arthur Boyd
Arthur Boyd
Arthur Merric Bloomfield Boyd, AC, OBE was one of the leading Australian painters of the late 20th Century. A member of the prominent Boyd artistic dynasty in Australia, his relatives included painters, sculptors, architects or other arts professionals. His sister Mary Boyd married John Perceval,...
and Russell Drysdale
Russell Drysdale
Sir George Russell Drysdale, AC was an Australian artist. He won the prestigious Wynne Prize for Sofala in 1947, and represented Australia at the Venice Biennale in 1954...
, the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley, AO was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize...
, the painter/sculptors William Dobell
William Dobell
Sir William Dobell, OBE was an Australian artist .The electoral Division of Dobell is named after him.- Life :...
and Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay
Norman Alfred William Lindsay was an Australian artist, sculptor, writer, editorial cartoonist, scale modeler, and boxer. He was born in Creswick, Victoria....
, the landscapists Albert Namatjira
Albert Namatjira
Albert Namatjira , born Elea Namatjira, was an Australian artist. He was a Western Arrernte man, an Indigenous Australian of the Western MacDonnell Ranges area...
and Lloyd Rees
Lloyd Rees
Lloyd Frederic Rees AC CMG was an Australian landscape painter who twice won the Wynne Prize for his landscape paintings....
, the modernist photographer Max Dupain
Max Dupain
Maxwell Spencer Dupain AC was a renowned Australian modernist photographer.-Early life:Dupain received his first camera as a gift in 1924, spurring his interest in photography He later joined the Photographic Society of NSW, and when he left school, he worked for Cecil Bostock in Sydney.-Early...
, and the Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Each has helped to define the unique character of the visual arts in Australia.
Modernism arrived in Australia early in the 20th century. Among the earliest exponents were Grace Cossington Smith
Grace Cossington Smith
Grace Cossington Smith AO OBE was an Australian artist and pioneer of modernist painting in Australia and was instrumental in introducing Post-Impressionism to her home country...
and Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston was a well-known Australian artist. She was highly influential during the 1920s to 1940s for her modernist works as a painter and printmaker and for introducing Aboriginal motifs into contemporary art.-Early life:...
. Humorist Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
has been a provocative exponent of dadaism in Australia. Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig
Michael Leunig , typically referred to as Leunig, is an Australian poet, cartoonist and cultural commentator. His best known works include The Adventures of Vasco Pyjama and the Curly Flats series...
has been an Australian artist who has developed renowned style of poetic cartoons.
Popular with the general community have been Ken Done
Ken Done
Ken Done, AM is an Australian artist best known for his design work. His simple, brightly coloured images of Australian landmarks have adorned a very popular range of clothing and homewares sold under the "Done Design" brand.-Early life:...
best known for his design work, Pro Hart
Pro Hart
Kevin Charles "Pro" Hart, MBE , born in Broken Hill, New South Wales, was considered the father of the Australian Outback painting movement and his works are widely admired for capturing the true spirit of the outback...
and Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
, a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
/Australian living in the UK is popular as a musician, composer, painter and television host. In the wealthy suburbs of the capital cities there are many more artists that while not household names, show diversity and sophistication. Ricky Swallow
Ricky Swallow
Ricky Swallow is an Australian sculptor , who lives and works in Los Angeles. He creates detailed pieces and installations in a variety of media, often utilising objects of everyday life as well as the body . He first came to prominence in Australia when he won the Contempora 5 Prize in Melbourne...
, Patricia Piccinini
Patricia Piccinini
Patricia Piccinini is an Australian artist and hyperrealist sculptor. Her art work came to prominence in Australia in the late 1990s. In 2003 she was selected as the artist to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale....
, Susan Norrie, Callum Morton, Rover Thomas
Rover Thomas
Rover Thomas Joolama was an Indigenous Australian artist.-Early life:He was born at Gunawaggi in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. At the age of 10 Rover and his family moved to the Kimberley where, as was usual at the time, he began work as a stockman...
and Emily Kame Kngwarreye have all represented Australians at the Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
using the traditional mediums of sculpture, photography and painting while instilling them with a renewed vigour. Under what may be termed 'post-aboriginal art' also comes a new generation of Aboriginal artists who don't require or desire to be boxed outside the mainstream of the arts community. These artists, while not rejecting the culture of the past, endeavour to move the artistic dialog forward. Gordon Bennett
Gordon Bennett (artist)
Gordon Bennett is an Australian artist of Aboriginal and Anglo-Gaelic descent. Born in Monto, Queensland, and now working in Brisbane, Bennett is a significant figure in contemporary Indigenous Australian art.-Biography:...
, Rosella Namok
Rosella Namok
Rosella Namok is an Indigenous Australian artist from Lockhart River, Queensland. Namok was taught art at high school and learned printmaking and other techniques through a community art project in 1997 that led to the formation of a group of artists known as the Lockhart River Art Gang.Namok is...
, Richard Bell and Julie Dowling to name a few, are pioneers in this regard.
In recent years the art market has been democratised and art is judged on its merits rather than snobbery. A cohort of male artists aged under fifty (Dane Lovett
Dane Lovett
Dane Lovett, , is an artist from Brisbane, Australia.Lovett says career highlight was winning a cake box decorating competition in 1991, with the prize of a book on hippopotamuses.In 2005, Lovett received the Qantas Spirit of Youth award...
, Adam Cullen
Adam Cullen
Adam Cullen , Australian artist, most known for winning the Archibald Prize in 2000 with a portrait of actor David Wenham. He is also known for his controversial subjects or work...
, Ben Quilty
Ben Quilty
Ben Quilty is an Australian artist who won the 2011 Archibald Prize.-Biography:Quilty grew up in Kenthurst in Sydney's north-west. He lives and works in Robertson, New South Wales. He is a graduate of the Sydney College of the Arts at the University of Sydney...
, Anthony Bennett
Anthony Bennett (Australian artist)
Anthony Bennett is an Australian artist born in Mackay Queensland in 1966. He has lived and worked in Tokyo, Rome and London and has exhibited nationally in Australia and internationally. He was a finalist in the Archibald Prize in 2009 for the second year running and was also a finalist in both...
, Simon Cuthbert, Rhys Lee
Rhys Lee
Rhys Lee is an Australian visual artist who lives in Aireys Inlet, Victoria, Australia. Coming from a background of street art, Rhys works in a range of media centring around painting with acrylics and oils...
, Ben Frost
Ben Frost (artist)
Ben Frost is a visual artist whose work seeks to challenge contemporary norms and values of Western culture and society...
and Alasdair McIntyre) have an expressive style and use humour in their work.
In addition street art
Street art
Street art is any art developed in public spaces — that is, "in the streets" — though the term usually refers to unsanctioned art, as opposed to government sponsored initiatives...
is also a prominent feature in major cities such as Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Though there is some debate over the legality, some councils have expressed greater recognition of the urban art movement.
Australia has a number of notable museums and galleries, including the National Gallery of Victoria
National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria is an art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is the oldest and the largest public art gallery in Australia. Since December 2003, NGV has operated across two sites...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, the National Gallery of Australia
National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia is the national art gallery of Australia, holding more than 120,000 works of art. It was established in 1967 by the Australian government as a national public art gallery.- Establishment :...
, National Portrait Gallery of Australia
National Portrait Gallery (Australia)
The National Portrait Gallery of Australia is a collection of portraits of prominent Australians that are important in their field of endeavour or whose life sets them apart as an individual of long-term public interest...
and National Museum of Australia
National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia was formally established by the National Museum of Australia Act 1980. The National Museum preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation....
in Canberra, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of New South Wales
The Art Gallery of New South Wales , located in The Domain in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, was established in 1897 and is the most important public gallery in Sydney and the fourth largest in Australia...
in Sydney.
Cinema
Limelight Department
The Limelight Department was one of the world's first film studios, beginning in 1898, operated by The Salvation Army in Melbourne, Australia. The Limelight Department produced evangelistic material for use by the Salvation Army, including lantern slides as early as 1891, as well as private and...
, was created by The Salvation Army
Salvation Army
The Salvation Army is a Protestant Christian church known for its thrift stores and charity work. It is an international movement that currently works in over a hundred countries....
in Melbourne in 1898, and is believed to have been the world's first. The world's first feature-length film was the Australian production The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly . It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and was the longest narrative film yet seen in Australia, and the world. Its approximate reel length...
of 1906. After such early successes, Australian cinema suffered from the rise of Hollywood.
In the Wake of the Bounty
In the Wake of the Bounty was an Australian film exploring the story of the Bounty. It preceded MGM's more famous Mutiny on the Bounty by two years and featured the screen debut of Errol Flynn, playing Fletcher Christian. Mayne Lynton portrayed Captain Bligh and Charles Chauvel directed the film. ...
was directed by Charles Chauvel, who cast Tasmanian born Erroll Flynn as the leading actor. Flynn went on to a celebrated career in Hollywood. Chauvel directed a number of successful Australian films, the last being 1955's Jedda
Jedda
Jedda was the last movie made by the Australian filmmaker Charles Chauvel. The film is most notable for being the first to star two Aboriginal actors in the leading roles, and also to be the first Australian film shot in colour...
, which was notable for being the first Australian film to be shot in colour, and the first to feature Aboriginal actors in lead roles and to be entered at the Cannes Film Festival. It was not until 2006 and Rolf De Heer
Rolf de Heer
Rolf de Heer is a Dutch film director, writer and producer living in Australia. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in The Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old. He attended the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney. His company is called Vertigo Productions and...
's Ten Canoes
Ten Canoes
Ten Canoes is a 2006 film. It was directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starred Crusoe Kurddal. The title of the film arose from discussions between de Heer and David Gulpilil about a photograph of ten canoeists poling across the Arafura Swamp, taken by anthropologist Donald Thomson in...
that a major feature length drama was shot in an indigenous language.
The first Australian Oscar was won by 1942's Kokoda Front Line!, directed by Ken G. Hall
Ken G. Hall
Kenneth George Hall, AO OBE , better known as Ken G. Hall, was an Australian film director, considered one of the most important figures in the history of the Australian film industry.-Early years:...
.
During the late 1960s and 1970s an influx of government funding saw the development of a new generation of film makers telling distinctively Australian stories, including directors Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
, George Miller and Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...
. Films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1967 drama and mystery novel by Australian author Joan Lindsay. She wrote it over a four-week period at her home Mulberry Hill in Baxter, on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula. It was first published in 1967 in Australia by Cheshire Publishing and was released in...
and Sunday Too Far Away
Sunday Too Far Away
Sunday Too Far Away is an Australian feature film which was directed by Ken Hannam and released in 1975. It belongs to the Australian Film Renaissance which occurred during that decade....
had an immediate international impact. The 1980s is often regarded as a golden age of Australian cinema, with many successful films, from the historical drama of Gallipoli
Gallipoli (1981 film)
Gallipoli is a 1981 Australian film, directed by Peter Weir and starring Mel Gibson and Mark Lee, about several young men from rural Western Australia who enlist in the Australian Army during the First World War. They are sent to Turkey, where they take part in the Gallipoli Campaign. During the...
, to the dark science fiction of Mad Max
Mad Max
Mad Max is a 1979 Australian dystopian action film directed by George Miller and revised by Miller and Byron Kennedy over the original script by James McCausland. The film stars Mel Gibson, who was unknown at the time. Its narrative based around the traditional western genre, Mad Max tells a story...
, the romantic adventure of The Man From Snowy River or the comedy of Crocodile Dundee
Crocodile Dundee
"Crocodile" Dundee is a 1986 Australian comedy film set in the Australian Outback and in New York City. It stars Paul Hogan as the weathered Mick Dundee and Linda Kozlowski as Sue Charlton....
.
A major theme of Australian cinema has been survival in the harsh Australian landscape. A number of thrillers and horror films dubbed "outback gothic" have been created, including Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright
Wake in Fright is a 1971 Australian film directed by Ted Kotcheff and starring Gary Bond, Donald Pleasence and Chips Rafferty. The screenplay was written by Evan Jones, based on Kenneth Cook’s 1961 novel of the same name....
, Walkabout
Walkabout (film)
Walkabout is a 1971 film set in Australia, directed by Nicolas Roeg and starring Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg and David Gulpilil. Edward Bond wrote the screenplay, which is loosely based on the novel Walkabout by James Vance Marshall...
, The Cars That Ate Paris
The Cars that Ate Paris
The Cars That Ate Paris is a 1974 Australian horror comedy film. Directed by Peter Weir, it was his first feature film. Shot mostly in the rural town of Sofala, New South Wales, the film is set in the fictional town of Paris in which most of the inhabitants appear to be directly, or indirectly,...
and Picnic at Hanging Rock
Picnic at Hanging Rock (film)
Picnic at Hanging Rock is a 1975 Australian feature film directed by Peter Weir and starring Anne-Louise Lambert, Helen Morse, Rachel Roberts and Vivean Gray. The film is adapted from the novel of the same name, by author Joan Lindsay....
in the 1970s, Razorback
Razorback (film)
Razorback is a 1984 Australian film, based on Peter Brennan's novel, written by Everett De Roche, and directed by Russell Mulcahy who would later make the first two of the Highlander trilogy...
and Shame
Shame (1988 film)
Shame is a 1988 Australian Film directed by Steve Jodrell and starring Deborra-Lee Furness as 'Asta', for which she won both the 1988 FCCA 'Best Actor' and Golden Space Needle 'Best Actress' awards; as well as the FCCA awarding 'Best Screenplay' to both Beverley Blankenship and Michael Brindley.-...
in the 1980s, and Japanese Story
Japanese Story
Japanese Story is a 2003 Australian romantic drama film directed by Sue Brooks. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.-Plot:...
, The Proposition
The Proposition
The Proposition is a 2005 western film directed by John Hillcoat and written by screenwriter and musician Nick Cave. It stars Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson, John Hurt, Danny Huston and David Wenham. The film's production completed in 2004 and was followed by a wide 2005 release in...
and the world-renowned Wolf Creek
Wolf Creek (film)
Wolf Creek is a 2005 independent Australian horror film written, co-produced and directed by Greg McLean. The story revolves around three backpackers who find themselves held captive by a serial killer in the Australian outback...
in the 21st century. These films depict the Australian bush and its creatures as deadly, and its people as outcasts and psychopaths. These are combined with futuristic post-apocalyptic themes in the Mad Max series
Mad Max (franchise)
The Mad Max franchise refers to a series of futuristic films, taking place in the "Mad Max Universe", that tell a story of breakdown of society, murder, and vengeance. The first Mad Max was an Australian action film directed by George Miller and written by Miller and Byron Kennedy, released in 1979...
.
The 1990s saw a run of successful comedies such as Muriel's Wedding
Muriel's Wedding
Muriel's Wedding is a 1994 Australian-French romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by P. J. Hogan. The film, which stars actresses Toni Collette, Rachel Griffiths, Sophie Lee, and Bill Hunter, focuses on the socially awkward Muriel whose ambition is to have a glamorous wedding and improve...
, The Castle
The Castle (film)
The Castle is a 1997 Australian comedy film directed by Rob Sitch. It starred Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry, Sophie Lee, Eric Bana and Charles 'Bud' Tingwell. The screenwriting team comprised Sitch, Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Jane Kennedy of Working Dog Productions.The Castle was...
and Strictly Ballroom
Strictly Ballroom
Strictly Ballroom is a 1992 Australian romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Baz Luhrmann and produced by M&A Productions. The film is the first installment in The Red Curtain Trilogy, Luhrmann's trilogy of theatre-motif-related films; the follow-ups were Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
, which helped launch the careers of Toni Collette
Toni Collette
Antonia "Toni" Collette is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish....
, P. J. Hogan
P. J. Hogan
Paul John "P. J." Hogan is an AACTA Awards winning Australian film director and a writer in the film and television genre.Hogan was born in Brisbane, Australia...
, Eric Bana
Eric Bana
Eric Bana is an Australian film and television actor. He began his career as a comedian in the sketch comedy series Full Frontal before gaining critical recognition in the biopic Chopper...
and Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
. This group was joined in Hollywood by actors including Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
and Heath Ledger
Heath Ledger
Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian television and film actor. After performing roles in Australian television and film during the 1990s, Ledger moved to the United States in 1998 to develop his film career...
who also rose to international prominence.
The domestic film industry continues to produce a reasonable number of films each year. The industry is also supported by US producers who produce in Australia following the decision by Fox head Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
to utilise new studios in Melbourne and Sydney where filming could be completed well below US costs. Notable productions include The Matrix
The Matrix
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction-action film written and directed by Larry and Andy Wachowski, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano, and Hugo Weaving...
, Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
episodes II
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones is a 2002 American epic space opera film directed by George Lucas and written by Lucas and Jonathan Hales. It is the fifth film to be released in the Star Wars saga and the second in terms of the series' internal chronology...
and III
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith is a 2005 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the sixth and final film released in the Star Wars saga and the third in terms of the series' internal chronology....
, and Australia
Australia (2008 film)
Australia is a 2008 epic historical romance film directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman. It is the second-highest grossing Australian film of all time, behind Crocodile Dundee. The screenplay was written by Luhrmann and screenwriter Stuart Beattie, with Ronald Harwood...
starring Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
and Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
.
Literature
Patrick White
Patrick Victor Martindale White , an Australian author, is widely regarded as an important English-language novelist of the 20th century. From 1935 until his death, he published 12 novels, two short-story collections and eight plays.White's fiction employs humour, florid prose, shifting narrative...
, as well as authors Peter Carey, Thomas Keneally
Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, AO is an Australian novelist, playwright and author of non-fiction. He is best known for writing Schindler's Ark, the Booker Prize-winning novel of 1982 which was inspired by the efforts of Poldek Pfefferberg, a Holocaust survivor...
, Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough
Colleen McCullough-Robinson, , is an internationally acclaimed Australian author.-Life:McCullough was born in Wellington, in outback central west New South Wales, in 1937 to James and Laurie McCullough. Her mother was a New Zealander of part-Māori descent. During her childhood, her family moved...
, Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute
Nevil Shute Norway was a popular British-Australian novelist and a successful aeronautical engineer. He used his full name in his engineering career, and 'Nevil Shute' as his pen name, in order to protect his engineering career from any potential negative publicity in connection with his novels.-...
and Morris West
Morris West
Morris Langlo West AO was an Australian novelist and playwright, best known for his novels The Devil's Advocate , The Shoes of the Fisherman , and The Clowns of God . His books were published in 27 languages and sold more than 60 million copies worldwide...
. Notable contemporary expatriate authors include the feminist Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
, art historian Robert Hughes
Robert Hughes (critic)
Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, AO is an Australian-born art critic, writer and television documentary maker who has resided in New York since 1970.-Early life:...
and humorists Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
and Clive James
Clive James
Clive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
.
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
, Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
, C J Dennis and Dorothea McKellar. Dennis wrote in the Australian vernacular, while McKellar wrote the iconic patriotic poem My Country
My Country
"My Country" is an iconic patriotic poem about Australia, written by Dorothea Mackellar at the age of 19 while homesick in England. After travelling through Europe extensively with her father during her teenage years she started writing the poem in London in 1904 and re-wrote it several times...
. At one point, Lawson and Paterson contributed a series of verses to The Bulletin
The Bulletin
The Bulletin was an Australian weekly magazine that was published in Sydney from 1880 until January 2008. It was influential in Australian culture and politics from about 1890 until World War I, the period when it was identified with the "Bulletin school" of Australian literature. Its influence...
magazine in which they engaged in a literary debate about the nature of life in Australia. Lawson said Paterson was a romantic and Paterson said Lawson was full of doom and gloom. Lawson is widely regarded as one of Australia's greatest writers of short stories, while Paterson's poems The Man From Snowy River and Clancy of the Overflow
Clancy of the Overflow
"Clancy of The Overflow" is a poem by Banjo Paterson, first published in The Bulletin, an Australian news magazine, on 21 December 1889. The poem is typical of Paterson, offering a romantic view of rural life, and is one of his best-known works.-History:...
remain amongst the most popular Australian bush poems. Significant political poets of the 20th century included Dame Mary Gilmore
Mary Gilmore
Dame Mary Gilmore DBE was a prominent Australian socialist poet and journalist.-Early life:Mary Jean Cameron was born on 16 August 1865 at Cotta Walla near Goulburn, New South Wales...
and Judith Wright
Judith Wright
Judith Arundell Wright was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights.-Biography:...
. Among the best known contemporary poets are Les Murray
Les Murray (poet)
Leslie Allan Murray, AO , known as Les Murray, is an Australian poet, anthologist and critic. His career spans over forty years, and he has published nearly 30 volumes of poetry, as well as two verse novels and collections of his prose writings...
and Bruce Dawe
Bruce Dawe
Donald Bruce Dawe AO is an Australian poet, and is considered by many as one of the most influential Australian poets of all time.-Early life:...
.
Novelists of classic Australian works include Marcus Clarke
Marcus Clarke
Marcus Andrew Hislop Clarke was an Australian novelist and poet, best known for his novel For the Term of his Natural Life.- Biography :...
(For the Term of His Natural Life
For the Term of his Natural Life
For the Term of His Natural Life, written by Marcus Clarke, was published in the Australian Journal between 1870 and 1872 , appearing as a novel in 1874. It is the best known novelisation of life as a convict in early Australian history...
), Miles Franklin
Miles Franklin
Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin, known as Miles Franklin was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel My Brilliant Career, published in 1901...
(My Brilliant Career
My Brilliant Career
My Brilliant Career is a 1901 novel written by Miles Franklin.It is the first of many novels by Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin , one of the major Australian writers of her time. It was written while she was still a teenager, as a romance to amuse her friends...
) and Ruth Park
Ruth Park
Ruth Park, AM was a New Zealand-born author, who spent most of her life in Australia. Her best known works are the novels The Harp in the South and Playing Beatie Bow , and the children's radio serial The Muddle-Headed Wombat , which also spawned a book series .-Personal history:Park was born in...
(The Harp in the South). In terms of children's literature, Norman Lindsay
Norman Lindsay
Norman Alfred William Lindsay was an Australian artist, sculptor, writer, editorial cartoonist, scale modeler, and boxer. He was born in Creswick, Victoria....
(The Magic Pudding
The Magic Pudding
The Magic Pudding: Being The Adventures of Bunyip Bluegum and his friends Bill Barnacle and Sam Sawnoff is an Australian children's book written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay. It is a comic fantasy, and a classic of Australian children's literature....
) and May Gibbs
May Gibbs
Cecilia May Gibbs MBE was an Australian children's author, illustrator, and cartoonist. She is best-known for her gumnut babies , and the book Snugglepot and Cuddlepie....
(Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie
Snugglepot and Cuddlepie is a series of books written by Australian author May Gibbs. The books chronicle the adventures of the eponymous Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. The central story arc concerns Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and their adventures along with troubles with the villains of the story, the ...
) are among the Australian classics, while eminent Australian playwrights have included Steele Rudd
Steele Rudd
Steele Rudd was the pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis an Australian author, best known for On Our Selection.-Early life:...
, David Williamson
David Williamson
David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...
, Alan Seymour
Alan Seymour
Alan Seymour , is an Australian playwright and author. He was educated at Perth Modern School, leaving at 15 after failing to complete the Junior Certificate. He found work as a radio announcer in a commercial radio station 6PM. During his two years there he wrote a number of short radio plays that...
and Nick Enright
Nick Enright
-Life:He was drama captain of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in 1964, where, like Gerard Windsor and Justin Fleming, he was taught by Melvyn Morrow. At that school, he won the 1sts Debating Premiership in both 1966 and 1967....
.
Although historically only a small proportion of Australia's population have lived outside the major cities, many of Australia's most distinctive stories and legends originate in the outback
Outback
The Outback is the vast, remote, arid area of Australia, term colloquially can refer to any lands outside the main urban areas. The term "the outback" is generally used to refer to locations that are comparatively more remote than those areas named "the bush".-Overview:The outback is home to a...
, in the drover
Drover (Australian)
A drover in Australia is a person, typically an experienced stockman, who moves livestock, usually sheep or cattle, "on the hoof" over long distances. Reasons for droving may include: delivering animals to a new owner's property, taking animals to market, or moving animals during a drought in...
s and squatters and people of the barren, dusty plains.
Contemporary works dealing with the migrant experience include Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta is an Australian writer and teacher. She is the middle child of three daughters. Melina is best known as the author of Looking For Alibrandi. She has twice been awarded the CBCA Book of the Year for Older Readers, in 1993 and 2004.- Biography :Melina Marchettaborn in Sydney on 25...
's Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi
Looking for Alibrandi is a 1999 Australian film written by Melina Marchetta based on the novel of the same name. The film sets in the 1990s Sydney, New South Wales and starring Australian actors, including Pia Miranda as Josephine Alibrandi, the film's main character, Anthony LaPaglia as her...
and Anh Do
Anh Do
Anh Do is a Vietnamese Australian author, actor and stand-up comedian.He has appeared on many Australian TV shows such as Thank God You're Here and Good News Week, and was runner-up on Dancing With The Stars in 2007. He studied a combined Business Law degree at the University of Technology, Sydney...
's memoir The Happiest Refugee, which won the Indie Book of the Year Award for 2011 and tells the story of the his experience as a Vietnamese refugee travelling to and growing up in Australia.
David Unaipon
David Unaipon
David Unaipon was an Australian Aboriginal of the Ngarrindjeri people, a preacher, inventor and writer. He was the most widely known Aboriginal in Australia, and broke stereotypes of Aboriginals...
is known as the first indigenous author. Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Oodgeroo Noonuccal was an Australian poet, political activist, artist and educator. She was also a campaigner for Aboriginal rights...
was the first Aboriginal Australian to publish a book of verse. A significant contemporary account of the experiences of Indigenous Australia can be found in Sally Morgan
Sally Morgan (artist)
Sally Jane Morgan is an Australian Aboriginal author, dramatist, and artist. Morgan's works are on display in numerous private and public collections in both Australia and around the world.-Early life:...
's My Place
My Place (book)
My Place is an autobiography written by artist Sally Morgan in 1987. It is about Morgan's quest for knowledge of her family's past and the fact that she has grown up under false pretences. The book is a milestone in Aboriginal literature and is one of the earlier works in indigenous writing.-...
.
Charles Bean
Charles Bean
Charles Edwin Woodrow Bean , usually identified as C.E.W. Bean, was an Australian schoolmaster, judge's associate, barrister journalist, war correspondent and historian....
(The Story of Anzac: From the Outbreak of War to the End of the First Phase of the Gallipoli Campaign May 4, 1915, 1921) Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Blainey
Geoffrey Norman Blainey AC , is a prominent Australian historian.Blainey was born in Melbourne and raised in a series of Victorian country towns before attending Wesley College and the University of Melbourne. While at university he was editor of Farrago, the newspaper of the University of...
(The Tyranny of Distance, 1966), Robert Hughes
Robert Hughes (critic)
Robert Studley Forrest Hughes, AO is an Australian-born art critic, writer and television documentary maker who has resided in New York since 1970.-Early life:...
(The Fatal Shore
The Fatal Shore
The Fatal Shore. The epic of Australia's founding, by Robert Hughes, published 1987 by Harvill Press, is a historical account of the United Kingdom's settlement of Australia as a penal colony with convicts. The book details the period 1770 onwards through white settlement to the 1840s, when...
, 1987), Manning Clark
Manning Clark
Charles Manning Hope Clark, AC , an Australian historian, was the author of the best-known general history of Australia, his six-volume A History of Australia, published between 1962 and 1987...
(A History of Australia, 1962–87), and Marcia Langton
Marcia Langton
Marcia Lynne Langton is one of Australia's leading Aboriginal scholars. She holds the Foundation Chair in Australian Indigenous Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia...
(First Australians, 2008) are authors of important Australian histories.
Dance
The term Corroboree
Corroboree
A corroboree is a ceremonial meeting of Australian Aborigines. The word was coined by the European settlers of Australia in imitation of the Aboriginal word caribberie. At a corroboree Aborigines interact with the Dreamtime through dance, music and costume. Many ceremonies act out events from the...
is commonly used in general Australian culture to refer to Australian Aboriginal dances, however this term has its origins among the people of the Sydney region. In a number of places Australian Aboriginal people will perform "corroborees" for tourists.
In the latter part of the 20th century the influence of Indigenous Australian dance traditions has been seen with the development of concert dance, particularly in contemporary dance with the National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association
National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association
The National Aboriginal Islander Skills Development Association Dance College was established in 1975 to train Indigenous Australians in dance....
providing training to Indigenous Australians in dance and the Bangarra Dance Theatre.
Bush dance
Bush dance
Bush dance is a style of dance from Australia, particularly where the music is provided by a bush band. The dances are mainly based on the traditional folk dances of the UK, Ireland and central Europe.- Eras of bush dance in Australia :...
has developed in Australia as a form of traditional dance, drawing from English, Irish, Scottish and other European dance. Favourite dances in the community include such as the Irish Céilidh
Céilidh
In modern usage, a céilidh or ceilidh is a traditional Gaelic social gathering, which usually involves playing Gaelic folk music and dancing. It originated in Ireland, but is now common throughout the Irish and Scottish diasporas...
"Pride of Erin" and the quadrille
Quadrille
Quadrille is a historic dance performed by four couples in a square formation, a precursor to traditional square dancing. It is also a style of music...
"The Lancers". Locally originated dances include the "Waves of Bondi", the Melbourne Shuffle
Melbourne Shuffle
The Melbourne Shuffle is a rave and club dance that originated in the late 1980s in the underground rave music scene in Melbourne, Australia. The basic movements in the dance are a fast heel-and-toe action with a style suitable for various types of electronic music. Some variants incorporate arm...
and New Vogue
New Vogue (dance)
The New Vogue dance style is an Australian form of sequence dancing that originated in the 1930s. Since then it has become an important part in the Australian ballroom scene, holding as much importance in social and competition dancing as Latin or International Standard dances.- The Dances :There...
.
The Australian Ballet is the foremost classical ballet
Classical ballet
Classical Ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles, it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian ballet, French ballet, British ballet and Italian ballet...
company in Australia. It was founded by the English ballerina Dame Peggy van Praagh
Peggy van Praagh
Dame Margaret "Peggy" van Praagh, DBE had a long and distinguished career in ballet as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, producer, advocate and director.-Dancing:...
in 1962 and is today recognised as one of the world's major international ballet companies. It is based in Melbourne and performs works from the classical repertoire as well as contemporary works by major Australian and international choreographers. As of 2010, it was presenting approximately 200 performances in cities and regional areas around Australia each year as well as international tours. Regular venues include: the Melbourne Arts Centre, Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
, Sydney Theatre
Sydney Theatre
Sydney Theatre is a theatre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Theatre seats up to 896 people and is part of the Sydney Theatre Company....
, Adelaide Festival Centre
Adelaide Festival Centre
The Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River...
and Queensland Performing Arts Centre
Queensland Performing Arts Centre
The Queensland Performing Arts Centre is part of the Queensland Cultural Centre and is located on the corner of Melbourne Street and Grey Street in Brisbane's South Bank precinct....
. Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
is among Australia's best known ballerinos.
Many immigrant communities continue their own dance traditions on a professional or amateur basis. Traditional dances from a large number of ethnic backgrounds are danced in Australia, helped by the presence of enthusiastic immigrants and their Australian-born families. It is quite common to see dances from the Baltic region, as well as Scottish, Irish, Indian, Indonesian or African dance being taught at community centres and dance schools in Australia.
Baz Lurhmann's popular 1992 film Strictly Ballroom
Strictly Ballroom
Strictly Ballroom is a 1992 Australian romantic comedy film directed and co-written by Baz Luhrmann and produced by M&A Productions. The film is the first installment in The Red Curtain Trilogy, Luhrmann's trilogy of theatre-motif-related films; the follow-ups were Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
, starring Paul Mercurio
Paul Mercurio
Paul Joseph Mercurio is an Australian actor, dancer and TV presenter. Mercurio is well-known for his lead role in Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom . His father was the character actor Gus Mercurio.- Biography :...
contributed to an increased interest in dance competition in Australia, and a number of popular dance shows including So You Think You Can Dance
So You Think You Can Dance (U.S. TV series)
So You Think You Can Dance is an American dance competition and reality show that airs on Fox in the United States.The series first premiered on July 20, 2005, and was created by American Idol producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe and is produced by 19 Entertainment and Dick Clark Productions...
have featured on television in recent years.
Indigenous music
Aboriginal song was an integral part of Aboriginal culture. The most famous feature of their music is the didgeridooDidgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
. This wooden instrument, used amongst the Aboriginal tribes of northern Australia, makes a distinctive droning sound and its use has been adopted by a wide variety of non-Aboriginal performers.
Aboriginal musicians have turned their hand to Western popular musical forms, often to considerable commercial success. Pioneers included Lionel Rose
Lionel Rose
Lionel Edmund Rose MBE was an Australian bantamweight boxer, the first Indigenous Australian to win a world title.-Early life:...
, and Jimmy Little
Jimmy Little
Jimmy Little AO , is an Australian Aboriginal musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist, whose career has spanned six decades. For many years he was the only Aboriginal star on the Australian music scene...
, while notable contemporary examples include Archie Roach
Archie Roach
Archie Roach is an Australian musician. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he survived a turbulent upbringing to develop into a powerful voice for Indigenous Australians, a storyteller in the tradition of his ancestors, and a nationally popular and respected artist.- Biography :In his own words,...
, the Warumpi Band
Warumpi Band
The Warumpi Band is an Australian band from the bush, coming from Papunya, Northern Territory, Australia.The band was formed in 1980 by Neil Murray, a Victorian "whitefella" working in the region as a schoolteacher and labourer, George Burarrwanga, from Elcho Island, and local boys Gordon and...
, NoKTuRNL
NoKTuRNL
Nokturnl is a band formed in 1996 in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. Sometimes called rap metal their music is hard to categorise, but their lyrics are influenced by their experience as Indigenous Australians. Nokturnl won "Band of the Year" at The Deadlys in 1998, 2000 and 2003.They...
and Yothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi
Yothu Yindi are an Australian band with Aboriginal and balanda members formed in 1986. Aboriginal members come from Yolngu homelands near Yirrkala on the Gove Peninsula in Northern Territory's Arnhem Land...
. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu is an Indigenous Australian musician, who sings in the Yolngu language.He was born in Galiwin'ku , off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Australia about 350 miles from Darwin. He is from the Gumatj clan of the Yolngu and his mother from the Galpu nation...
(formerly of Yothu Yindi) has attained international success singing contemporary music in English and in the language of the Yolngu
Yolngu
The Yolngu or Yolŋu are an Indigenous Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. Yolngu means “person” in the Yolŋu languages.-Yolŋu law:...
. Christine Anu
Christine Anu
-Early life:Anu was born in Cairns, Queensland to a Torres Strait Islander mother from Saibai and Mabuiag Islands.-Career:Anu began performing as a dancer and later went on to sing back-up vocals for The Rainmakers, which included Neil Murray of the Warumpi Band. Her first recording was in 1993...
is a successful Torres Strait Islander singer.
Australian country music
Australian country music
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodelling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers, as well as by popular American...
has been popular among indigenous communities, with performers including Troy Cassar-Daley
Troy Cassar-Daley
Troy Cassar-Daley is a multi-award-winning country musician from New South Wales, Australia.He released his first EP, "Dream Out Loud", in 1994 and was nominated for his first Golden Guitar for Best Male Vocalist the same year...
rising to national prominence.
Amongst young Australian aborigines, African-American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
and Aboriginal hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
music and clothing is popular. Aboriginal boxing champion and former rugby league player Anthony Mundine
Anthony Mundine
Anthony Mundine is an Australian professional boxer and former rugby league footballer.He is the current interim WBA Light Middleweight Champion boxer, former two-time WBA Super Middleweight Champion, former IBO Middleweight Champion and New South Wales State of Origin representative footballer....
identified US rapper Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
as a personal inspiration, after Mundine's release of his 2007 single, Platinum Ryder.
The Deadlys
The Deadlys
The Deadlys are an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community. Vibe Australia hosts the awards, which for have been held at the Sydney Opera House since 2001. The first Deadly awards were held in 1995...
are an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment and community.
Folk music and national songs
Anglo-Celtic
Anglo-Celtic is a term used to describe people of British and Irish descent. The term today is mainly used outside of Britain and Ireland, particularly in Australia but also in Canada, New Zealand and the United States, where a significant diaspora is located....
immigrants of the 18th and 19th centuries introduced folk ballad traditions which were adapted to Australian themes: "Bound for Botany Bay
Botany Bay (song)
"Botany Bay" is a song from the musical burlesque, Little Jack Sheppard, a comedy staged in London, England, in 1885 and Melbourne, Australia, in 1886. The show was written by Henry Pottinger Stephens and William Yardley, though the music for "Botany Bay" was written by Florian Pascal, a pseudonym...
" tells of the voyage of British convicts to Sydney, "The Wild Colonial Boy
The Wild Colonial Boy
"The Wild Colonial Boy" is a traditional Irish–Australian ballad of which there are many different versions, the most prominent being the Irish and Australian versions. The original version was about Jack Donahue, an Irish rebel who became a convict, then a bushranger , who was eventually shot down...
" evokes the spirit of the bushranger
Bushranger
Bushrangers, or bush rangers, originally referred to runaway convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who had the survival skills necessary to use the Australian bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities...
s, and "Click Go the Shears
Click Go the Shears
"Click Go the Shears" is a traditional Australian folk song. The song details a day's work for a sheep shearer in the days before machine shears. The enduring popularity of this song reflects the traditional role that the wool industry has played in Australian life...
" speaks of the life of Australian shearers. The lyrics of Australia's best known folk song, "Waltzing Matilda
Waltzing Matilda
"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
", were written by the bush poet Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
in 1895. Adopted by Australian soldiers during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, this song remains popular and is often sung at sporting events, including the closure of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, by Australian country music
Australian country music
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodelling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers, as well as by popular American...
singer Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
.
Other well known singers of Australian folk music include Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
(who wrote "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport"), John Williamson
John Williamson (singer)
John Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...
, and Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle
Eric Bogle is a folk singer-songwriter. He emigrated to Australia in 1969 and currently resides near Adelaide, South Australia.-Career:...
whose 1972 song "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda
And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda
"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is a song written by Scottish-born Australian singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971. The song describes war as futile and gruesome, while criticising those who seek to glorify it...
" is a sorrowful lament to the Gallipoli Campaign. Bush dance
Bush dance
Bush dance is a style of dance from Australia, particularly where the music is provided by a bush band. The dances are mainly based on the traditional folk dances of the UK, Ireland and central Europe.- Eras of bush dance in Australia :...
is a traditional style of dance from Australia with strong Celtic roots, and influenced country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
. It is generally accompanied by such instruments as the fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, concertina
Concertina
A concertina is a free-reed musical instrument, like the various accordions and the harmonica. It has a bellows and buttons typically on both ends of it. When pressed, the buttons travel in the same direction as the bellows, unlike accordion buttons which travel perpendicularly to it...
and percussion instruments. A well known Bush band is The Bushwackers.
The national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
of Australia is "Advance Australia Fair
Advance Australia Fair
"Advance Australia Fair" is the official national anthem of Australia. Created by the Scottish-born composer, Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, but did not gain its status as the official anthem until 1984. Until then, the song was sung in Australia as a patriotic song...
":
Unofficial pop music anthems of Australia include Peter Allen
Peter Allen
Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
's "I Still Call Australia Home
I Still Call Australia Home
"I Still Call Australia Home" is a song written and performed by Peter Allen in 1980. In it, Allen sings of Australian expatriates' longing for home.It has been used to suggest Australian patriotism and nostalgia for home...
" and Men at Work
Men at Work
Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...
's "Down Under
Down Under
The term Down Under is a colloquialism which is variously construed either to refer to Australia and New Zealand, or Australia alone. The term comes from the fact that these countries are located in the southern hemisphere, below many other countries on the globe.The persistence of the media use of...
".
Classical music
Hobart
Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Founded in 1804 as a penal colony,Hobart is Australia's second oldest capital city after Sydney. In 2009, the city had a greater area population of approximately 212,019. A resident of Hobart is known as...
and Sydney that date back to the early 19th century.
Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
(1861–1931) travelled to Europe in 1886 to commence her international career as an opera singer. She became among the best know Australians of the period and participated in early gramophone recording and radio broadcasting.
The establishment of choral societies (c. 1850) and symphony orchestras (c. 1890) led to increased compositional activity, although many Australian classical composers attempted to work entirely within European models. A lot of works leading up to the first part of the 20th century were heavily influenced by the folk music of other countries (Percy Grainger
Percy Grainger
George Percy Aldridge Grainger , known as Percy Grainger, was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist. In the course of a long and innovative career he played a prominent role in the revival of interest in British folk music in the early years of the 20th century. He also made many...
’s Country Gardens
Country Gardens
Country Gardens is an English folk tune collected by Cecil Sharp and arranged for piano in 1918 by Percy Grainger.In 2008 was added to the .-Format of renditions:...
of 1918 being a good example of this) and a very conservative British orchestral tradition.
In the war and post-war eras, as pressure built to assert a national identity in the face of the looming superpower of the United States and the "motherland
Metropole
The metropole, from the Greek Metropolis 'mother city' was the name given to the British metropolitan centre of the British Empire, i.e. the United Kingdom itself...
" Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, composers looked to their surroundings for inspiration. John Antill and Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
began to incorporate elements of Aboriginal music, and Richard Meale
Richard Meale
Richard Graham Meale, AM, MBE was an Australian composer of instrumental works and operas.-Biography:Meale was born in Sydney and studied piano with Winifred Burston at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music, as well as clarinet, harp, music history and theory, before studying at the University of...
drew influence from south-east Asia (notably using the harmonic properties of the Balinese
Balinese people
The Balinese population of 3.0 million live mostly on the island of Bali, making up 89% of the island's population. There are also significant populations on the island of Lombok, and in the eastern-most regions of Java The Balinese population of 3.0 million (1.5% of Indonesia's population) live...
Gamelan
Gamelan
A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments such as metallophones, xylophones, drums and gongs; bamboo flutes, bowed and plucked strings. Vocalists may also be included....
, as had Percy Grainger in an earlier generation).
By the beginning of the 1960s, Australian classical music erupted with influences, with composers incorporating disparate elements into their work, ranging from Aboriginal and south-east Asian music and instruments, to American jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, to the belated discovery of European atonality and the avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
. Composers like Don Banks
Don Banks
Donald Oscar Banks was an Australian composer of concert, jazz, and commercial music.He initially studied at the University of Melbourne, then moved to London where he studied with Mátyás Seiber...
, Don Kay
Don Kay (composer)
Donald Henry Kay AM is an Australian classical composer.Don Kay attained a Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Melbourne after which he taught music at Colac High School, Victoria, 1957-59. He then went on to teach music at Peckham Manor Comprehensive School for Boys, London, UK 1959-64...
, Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
and Colin Brumby
Colin Brumby
Colin Brumby is an Australian composer and conductor.He was born in Melbourne and studied at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, from which he graduated in 1957. He went to Spain to study advanced composition with Philipp Jarnach, and to London to study with Alexander Goehr...
epitomise this period. In recent times composers including Liza Lim
Liza Lim
Liza Lim is an Australian composer.Lim writes concert music as well as music theatre and has collaborated with artists on a number of installation and video projects...
, Carl Vine
Carl Vine
Carl Vine is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music.-Career:Vine was born in Perth, Western Australia. When he was ten years old, he took up the piano. An adolescent encounter with Karlheinz Stockhausen inspired a period as a teenage modernist, a direction which he abandoned in 1985...
, Georges Lentz
Georges Lentz
Georges Lentz is a contemporary composer and sound artist, born in Luxembourg in 1965, and is that country's internationally best known composer. Since 1990, he has been living in Sydney, Australia...
, Matthew Hindson
Matthew Hindson
Matthew John Hindson AM is an Australian composer.-Biography:Matthew Hindson was born in Wollongong in 1968. He studied composition at the Universities of Sydney and Melbourne with composers including Peter Sculthorpe, Eric Gross, Brenton Broadstock and Ross Edwards.Hindson's works have been...
, Nigel Westlake
Nigel Westlake
-Biography:Nigel Westlake's career in music has spanned more than 3 decades.He studied the clarinet with his father, Donald Westlake and subsequently left school early to pursue a performance career in music.Nigel toured Australia and the world playing with ballet companies, a circus troupe,...
, Ross Edwards
Ross Edwards
Ross Edwards is a former Western Australian and Australian cricketer.Edwards played in 20 Tests for Australia, playing against England, West Indies and Pakistan. He also played in nine One Day Internationals including the 1975 Cricket World Cup series...
, Graeme Koehne
Graeme Koehne
Graeme Koehne is an Australian composer and music educator. He is best known for his orchestral and ballet scores, which are characterised by direct communicative style and embrace of triadic tonality...
, Elena Kats-Chernin
Elena Kats-Chernin
Elena Kats-Chernin is an Australian composer.Elena Kats-Chernin was born in Tashkent , and migrated to Australia in 1975.-Europe:...
, Richard Mills
Richard Mills
Richard John Mills AM, DMus BA Qld, is an Australian conductor and composer. He currently works as Artistic Director of the West Australian Opera and Artistic Consultant with Orchestra Victoria...
and Brett Dean
Brett Dean
Brett Dean is a contemporary Australian composer, violist and conductor.-Career:Dean studied at the Queensland Conservatorium where he received a Medal of Excellence. From 1985 to 1999, Dean was a violist in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2000, he decided to pursue a career as a freelance...
have embodied the pinnacle of established Australian composers.
Well-known Australian classical performers include: sopranos Dame Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
, Dame Joan Hammond
Joan Hammond
Dame Joan Hilda Hood Hammond, DBE, CMG was an Australian operatic soprano, singing coach and champion golfer.- Early life :...
, Joan Carden
Joan Carden
Joan Carden AO OBE is an Australian operatic soprano. She has been described as "a worthy successor to Dame Nellie Melba and Dame Joan Sutherland" and was sometimes known as "the other Joan" or "The People's Diva"...
, Yvonne Kenny
Yvonne Kenny
Yvonne Kenny AM is an Australian soprano, particularly associated with Handel and Mozart roles.Born in Sydney, she first studied at the University of Sydney in science, hoping to become a biochemist, but decided to pursue a career in music instead...
, Sara Macliver
Sara Macliver
Sara Macliver is an Australian soprano singer, born and raised in Perth, Western Australia.Sara is one of Australia’s most popular and versatile artists, appearing in operas, concert and recital performances and on numerous recordings...
and Emma Matthews
Emma Matthews
Emma Matthews is an Australian lyric soprano, noted for operatic roles, but also popular on the concert stage. She is currently a Principal Artist with Opera Australia....
; pianists Roger Woodward
Roger Woodward
Roger Woodward AC OBE is an Australian classical concert pianist.-Biography:Roger Woodward was born in 1942 in Chatswood, a suburb of Sydney, the youngest of four children to Gladys and Frank Woodward...
, Eileen Joyce
Eileen Joyce
Eileen Alannah Joyce CMG was an Australian pianist whose career spanned more than 30 years. She lived in England in her adult years....
, Michael Kieran Harvey
Michael Kieran Harvey
Michael Kieran Harvey is an Australian pianist whose career has been notable for its diversity and wide repertoire. He is renowned for commissioning and performing new music. He has especially promoted the works of Australian composers, such as Carl Vine, all of whose piano music he has recorded...
, Geoffrey Tozer
Geoffrey Tozer
Geoffrey Tozer was an Australian classical pianist and composer. As a child prodigy, he composed an opera at the age of eight, and became the youngest recipient of a Churchill Fellowship award at 13...
, Geoffrey Douglas Madge
Geoffrey Douglas Madge
Geoffrey Douglas Madge is an Australian classical pianist and composer.Madge performed long and arduous works, he has twice recorded Sorabji's Opus clavicembalisticum, one of the longest and most difficult works ever written for the piano...
, Leslie Howard
Leslie Howard (musician)
Leslie Howard AM is an Australian pianist and composer. He is best known for being the only pianist to have recorded the complete solo piano works of Franz Liszt, a project which included more than 300 premiere recordings...
and Ian Munro
Ian Munro (pianist)
Ian Munro is an Australian pianist, composer, writer and music educator. His career has taken him to over 30 countries in Europe, Asia, North America and Australasia.-Biography:...
; guitarists John Williams
John Williams (guitarist)
John Christopher Williams is an Australian classical guitarist, and a long-term resident of the United Kingdom. In 1973, he shared a Grammy Award win in the 'Best Chamber Music Performance' category with Julian Bream for Julian and John .-Biography:John Williams was born on 24 April 1941 in...
and Slava Grigoryan
Slava Grigoryan
Slava Grigoryan is an Australian classical guitarist and recording artist of Armenian heritage.He was born in Kazakhstan to Eduard and Irina Grigoryan, both professional violinists. His family emigrated to Australia in 1981 and he was raised in Melbourne. Grigoryan began to study guitar with his...
; horn player Barry Tuckwell
Barry Tuckwell
Barry Emmanuel Tuckwell AC, OBE , is an Australian horn player who has spent most of his professional life in the United Kingdom and the United States.- Early life and education :...
; oboist Diana Doherty
Diana Doherty
Diana Doherty is an Australian oboist, currently Principal Oboe with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.-Life:Diana Doherty was born in Brisbane, where she began her education. She attended Brisbane State High School...
; violinists Richard Tognetti
Richard Tognetti
Richard Leo Tognetti, AO is an Australian violinist, composer and conductor. He is currently Artistic Director and Leader of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of the Maribor Festival in Maribor, Slovenia....
and Elizabeth Wallfisch
Elizabeth Wallfisch
Elizabeth Wallfisch is an Australian Baroque violinist.Wallfisch debuted as a concert soloist at the age of 12 and took part in such competitions as the ABC Concerto Competition. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Frederick Grinke and was awarded, among other prizes, the President's...
; cellists John Addison
John Addison (cellist)
John Addison is an Australian cellist with an international reputation as a soloist and performer of chamber music, and especially as an interpreter of contemporary music.-Early life and education:...
and David Pereira
David Pereira
right|250pxDavid Pereira is an Australian classical cellist, considered one of the finest working today. He was Senior Lecturer in Cello at the Canberra School of Music from 1990-2008....
; organist Christopher Wrench
Christopher Wrench
Christopher Wrench is a renowned organist and lecturer.- Education :Wrench attended Brisbane Grammar School, the Queensland Conservatorium of Music and undertook postgraduate studies in Vienna at the Vienna Conservatorium and then at the Hochschule für Musik .- Awards :Wrench has gained...
; orchestras like the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Sydney Symphony Orchestra
The Sydney Symphony Orchestra , commonly known as the Sydney Symphony, is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney...
, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
, the Australian Chamber Orchestra
Australian Chamber Orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975. Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989 and subsequently appointed Artistic Director....
and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is an Australian period instrument orchestra specialising in the performance of baroque and classical music.The musicians play from original edition scores on restored or reproduced instruments of the 18th century...
; and conductors Sir Bernard Heinze
Bernard Heinze
Sir Bernard Thomas Heinze, AC was an Australian Professor of Music, conductor, and Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music....
, Sir Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
, Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
, Simone Young
Simone Young
Simone Margaret Young AM is an Australian conductor. She is music director of the Hamburg Philharmonic and general manager of the Hamburg State Opera...
and Geoffrey Simon
Geoffrey Simon
Geoffrey Simon is an Australian conductor resident in London.-Recordings:Geoffrey Simon was born on 3 July 1946 in Adelaide. He was a student of Herbert von Karajan, Rudolf Kempe, Hans Swarowsky and Igor Markevitch, and a major prize-winner at the first John Player International Conductors' Award...
. Indigenous performers like didgeridoo
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
player William Barton
William Barton (musician)
William Barton is an Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo player. He was born in Mount Isa, Queensland on 4 June 1981. and learned to play from his uncle, an elder of the Wannyi, Lardil and Kalkadunga tribes of Western Queensland...
and immigrant musicians like Egyptian-born oud
Oud
The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...
virtuoso Joseph Tawadros
Joseph Tawadros
Joseph Tawadros is an oud virtuoso from Australia.Joseph never ceases to amaze and at 28 has established himself as one the world’s leading oud performers and composers...
have stimulated interest in their own music traditions and have also collaborated with other musicians and ensembles both in Australia and internationally.
Pop and rock
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
, AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
, INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
, Nick Cave
Nick Cave
Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...
, Cody Simpson
Cody Simpson
Cody Robert Simpson is an Australian pop singer from Gold Coast, Queensland, who is currently signed to US record label Atlantic Records.-Early life:...
or Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
to the popular local content of John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
or Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
.
Among the brightest stars of early Australian rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
was Johnny O'Keefe
Johnny O'Keefe
John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...
, who formed a band in 1956; his hit Wild One made him the first Australian rock'n'roller to reach the national charts. While US and British content dominated airwaves and record sales into the 1960s, local successes began to emerge – notably The Easybeats
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian rock and roll band. They formed in Sydney in late 1964 and broke up at the end of 1969. They are regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s, and were the first Australian rock and roll act to score an international pop hit with their 1966 single...
and the folk-pop group The Seekers
The Seekers
The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
had significant local success and some international recognition, while the bands the Bee Gees
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees are a musical group that originally comprised three brothers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was successful for most of their 40-plus years of recording music, but they had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a pop act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as a...
and AC/DC
AC/DC
AC/DC are an Australian rock band, formed in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Commonly classified as hard rock, they are considered pioneers of heavy metal, though they themselves have always classified their music as simply "rock and roll"...
had their first hits in Australia before going on to international success.
The arrival of the 1961 underground movement into the mainstream in the early 1970s changed Australian music permanently. Skyhooks were far from the first people to write songs in Australia by Australians about Australia, but they were the first ones to make good money doing it. The two best-selling Australian albums made up to that time put Australian music on the map. Within a few years, the novelty had worn off and it became commonplace to hear distinctively Australian lyrics and sounds side-by-side with imports.
During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s Australian performers continued to do well on the local and international music scenes, for example Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel
Cold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...
, INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
, Men at Work
Men at Work
Men at Work are an Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States . They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom...
and Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Natalie Imbruglia
Natalie Imbruglia
Natalie Jane Imbruglia is an Australian singer-songwriter, model and actress. In the early 1990s, Imbruglia was known to audiences as Beth Brennan in the popular Australian soap Neighbours. Three years after leaving the programme, Imbruglia launched a singing career with the international hit,...
, Savage Garden
Savage Garden
Savage Garden were an Australian pop rock performance and songwriting duo. Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones formed the group in Brisbane, Queensland in 1994...
and Silverchair
Silverchair
Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Merewether, Newcastle with the line-up of Ben Gillies on drums, Chris Joannou on bass guitar and Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars. The group got their big break in mid-1994 when they won a national demo...
. In the early 21st century, bands such as Jet
Jet (band)
Jet are an Australian rock band formed in 2001 while attending St Bede's College Mentone in Melbourne, . The band consists of lead guitarist Cameron Muncey, bassist Mark Wilson, and brothers Nic and Chris Cester on vocals/rhythm guitar and drums respectively...
, Wolfmother
Wolfmother
Wolfmother is an Australian rock band from Erskineville, Sydney. Formed in 2000, the group was originally a trio composed of vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett. Wolfmother released their self-titled debut album in October 2005,...
, Eskimo Joe
Eskimo Joe
Eskimo Joe is an Australian alternative rock band formed by Stuart MacLeod on guitars, Joel Quartermain on drums and guitar and Kavyen Temperley on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia in 1997....
, Grinspoon
Grinspoon
Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales formed in 1995 and fronted by Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar with Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar and Kristian Hopes on drums. Also in 1995, they won the Triple J-sponsored Unearthed competition for Lismore,...
, The Vines
The Vines
https://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Special:LandingCheck?landing_page=L11_1121_WMUK_Jimmy_DDOptimised&utm_medium=sitenotice&utm_campaign=C11_1121_WMUK_DDvOneOff&utm_source=B11_1121_WMUK_Jimmy&language=en&country=GB...
, The Living End
The Living End
The Living End are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, Victoria, formed in 1994. The current lineup consists of Chris Cheney , Scott Owen and Andy Strachan...
, Pendulum
Pendulum (band)
Pendulum is an Australian drum and bass and electronic rock band founded in 2002 in Perth by Rob Swire, Gareth McGrillen, and Paul Harding.Swire and McGrillen were members of the rock band known as Xygen. After hearing Konflict's "Messiah" at a club, they were inspired to enter into the drum and...
, Delta Goodrem
Delta Goodrem
Delta Lea Goodrem is an Australian singer-songwriter, pianist, and actress. Signed to Sony at the age of 15, Goodrem rose to prominence in 2002, starring in the Australian soap opera Neighbours as Nina Tucker. Goodrem has achieved eight number-one singles and three number-one albums in her home...
and others were enjoying success internationally.
Domestically, John Farnham
John Farnham
John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
has remained one of Australia's best-known performers, with a career spanning over 40 years. Singer-songwriter Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly (musician)
Paul Maurice Kelly is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player. He has performed solo, and has led numerous groups, including the Dots, the Coloured Girls, and the Messengers. He has worked with other artists and groups, including associated projects Professor...
whose music style straddles folk, rock, and country has been described as the poet laureate of Australian music.
The national expansion of ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
youth radio station Triple J
Triple J
triple j is a nationally networked Australian radio station intended to appeal to listeners between the ages of 18 and 30. The government-funded station is a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation...
during the 1990s has increased the profile and availability of home-grown talent to listeners nationwide. Since the mid 1990s a string of successful alternative Australian acts have emerged; artists to achieve both underground (critical) and mainstream (commercial) success include You Am I
You Am I
You Am I are an Australian alternative rock band, fronted by vocalist/guitarist and main songwriter Tim Rogers. They were the first Australian band to have three albums successively debut at #1 on the ARIA Charts, and are renowned for their live performances.-History:Tim Rogers formed the first...
, Grinspoon
Grinspoon
Grinspoon are an Australian rock band from Lismore, New South Wales formed in 1995 and fronted by Phil Jamieson on vocals and guitar with Pat Davern on guitar, Joe Hansen on bass guitar and Kristian Hopes on drums. Also in 1995, they won the Triple J-sponsored Unearthed competition for Lismore,...
, Powderfinger
Powderfinger
Powderfinger was an Australian rock band that formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their breakup the band lineup consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bassist John Collins, and drummer Jon Coghill....
and Jet
Jet (band)
Jet are an Australian rock band formed in 2001 while attending St Bede's College Mentone in Melbourne, . The band consists of lead guitarist Cameron Muncey, bassist Mark Wilson, and brothers Nic and Chris Cester on vocals/rhythm guitar and drums respectively...
.
Country music
Australia has a long tradition of country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, which has developed a style quite distinct from its US counterpart, influenced by Celtic folk ballads and the traditions of Australian bush balladeers like Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson
Henry Lawson was an Australian writer and poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period and is often called Australia's "greatest writer"...
and Banjo Paterson
Banjo Paterson
Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, OBE was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author. He wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales where he spent much of his childhood...
. Pioneers of popular country music in Australia included Tex Morton
Tex Morton
Tex Morton was a pioneer of Australian country music.-Early life:At age 14 he left home to launch himself into show business...
in the 1930s and Smoky Dawson
Smoky Dawson
Smoky Dawson, MBE , born Herbert Henry Dawson, was an Australian country music performer. He was widely touted as Australia's first singing cowboy.-Biography:...
from the 1940s onward.
Slim Dusty
Slim Dusty
David Gordon "Slim Dusty " Kirkpatrick AO, MBE was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and producer, with a career spanning nearly eight decades. He was known to record songs in the legacy of Australian poets Henry Lawson and Banjo Patterson that represented the Australian Bush...
(1927–2003) was known as the King of Australian Country Music. His successful career spanned almost six decades and his 1957 hit "A Pub With No Beer" was the biggest-selling record by an Australian to that time, the first Australian single to go gold
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
, and the first and only 78 rpm record to be awarded a gold disc. Dusty recorded and released his one-hundredth album in the year 2000 and was given the honour of singing Waltzing Matilda
Waltzing Matilda
"Waltzing Matilda" is Australia's most widely known bush ballad. A country folk song, the song has been referred to as "the unofficial national anthem of Australia"....
in the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. Dusty's wife Joy McKean
Joy McKean
Joy McKean OAM, born 1930, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading song writers and bush balladeers and wrote several of Dusty's most popular...
penned several of his most popular songs.
Other popular performers of Australian country music include: John Williamson
John Williamson (singer)
John Robert Williamson AM is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. Williamson has released over thirty-two albums, ten videos, five DVDs, and two lyric books...
(who wrote the iconic song "True Blue"), Lee Kernaghan
Lee Kernaghan
Lee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He was the 2008 Australian of the Year.-Honours:Kernaghan received the Order of Australia Medal in 2004....
, Kasey Chambers
Kasey Chambers
Kasey Chambers is an Australian country singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of steel guitar player Bill Chambers, and the sister of musician and producer Nash Chambers.-Solo success:...
and Sara Storer
Sara Storer
Sara Storer is an Australian country music singer. She won seven Golden Guitars in the Tamworth Country Music Festival 2004 awards in Tamworth, the most awards ever won in one year in the 32-year history of the awards. As of the 2010 Golden Guitar awards, Storer has won a total of eleven...
. In the United States, Australian country music stars including Olivia Newton John and Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
have attained great success.
Country music has also been a particularly popular form of musical expression among the Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Troy Cassar-Daley
Troy Cassar-Daley
Troy Cassar-Daley is a multi-award-winning country musician from New South Wales, Australia.He released his first EP, "Dream Out Loud", in 1994 and was nominated for his first Golden Guitar for Best Male Vocalist the same year...
is among Australia's successful indigenous performers.
The Tamworth Country Music Festival
Tamworth Country Music Festival
The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual music festival held in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia and is a celebration of Australian country music culture and heritage. The festival lasts for two weeks during late January and during this period the city of Tamworth comes alive, with...
is an annual country music festival held in Tamworth, New South Wales
Tamworth, New South Wales
Tamworth is a city in the New England region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Peel River, Tamworth, which contains an estimated population of 47,595 people, is the major regional centre for southern New England and in the local government area of Tamworth Regional Council. The city...
. It celebrates the culture and heritage of Australian country music
Australian country music
Australian country music is a part of the music of Australia. There is a broad range of styles, from bluegrass, to yodelling to folk to the more popular. The genre has been influenced by Celtic and English folk music, by the traditions of Australian bush balladeers, as well as by popular American...
. During the festival the Country Music Association of Australia
Country Music Association of Australia
The Country Music Association of Australia is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry...
holds the Country Music Awards of Australia
Country Music Awards of Australia
The CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, in Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They are wholly owned and staged by the Country Music...
ceremony awarding the Golden Guitar
Golden Guitar
The Big Golden Guitar is one of the many "big" attractions that can be found around Australia. Located in Tamworth, New South Wales, the monument is one of the best-known points of interest in New England New South Wales...
trophies.
Theatre
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
which recount the stories of the Dreamtime
Dreamtime
In the animist framework of Australian Aboriginal mythology, The Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral Totemic Spirit Beings formed The Creation.-The Dreaming of the Aboriginal times:...
, comprise theatrical aspects and have been performed since time immemorial during the 40-60,000 year Aboriginal occupation of Australia. European traditions came to Australia with the First Fleet
First Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
in 1788, with the first production being performed in 1789 by convicts. Two centuries later, the extraordinary circumstances of the foundations of Australian theatre were recounted in Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Timberlake Wertenbaker
- Biography :Wertenbaker grew up in the Basque Country of France near Saint-Jean-de-Luz. She attended schools in Europe and the US before settling permanently in London...
: the participants were prisoners watched by sadistic guards and the leading lady was under threat of the death penalty.
Theatre Royal, Hobart
The Theatre Royal is situated in central Hobart, Tasmania. It stages many events including international ballet, opera, drama and musicals. It was constructed between 1834-1837 and is the oldest continually operating theatre in Australia....
, opened in 1837 and it remains the oldest theatre in Australia. The Australian gold rushes
Australian gold rushes
The Australian gold rush started in 1851 when prospector Edward Hammond Hargraves claimed the discovery of payable gold near Bathurst, New South Wales, at a site Edward Hargraves called Ophir.Eight months later, gold was found in Victoria...
beginning in the 1850s provided funds for the construction of grand theatres in the Victorian style. A theatre was built on the present site of Melbourne's Princess Theatre
Princess Theatre, Melbourne
The Princess Theatre is a 1488-seat theatre in Melbourne, Australia.It is listed by the National Trust of Australia and is on the Victorian Heritage Register.-History:...
in 1854. The present building now hosts major international productions as well as live performance events such as the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Melbourne International Comedy Festival
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival is the third-largest international comedy festival in the world and the largest cultural event in Australia. Established in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks in April typically opening on or around April Fool's Day...
.
The Melbourne Athenaeum was built during this period and later became Australia's first cinema, screening The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang
The Story of the Kelly Gang is a 1906 Australian film that traces the life of the legendary bushranger Ned Kelly . It was written and directed by Charles Tait. The film ran for more than an hour, and was the longest narrative film yet seen in Australia, and the world. Its approximate reel length...
, the world's first feature film in 1906. Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
, Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
, Lawrence Olivier and Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
have all performed on this historic stage. The Queen's Theatre, Adelaide opened with Shakespeare in 1841 and is today the oldest theatre on the mainland.
After Federation in 1901, theatre productions evidenced the new sense of national identity. On Our Selection (1912) by Steele Rudd
Steele Rudd
Steele Rudd was the pseudonym of Arthur Hoey Davis an Australian author, best known for On Our Selection.-Early life:...
, told of the adventures of a pioneer farming family and became immensely popular. Sydney's grand Capitol Theatre
Capitol Theatre, Sydney
The Capitol Theatre is a historic theatre building located at 13 Campbell Street, Haymarket, Sydney, Australia.-History:The Capitol Theatre is at the former site of the Belmore Markets. The latter were built in 1891 by George McRae, City Architect, and the structural engineer Norman Selfe, but were...
opened in 1928 and after restoration remains one of the nation's finest auditoriums.
In 1955, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll is a pioneering Australian play written by Ray Lawler and first performed at the Union Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, on 28 November 1955...
by Ray Lawler
Ray Lawler
Raymond Evenor Lawler is an influential Australian actor, dramatist and producer. His most notable play was his tenth, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll , which had its premiere in Melbourne in 1955. The play changed the direction of Australian drama...
portrayed resolutely Australian characters and went on to international acclaim. That same year, young Melbourne artist Barry Humphries
Barry Humphries
John Barry Humphries, AO, CBE is an Australian comedian, satirist, dadaist, artist, author and character actor, best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage, a Melbourne housewife and "gigastar", and Sir Les Patterson, Australia's foul-mouthed cultural attaché to the...
performed as Edna Everage for the first time at Melbourne University's Union Theatre. Humphries left for London in his early 20s and enjoyed success on stage, including in Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart
Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...
's musical, Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....
. His satirical stage creations - notably Dame Edna and later Les Patterson - became Australian cultural icons. Humphries also achieved success in the USA with tours on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and television appearances and has been honoured in Australia and Britain.
The National Institute of Dramatic Art
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...
was created in Sydney in 1958. This institute has since produced a list of famous alumni including Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
, Mel Gibson
Mel Gibson
Mel Colm-Cille Gerard Gibson, AO is an American actor, film director, producer and screenwriter. Born in Peekskill, New York, Gibson moved with his parents to Sydney, Australia when he was 12 years old and later studied acting at the Australian National Institute of Dramatic Art.After appearing in...
and Baz Luhrmann
Baz Luhrmann
Mark Anthony "Baz" Luhrmann is an Australian film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for The Red Curtain Trilogy, which includes his films Strictly Ballroom, William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!...
.
Construction of the Adelaide Festival Centre
Adelaide Festival Centre
The Adelaide Festival Centre, Australia's first multi-purpose arts centre, was built in 1973 and opened three months before the Sydney Opera House. The Festival Centre is located approximately 50 metres north of the corner of North Terrace and King William Street, lying near the banks of the River...
began in 1970 and South Australia's Sir Robert Helpmann
Robert Helpmann
Sir Robert Helpmann CBE was an Australian dancer, actor, theatre director and choreographer.-Early years:He was born Robert Murray Helpman in Mount Gambier, South Australia and also boarded at Prince Alfred College in Adelaide. From childhood, Helpman had a strong desire to be a dancer...
became director of the Adelaide Festiavl of Arts. The new wave of Australian theatre debuted in the 1970s. The Belvoir St Theatre
Belvoir St Theatre
Belvoir St Theatre is an Australian theatre venue in Sydney. The venue in Belvoir Street, Surry Hills previously operated as the Nimrod Theatre, and was founded as "Belvoir St" in 1984 by Sue Hill and Chris Westwood...
presented works by Nick Enright
Nick Enright
-Life:He was drama captain of St Ignatius' College, Riverview in 1964, where, like Gerard Windsor and Justin Fleming, he was taught by Melvyn Morrow. At that school, he won the 1sts Debating Premiership in both 1966 and 1967....
and David Williamson
David Williamson
David Keith Williamson AO is one of Australia's best-known playwrights. He has also written screenplays and teleplays.-Biography:...
. In 1973, the Sydney Opera House
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in the Australian city of Sydney. It was conceived and largely built by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, finally opening in 1973 after a long gestation starting with his competition-winning design in 1957...
, which had been based on a design by Jørn Utzon
Jørn Utzon
Jørn Oberg Utzon, , AC was a Danish architect, most notable for designing the Sydney Opera House in Australia. When it was declared a World Heritage Site on 28 June 2007, Utzon became only the second person to have received such recognition for one of his works during his lifetime...
, was officially opened. Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
made its home in the building and its reputation was enhanced by the presence of the diva Joan Sutherland
Joan Sutherland
Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM, AC, DBE was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano noted for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s....
.
The Sydney Theatre Company
Sydney Theatre Company
The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....
was founded 1978 becoming one of Australia's foremost theatre companies. The Bell Shakespeare Company
Bell Shakespeare Company
Bell Shakespeare is an Australian theatre company specialising in the works of William Shakespeare. It was founded in 1990 by John Bell..Bell Shakespeare is Australia's only national touring theatre company. Its current practice is to tour three mainstage productions to each Australian state in...
was created in 1990. A period of success for Australian musical theatre came in the 1990s with the debut of musical biographies of Australian music singers Peter Allen
Peter Allen
Peter Allen was an Australian songwriter and entertainer. His songs were made popular by many recording artists, including Elkie Brooks, Melissa Manchester and Olivia Newton-John, with one, Arthur's Theme, winning an Academy Award in 1981...
(The Boy From Oz
The Boy from Oz
The Boy from Oz is a jukebox musical based on the life of singer/songwriter Peter Allen and featuring songs written by him. The book is by Nick Enright. The production had its world premiere, directed by Gale Edwards, at Her Majesty's Theatre, Sydney, Australia, on 5 March 1998 and toured Brisbane,...
in 1998) and Johnny O'Keefe
Johnny O'Keefe
John Michael O'Keefe, known as Johnny O'Keefe was an Australian rock and roll singer whose career began in the 1950s. Some of his hits include "Wild One" , "Shout!" and "She's My Baby"...
(Shout! The Legend of The Wild One).
In The One Day of the Year, Alan Seymour
Alan Seymour
Alan Seymour , is an Australian playwright and author. He was educated at Perth Modern School, leaving at 15 after failing to complete the Junior Certificate. He found work as a radio announcer in a commercial radio station 6PM. During his two years there he wrote a number of short radio plays that...
studied the paradoxical nature of the ANZAC Day
ANZAC Day
Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all...
commemoration by Australians of the defeat of the Battle of Gallipoli
Battle of Gallipoli
The Gallipoli Campaign, also known as the Dardanelles Campaign or the Battle of Gallipoli, took place at the peninsula of Gallipoli in the Ottoman Empire between 25 April 1915 and 9 January 1916, during the First World War...
. Ngapartji Ngapartji, by Scott Rankin and Trevor Jamieson, recounts the story of the effects on the Pitjantjatjara people of nuclear testing in the Western Desert during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. It is an example of the contemporary fusion of traditions of drama in Australia with Pitjantjatjara actors being supported by a multicultural cast of Greek, Afghan, Japanese and New Zealand heritage.
See also
- Architecture of AustraliaArchitecture of AustraliaArchitecture in Australia incorporates the architecture produced in the area of the Commonwealth of Australia...
- Arts NSWArts NSWArts NSW, an agency of the Government of New South Wales, is responsibile for arts funding and policy development that is committed to building stronger communities through the arts...
- Performing arts in AustraliaPerforming arts in AustraliaThe Performing arts in Australia are an important element of the Arts in Australia and Australian culture.-Dance:Dance in Australia is diverse, ranging from The Australian Ballet to the Restless Dance Company to the many local dance studios....
- Performing arts education in AustraliaPerforming arts education in AustraliaPerforming arts education in Australia occurs formally and informally. It occurs at all levels of education.At the tertiary level it is provided through many Universities and a number of speciallist institutions...
- Performing arts education in Australia
- South Australian Living Artists FestivalSouth Australian Living Artists FestivalThe South Australian Living Artists Festival is an annual free visual arts festival in the city of Adelaide.The SALA festival includes open art studios, moving-image based art, and public art events across South Australia....
- Australian Feminist Art TimelineAustralian Feminist Art TimelineAustralian Feminist Art Timeline lists exhibitions, artists, artworks and milestones that have contributed to discussion and development of feminist art in Australia. The timeline focuses on the impact of feminism on Australian contemporary art...
External links
- ARTS.org.au - The Australian Arts Community - "An online resource for artists and arts organisations Australia wide."
- Australian Aboriginal Art Museum "La grange", Môtiers/NE, Switzerland
- Australia Council for the Arts
- Culture and Recreation Portal
- Australian Art
- ArtsHub - Australian Arts Networking and Jobs Directory