''Building Bridges'' (subtitled ''Australia Has a Black History'') is an Australian compilation album containing tracks from both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal performers, inspired by a 1988 community concert called Building Bridges. The concert was held in Australia's Bicentennial year, which included many Aboriginal protests. The

vinyl album A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The gro ...

was released in 1989 to raise money for the National Coalition of Aboriginal Organisations. It includes songs sung in

Aboriginal languages Aboriginal language may refer to: * Indigenous language * Australian Aboriginal languages * Taiwanese aboriginal languages * Indigenous languages of the Americas The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the ...

. The album was released by

CAAMA The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) is an organisation founded in 1980 to expose Aboriginal music and culture to the rest of Australia. It started with 8KIN-FM, the first Aboriginal radio station in the country. Based in ...

Music and distributed by

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

in 1989, followed by a CD album released by

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in 1990. It reached #47 on the Australian album charts and may have symbolised "the embrace of indigenous rock by the mainstream". Dwyer, Michael
"History wars, the musical"
''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

'', 20 October 2006. The original double-vinyl release features 27 tracks, while the later CD release features nineteen.

TV special

On 24 January 1991 (two days before

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

), the Indigenous Australian TV series ''

Blackout Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to: Loss of lighting or communication * Power outage, a loss of electric power * Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event * Blackout (fabric), a t ...

'' screened a special program to commemorate the original concert. With live music simulcast on

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

featuring

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by H ...

Yothu Yindi Yothu Yindi (Yolŋu Matha, Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced , natively ) are an Australian musical group with Australian Aboriginal, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a wh ...

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian (Gunditjmara and Western Bundjalung people, Bundjalung) singer-songwriter and Aboriginal Australian, Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach wa ...

Mixed Relations Mixed Relations were an Australian band formed by Bart Willoughby. They played a mixture of reggae rock, pop, and jazz. Mixed Relations toured Aboriginal communities, Australian cities, Pacific Islands, New Zealand, United States, Europe, Cana ...

, all-female band Mirror Mirror,

Kev Carmody Kevin Daniel Carmody (born 1946), better known by his stage name Kev Carmody, is an Aboriginal Australian singer-songwriter and musician, a Murri man from northern Queensland. He is best known for the song " From Little Things Big Things Grow" ...

, and

Crowded House Crowded House are an Australian-New Zealand rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Paul Hester (drums), who were both for ...

, the special also included band members and members of the audience talking about the future of black/white relations in Australia. The program was produced by ABC TV in co-operation with the Building Bridges Association Inc.

Track listing

# Special Treatment – Paul Kelly # Gudurrku (The Brolga) –

# Justice Will Be Done – Les Shillingsworth # Solid Rock –

Goanna A goanna is any one of several species of lizard of the genus ''Monitor lizard, Varanus'' found in Australia and Southeast Asia. Around 70 species of ''Varanus'' are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous r ...

# Birth Of A Nation – Wild Pumpkins At Midnight # Breakneck Road –

Hunters & Collectors Hunters & Collectors are an Australian rock band from Melbourne, formed in 1981. Fronted by founding member, singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, the band's other mainstays are John Archer on bass guitar and Doug Falconer on drums an ...

Yil Lull "Yil Lull" is a song written and performed by Joe Geia. It originally appeared on his 1988 album of the same name. Yill Lull means sing in Guugu Yimithirr.Green Left Weekly issue #58 - 3 June 199Hidden Things worth looking for/ref> The colours u ...

–

Joe Geia Joseph Benjamin Geia (born 1959) is an Aboriginal Australian musician of Murri heritage. As a solo artist he has released three albums, ''Yil Lull'' (1988), ''Tribal Journey'' (1996) and ''Nunga, Koori and a Murri Love'' (2005). He has worked w ...

# Warakurna –

# Woma Wanti – Areyonga Desert Tigers # Strychinine – Swamp Jockeys # That Hanging Business –

Do-Re-Mi "Do-Re-Mi" is a show tune from the 1959 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''The Sound of Music''. Each syllable of the musical solfège system appears in the song's lyrics, sung on the pitch it names. Rodgers was helped in its creation by long-time ...

# Injustice – V. Spy V. Spy # Hungry Years –

Weddings Parties Anything Weddings Parties Anything. was an Australian folk rock band formed in 1984 in Melbourne and continuing until 1999. Their name came from The Clash song "Revolution Rock". Musicologist Billy Pinnell described their first album as the best Austral ...

# Do It Rite – Cal Callaghan # Bad Blood – The Stetsons #

Original Sin Original sin () in Christian theology refers to the condition of sinfulness that all humans share, which is inherited from Adam and Eve due to the Fall of man, Fall, involving the loss of original righteousness and the distortion of the Image ...

–

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as the Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney. The founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, gu ...

# Broken Down Man –

Scrap Metal Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

# Dancing In The Moonlight –

Coloured Stone Coloured Stone is an Aboriginal Australian band whose members originate from the Koonibba Mission, west of Ceduna, South Australia. They first became known for their 1984 single, "Black Boy". The band performs using guitar, bass, drums, and A ...

# Heaven On A Stick –

James Reyne James Michael Nugent Reyne Order of Australia, OAM (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian musician. He achieved fame as the lead singer of Australian Crawl, and subsequently went on to a successful solo career. Biography Early years Reyne was born ...

Speak No Evil Speak No Evil is a phrase from the " see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" adage. It may refer to: Film * ''Speak No Evil'' (2013 film), an American horror film * ''Speak No Evil'' (2022 film), a Danish-Dutch psychological thriller film * '' ...

–

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

# Tjamu Tjamu – Ilkari Maru # Mansion In The Slums –

# Spirit Of The Land – The Gravy # Bullant –

Gondwanaland Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the ...

# Swing For The Crime – The Saints # Living In The Land Of Oz – Ross Wilson # We Have Survived –

No Fixed Address In law, no fixed abode or without fixed abode is not having a fixed geographical location as a residence, commonly referred to as no fixed address. This is applicable to several groups: * People who have a home, but which is not always in the ...

References

{{reflist 1989 compilation albums