By arts editor Helen Musa

Waltzing Matilda and Midnight Oil’s protest anthem Beds Are Burning are among the first 10 songs to be inducted into the National Songbook, a new initiative launched by APRA AMCOS and the National Film and Sound Archive.

Announced at a gala cocktail event at the NFSA in Canberra on Wednesday, the inaugural collection spans more than a century of Australian songwriting, from Banjo Paterson and Christina Macpherson’s traditional bush ballad Waltzing Matilda to The Presets 2007 dance anthem, My People.

To qualify for inclusion, songs must have been written or co-written by an Australian APRA member, have been released at least 10 years before consideration and demonstrate significant cultural impact in Australia.

The selection also includes Friday on My Mind, the 1966 international hit by George Young and Harry Vanda; Helen Reddy and Ray Burton’s feminist anthem I Am Woman (1971); and Beds Are Burning (1987), written by Midnight Oil members Jim Moginie, Peter Garrett and Rob Hirst.

Another landmark protest song, Treaty, written by Dr M Yunupingu and collaborators including Stuart Kellaway, Witiyana Marika, Peter Garrett and Paul Kelly, is also among the inductees.

The remaining selections reflect the breadth of Australian musical composition, including Ruby Hunter’s Down City Streets (1990), Neil Murray’s My Island Home (1987), made famous by the Warumpi Band and later recorded by Christine Anu, Peter Sculthorpe’s orchestral work Earth Cry (1990), and the score for the 1998 Australian film The Boys, composed by members of The Necks, Chris Abrahams, Tony Buck and Lloyd Swanton.

The inaugural collection will be preserved as a permanent digital archive, recognising songs and compositions that have made a lasting contribution to Australia’s cultural heritage.

APRA AMCOS chief executive Dean Ormston said the 10 songs could never tell the whole story of Australia, but together they offered an insight into the nation’s history, identity and values, while NFSA chief curator Meagan Loader said the collection reflected the remarkable breadth of Australian songwriting.

The launch also featured new interpretations of some of the selected works, including I Am Woman, performed by Deline Briscoe, music from The Boys by Emma Donovan.

The National Songbook can be viewed at nfsa.gov.au.

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