This song touches on key events in the history of the MUA, and direct action taken by that union in the interests of peace and justice. It was written by Walter Pritchard, Katie Newfield and Jonathon Snook, and is one of the songs featured in Walter’s musical play, “The Mayday Queen of the Scarlet Belt”. … Continue reading 1872: A Song About the Maritime Union of Australia
Tag: Australia
The Price of The Coal: Climate Change
Here is an adaptation of a song written by Wendy Richardson. The original song focuses on the price of the coal in the context of the lives of the miners. This version of the song, with verses written by members of the Illawarra Union Singers, focuses on the price of the coal in terms of… Continue reading The Price of The Coal: Climate Change
The Appin Tragedy
The night of Tuesday, July 24, 1979, shook not only the small mining community of Appin but the entire Illawarra, with the region’s families dependent on their men going underground day after day (Cox 2009). This song uses words from a poem by Sid Wright, and music written and arranged by Sarah De Jong. This… Continue reading The Appin Tragedy
A Lament for Liberal Party Leadership
-Or lack thereof. This song is based on a somewhat earlier song, “The Nonsense Song”, written at the height of Tony Abbott’s “leadership” of Australia. This current song only has 3 verses, dealing with the 3 most recent Prime Ministers. Sheet Music Sheet Music (Cropped) Scroll down for the sheet music, with performance notes in… Continue reading A Lament for Liberal Party Leadership
Lament for Manus Island
Image Source: https://thenewdaily.com.au Click here, for the arrangement in parts: This is a song I felt compelled to write in October 2017, aghast at Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers. The second verse of our national anthem has the lines, “For those who’ve come across the seas, We’ve boundless plains to share;”. We should be more… Continue reading Lament for Manus Island
It’s Getting Really Hard to Sing Advance Australia Fair -Simpler Version
An older more complex arrangement of this can be found by clicking here. The version below, 1.3, has the alto voices doubling the bass part, except for the ends of lines 4 and 5. There is no tenor line, but there are descant notes in the melody line for the cadences, again at the ends… Continue reading It’s Getting Really Hard to Sing Advance Australia Fair -Simpler Version
Walk On
This is an arrangement of a song by ‘Dogmatic Music’, From ‘Walk On’ Kit – Reconciliation Week, Sorry Day. The educational resource, to commemorate Sorry Day or Reconciliation Week, designed for schools can be purchased and downloaded here. You can hear their excellent rendition of the song here. You can find out more about Dogmatic Music and… Continue reading Walk On
Share Our Country: Jacobs Ladder
Gerri Wood’s lyrics to an old hymn tune, pleading for compassion and understanding towards asylum seekers and refugees. Download Sheet Music and Lyrics The cropped files give a bigger printout, but you might need to find a printer setting that say “Fit” or “Fit to printer margins”. If that doesn’t work, print the regular file!… Continue reading Share Our Country: Jacobs Ladder