Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

has participated in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

seven times since its debut in and has been in the top ten four times. It is the second country outside of the

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelag ...

region to take part in the contest since

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

competed in . The country's best result in the contest is a second-place finish for

Dami Im Dami Im ( , , ; born October 17, 1988) is a South Korean-born Australian singer and songwriter. She represented Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 held in Stockholm, Sweden with the song " Sound of Silence", placing second and ach ...

in . Australia also finished in the top ten in three of its other appearances in the contest, with

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter who was the winner of the first ''Australian Idol'' in 2003, judge on Australia's ''The X Factor'' from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2016, and coach ...

finishing fifth in 2015, and both

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

and

Kate Miller-Heidke Kate Melina Miller-Heidke (; born 16 November 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Although classically trained, she has generally followed a career in alternative pop music. She signed to Sony Australia, Epic in the US and RCA in th ...

finishing ninth in and . Initially, Australia's participation in the 2015 contest was set to be a one-off event, the plan being only to perform again the following year had it won, but it was confirmed in November 2015 by SVT that it would participate in the . Australia's participation in the contest has been confirmed by the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...

(EBU) and

Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...

(SBS) until 2023.

History

1983–2014

Australian broadcaster

(SBS) first broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in and has continued to do so every year since. The contest has attracted a strong viewing audience in Australia. Early broadcasts of the contest in Australia either featured no commentary or used the 's commentary as transmitted by the BBC. In , actress and comedian

Mary Coustas Mary Coustas (born 16 September 1964) is an Australian actress, comedian and television personality and writer. Originally from Melbourne, Coustas often performs as the character " Effie", a stereotypical second-generation Greek Australian pro ...

provided commentary for the contest performing as her comedic character Effie. In and , SBS presenter Des Mangan provided commentary for the Australian audience. From ,

Julia Zemiro Julia Zemiro () (born 14 April 1967) is a French-born Australian television presenter, radio host, actress, singer, writer and comedian. She is best known as the host of the music quiz and live performance show '' RocKwiz''. Zemiro is a fluent ...

and

Sam Pang Samuel Pang (born 3 November 1973) is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter, writer and producer. Pang co-hosts '' Chrissie, Sam & Browny'' on Nova 100 with Chrissie Swan and Jonathan Brown and co-hosts '' The Front Bar'' with ...

were assigned as commentators for the competition by SBS. saw SBS replace the commentators with comedian

Joel Creasey Joel Creasey (born 11 August 1990) is an Australian stand-up comedian, actor, television and radio presenter. Creasey has performed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, as well as performing at the New York International Fringe Festiv ...

and TV and radio personality

Myf Warhurst Myfanwy Warhurst (, born May 29, 1973) is an Australian radio announcer and television personality, best known for her work at Triple J radio station and on ABC Television's long-running music-themed quiz show '' Spicks and Specks''. she has a ...

. In addition to broadcasting the contest, SBS also broadcast the 50th and 60th anniversary programmes. From 2010 to 2014, SBS allowed Australian viewers to participate in their own televote for the Grand Finals. However, these votes were not counted at the actual contest and did not affect the overall result. The SBS commentary team and Australian delegation were awarded a commentary booth of their own at the 2012 contest in

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

. They have been allocated a commentary booth every year since. Australia's first appearance in the international broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest occurred on 14 May 2013 during the first semi-final in Malmö, Sweden. A short pre-recorded video titled "Greetings from Australia" (also referred to as "Why Australia Loves Eurovision"), submitted by SBS and hosted by Julia Zemiro, was broadcast during the interval acts. This presentation marked 30 years of broadcasting the Eurovision Song Contest in Australia, and was preceded the week leading up to the contest by a locally broadcast documentary, also hosted by Zemiro, titled ''The Heart of Eurovision''. On 24 March 2014, the Danish host broadcaster DR gave SBS permission to perform as an interval act in the second semi-final of the contest. One day later, on 25 March, Jessica Mauboy was internally selected to perform. On 8 May 2014, Mauboy sang her song "

Sea of Flags "Sea of Flags" is a song by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy. It was written by Mauboy, Ilan Kidron and Stuart Crichton who also served as producer of the track. The song was performed live by Mauboy on 8 May 2014 at its debut during ...

2015–present: Participation

(SBS) made the country's debut at the 2015 contest with the song " Tonight Again", performed by

. Although Australia is outside the

European Broadcasting Area The European Broadcasting Area (EBA) is defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as such: :''The "European Broadcasting Area" is bounded on the west by the western boundary of Region 1, on the east by the meridian 40° East o ...

, the EBU and Austrian host broadcaster ORF decided to permit an Australian entry to commemorate the 60th contest. The special circumstances surrounding Australia's entry and "to not reduce the chances" of the semi-final participants led the organisers to allow Australia to compete directly in the final, without going through a semi-final. In the event that Australia should win the contest, the EBU had confirmed that in accordance with the rules, Australia would not host the event in the Southern Hemisphere, and instead would co-host the contest within a country in the EBU. Further to the EBU's statement, it was confirmed that 's participating broadcaster

Norddeutscher Rundfunk Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR; ''Northern German Broadcasting'') is a public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommer ...

(NDR) would be the first choice, and the 's broadcaster

British Broadcasting Corporation #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Incidental participation

Peter Doyle

Marty Kristian

the New Seekers The New Seekers are a British pop group, formed in London in 1969 by Keith Potger after the break-up of his group, The Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music would have ...

Beg, Steal or Borrow "Beg, Steal or Borrow" was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1972, performed in English by The New Seekers. The song was composed and written by Tony Cole, Steve Wolfe and Graeme Hall. It is a love song to a former lover claiming the t ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

Tony Cole Anthony Stuart Cole (born 17 March 1947) is a retired senior Australian public servant. He served the Commonwealth in various capacities for over 25 years. Early life Cole was born in Macksville, New South Wales, on 17 March 1947. He attended ...

* English-born Australian singer-songwriter

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Awards, Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one s ...

represented the United Kingdom in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

(prior to Australian broadcast of the contest) in Brighton with the song " Long Live Love", finishing in fourth place with 14 points. *

John Farrar John Clifford Farrar ( ; born 8 November 1946) is an Australian music producer, songwriter, arranger, singer, and guitarist. As a musician, Farrar is a former member of several rock and roll groups including The Mustangs (1963–64), The Stra ...

, who was born in Melbourne, performed as part of

the Shadows The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s, in the pre- Beatles era. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard ...

for the United Kingdom at the

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

contest. *

Martin Lee Martin Lee Chu-ming, SC, JP (; born 8 June 1938) is a Hong Kong politician and barrister. He is the founding chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong and its successor, the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's flagship pro-democracy party. He ...

, singer in

Brotherhood of Man Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s. They won the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with " Save Your Kisses for Me". Created in 1969 by songwriter and record producer Tony Hiller, Brotherhood of Man was initi ...

, which won the

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

contest, spent several years of his childhood in Australia. *Austria paid tribute to Australia in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

in London with their entry " Boom Boom Boomerang" performed by

Schmetterlinge ''Schmetterlinge'' ("Butterflies") is a West German film directed by Wolfgang Becker. It won the Golden Leopard at the 1988 Locarno International Film Festival. Reception It won the Golden Leopard at the 1988 Locarno International Film Festival ...

. The song was considered controversial at the time due to being the first song to openly mock the contest itself. * Johnny Logan, winner of the contest in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

and

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

for Ireland (and writer of the winning song for Ireland at the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

contest), was born in

Frankston, Victoria Frankston is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Frankston recorded a population of 37,331 at the 2021 census. Due t ...

in 1954, but moved with his family back to Ireland in 1957. * Australian singer

Gina G Gina G (born Gina Mary Gardiner, 3 August 1970) is an Australian singer who represented the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1996, with the song " Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit", which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. The ...

represented the United Kingdom in the 1996 contest in Oslo with her song " Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit". *

Jane Comerford Jane Comerford (born 1 January 1959 in Newcastle, Australia) is a singer, songwriter, lecturer, and vocal coach working in Germany. Education Jane has an extensive musical and music-related education. She studied violin and piano for 12 years, ...

, who was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

, performed in the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

contest for Germany as a part of Texas Lightning with the song " No No Never", which finished in 14th place with 36 points. *Australians

Craig Porteils Craig Porteils was an Australian music producer, mixer, audio engineer, composer, songwriter, and guitarist based in Sydney. Biography Career Porteils began his career in the decade of the 1980s, as the guitarist of his own band. However, ...

and Cameron Giles-Webb co-wrote the song "

This Is Our Night "This Is Our Night" is a song by Greek singer Sakis Rouvas, from the album '' Irthes''. The song was written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb. It is best known as the entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, hel ...

" which was performed by

Sakis Rouvas Anastasios "Sakis" Rouvas ( el, Αναστάσιος "Σάκης" Ρουβάς, ; born 5 January 1972), also known mononymously as Sakis, is a Greek singer, film and television actor, businessman and former pole vaulter and model. Born in Co ...

for Greece at the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

contest. *Katrina Noorbergen, an Australian living in Berlin, co-wrote the song " A Million Voices" which was performed by

Polina Gagarina Polina Sergeyevna Gagarina ( rus, Поли́на Серге́евна Гага́рина, p=pɐˈlʲinə sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈɡarʲɪnə; born 27 March 1987) is a Russian singer and songwriter. She represented Russia in the Eurovisio ...

for Russia at the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

contest. She also performed as one of Gagarina's backing singers in the contest. *Tonino Speciale, who grew up in

Western Sydney Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that i ...

, co-wrote the song " Black Smoke" which was performed by

Ann Sophie Ann-Sophie Dürmeyer (born 1 September 1990), better known as simply Ann Sophie, is a German singer and songwriter. She represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song " Black Smoke". Her latest single "Phantom Pain" was re ...

for Germany at the 2015 contest. *

Mary-Jean O'Doherty Mary-Jean Anaïs O'Doherty is an Australian-American coloratura soprano. She was the first prize winner in the 2013 Paris Opera Awards. Life and career O'Doherty was born in Houston, Texas, to an Australian father and an Armenian mother, Eliz ...

, an American-born and half-Australian opera singer, performed as part of the group

Genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

for Armenia at the 2015 contest. *

Anja Nissen Anja Nissen (born 6 November 1995), sometimes known as simply Anja, is a Danish and Australian singer. She was the winner of the third series of ''The Voice Australia''. Following her win, Nissen was signed to Universal Music Group and lists h ...

, who is from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales but is the child of Danish parents, represented Denmark at the 2017 contest in Kyiv, finishing in 20th place with 77 points. The song, " Where I Am", was co-written by Australian songwriters

Angel Tupai ''The X Factor'' was an Australian television reality music competition, based on the original UK series, to find new singing talent; the winner of which received a Sony Music Australia recording contract and a new car. The fourth season premie ...

and Michael D'Arcy. *Australian singer-songwriter and ''Eurovision – Australia Decides 2019'' competitor Alfie Arcuri co-wrote 's entry for the contest "

Running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This i ...

" which was to be performed by

Sandro Sandro is an Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss, Georgian and Croatian given name, often a diminutive of Alessandro or Alexander. It is also a surname. Sandro may refer to: Given name or nickname Sports * Sandro (footballer, born 1973), Brazi ...

. The contest was later cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. *

Marius Bear Marius Hügli (born 21 April 1993), known professionally as Marius Bear, is a Swiss singer. He represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy, with the song "Boys Do Cry". He studied to be a construction mechanic and has been a ...

, who is half-Australian, having spent several years in Australia and is the holder of an Australian passport, represented Switzerland at the contest in Turin, finishing in 17th place with 78 points.

Photo gallery

File:20150520 ESC 2015 Guy Sebastian 9251.jpg,

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Stockholm Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...

() File:Isaiah (Australia). Photo 347.jpg,

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe. Ky ...

() File:ESC2018 - Australia 02.jpg, Jessica Mauboy in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

() File:ESC-Australia-2019-KateMiller-Heidke-001.jpg,

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

() File:ESC 2021 Rotterdam 1st Semi Jury Show Australia.jpg,

Montaigne Michel Eyquem, Sieur de Montaigne ( ; ; 28 February 1533 – 13 September 1592), also known as the Lord of Montaigne, was one of the most significant philosophers of the French Renaissance. He is known for popularizing the essay as a lit ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte (river), Rotte'') is the second largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the Prov ...

, via video from Sydney () File:Eurovision 2022 - Semi-final 2 - Australia - Sheldon Riley.jpg, Sheldon Riley in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

()

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest Australian music

History

1983–2014

2015–present: Participation

Participation overview

Other awards

Marcel Bezençon Awards

Related involvement

Heads of delegation

Jury members