"Great Southern Land" is a song by the Australian

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Icehouse Icehouse or ice house may refer to: * Ice house (building), a building where ice is stored * Ice shanty, a shelter for ice fishing also known as an ''Icehouse'' * Ice rink, a facility for ice skating. * Ice hockey arena, an area where ice hockey i ...

. It was released on 9 August 1982 as the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from their second studio album '' Primitive Man''. It peaked at No. 5 on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

, it was later featured in the 1988

Yahoo Serious Yahoo Serious (born Greg Pead, 27 July 1953) is an Australian actor. His films include the comedy films ''Young Einstein'' (1988), '' Reckless Kelly'' (1993), and ''Mr. Accident'' (2000). Serious writes, directs, produces, stars in, and has co ...

film ''

Young Einstein ''Young Einstein'' is a 1988 Australian comedy film written, produced, directed by and starring Yahoo Serious. It is a fantasized account of the life of Albert Einstein which alters all people, places and circumstances of his life, including ...

'', and was their most popular song according to listeners of

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

in 2007. At the 1982 Countdown Music Awards, the song was nominated for Best Australian Single. It was re-released in the U.S. on

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British independent record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ell ...

in 1989 as both a 7" and CD single, to coincide with the U.S. release of the compilation album, ''

Great Southern Land "Great Southern Land" is a song by the Australian Rock music, rock band Icehouse (band), Icehouse. It was released on 9 August 1982 as the lead single from their second studio album ''Primitive Man (album), Primitive Man''. It peaked at No. 5 on ...

''. On 5 September 2011, "Great Southern Land" re-entered the Australian (ARIA) Singles Chart at No. 66. There are two versions of the music video. The Australian original version, was filmed at the disused Jones' quarry in

Wahroonga Wahroonga is a suburb on the Upper North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, 18 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government areas of Ku-ring-gai Council and Hornsby Shire. ...

in 1982, with

solarise The Sabatier effect, also known as pseudo-solarization (or pseudo-solarisation) and erroneously referred to as the Sabattier effect, is a phenomenon in photography in which the image recorded on a negative or on a photographic print is wholly ...

d clips of the band in daylight and surrounded by camp fires at night. The USA version was made in 1989 for the movie ''

'' and it has Iva Davies walking around

Myall Lakes National Park Myall Lakes National Park is a national park located in New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney. It encompasses one of the state's largest coastal lake systems Myall Lakes, and includes Broughton Island. The park includes 40 kilometres of ...

. In 1999, Iva Davies was commissioned by Spectak Productions on behalf of the City of Sydney Council to create a musical score to ring in the new Millennium in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. Iva took his song “Great Southern Land” and created a new version dubbed “The Ghost of Time”. The performance in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, featuring

Iva Davies Ivor Arthur Davies, AM (born 22 May 1955), known professionally as Iva Davies, is an Australian singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Davies' music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in t ...

Guy Pratt Guy Adam Pratt (born 3 January 1962) is a British bassist. He has worked with artists including Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, Gary Moore, Madonna, Peter Cetera, Michael Jackson, the Smiths, Robert Palmer (singer), Robert Palmer, Echo & the Bunnymen, T ...

Richard Tognetti Richard Leo Tognetti AO (born 4 August 1965) is a leading Australian musician recognised internationally as a violin soloist, ensemble player, leader, composer and arranger, conductor and artistic director. He is currently artistic direct ...

, Glenn Krawczyk,

Sydney Symphony Orchestra The Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO) is an Australian symphony orchestra based in Sydney. With roots going back to 1908, the orchestra was made a permanent professional orchestra on the formation of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in 1932. ...

, and TaikOz, was seen by millions of people around the world. In November 2014 the song was selected for inclusion on the Australian

National Film & Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting, and providing access to a national c ...

's "

Sounds of Australia The Sounds of Australia, formerly the National Registry of Recorded Sound, is the National Film & Sound Archive's selection of sound recordings deemed culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant and relevant for Australia. It was fo ...

" list. The song is also used as the walk out tune for the

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in international cricket. Along with England, it is the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing and winning the first ever Test match in 1877; the team also plays One ...

for their home matches during the Australian summer.

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

added eight 787-9 Dreamliners to its fleet in 2017. The airlines named each Dreamliner from suggestions and votes from the public. The name “Great Southern Land” was chosen for the first aircraft out of 45,000 suggestions from the public. In January 2018, as part of

's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Great Southern Land" was ranked number 4.

Remixes

In 1993, producer

Bill Laswell William Otis Laswell (born February 12, 1955) is an American bass guitarist, record producer, and record label owner. He has been involved in thousands of recordings with many collaborators from all over the world. His music draws from funk, wo ...

set up a 16-minute remix with

Aboriginal Australians Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia (co ...

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American musical collective, music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton (funk musician), George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament (band), Parliame ...

alumnus

Bernie Worrell George Bernard Worrell, Jr. (April 19, 1944 – June 24, 2016) was an American Keyboard instrument, keyboardist and record producer best known as a founding member of the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. In later years, he also worked with ...

and the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

guitarist

Buckethead Brian Patrick Carroll (born May 13, 1969), known professionally as Buckethead, is an American guitarist. He has received critical acclaim for his innovative and virtuosic electric guitar playing. Buckethead's extensive solo discography currentl ...

for inclusion on the 1994 remix compilation '' Full Circle''. An edited version named "Byrralku Dhangudha", with unnamed Aborigines partly singing the chorus in language was included on the EP '' Spin One'' in 1993. The same edit was released as a single in Germany in 1994 as "Great Southern Land (1994 version)". Another remix version by

Endorphin Endorphins (contracted from endogenous morphine) are peptides produced in the brain that block the perception of pain and increase feelings of wellbeing. They are produced and stored in the pituitary gland of the brain. Endorphins are endogeno ...

was released on the Icehouse album '' Meltdown'' in 2002. In 2012,

Tourism Australia Tourism Australia is the Australian Government agency responsible for promoting Australian locations as business and leisure travel destinations. The agency is a corporate portfolio agency of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and ...

collaborated with Iva Davies to create an online video clip to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the song. The clip includes famous musicians such as

Katie Noonan Katie Anne Noonan (born 2 May 1977) is an Australian singer and songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she was the singer in the bands George and Elixir; she has also performed with he ...

Cut Copy Cut Copy (sometimes stylised as Cut/Copy) are an Australian synth-pop band formed in 2001 by Dan Whitford (vocals, keyboards and guitar). Originally a home-recording project, the band now includes Tim Hoey (guitars), Ben Browning (bass guitar), ...

Van She Van She were an electropop band formed in early 2002 in Sydney, Australia, with Matt Van Schie (pronounced Van Ski) on bass guitar/vocals, Tomek Archer on drum kit, drums/music sequencer, sequencer, Michael Di Francesco on synthesizer, synth/gu ...

and

Eskimo Joe Eskimo Joe are an Australian alternative rock band that was formed in 1997 by Stuart MacLeod, on lead guitar, Joel Quartermain, on drums and guitar, and Kavyen Temperley, on bass guitar and vocals, in East Fremantle, Western Australia, Aus ...

, along with everyday Australian characters including an oyster farmer from Barilla Bay in Tasmania and a local choir from the Blue Mountains. A cover version partly sung in the

Gamilaraay language The Gamilaraay or Kamilaroi language () is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup found mostly in south-eastern Australia. It is the traditional language of the Gamilaraay (Kamilaroi), an Aboriginal Australian people. It has be ...

was recorded by

Mitch Tambo Mitch Tambo is an Aboriginal Australian singer, songwriter and political activist, who self-released his debut EP in 2016. In 2019, he reached the final of the ninth series of ''Australia's Got Talent'' and garnered national attention for his ...

and

Reigan Derry Reigan Elisse Derry (born 19 September 1988), also known mononymously as Reigan, is an Australian singer and songwriter. Derry rose to fame after placing eleventh on the fourth season of ''Australian Idol'' in 2006. The following year, she becam ...

in 2023, with the approval of Davies.

Track listing

All tracks written by

. Note: requires user to input song title e.g. GREAT SOUTHERN LAND

7" single (Australian release)

# "Great Southern Land" – 5:07 # "Uniform" – 4:03

12" single (Australian release)

# "Great Southern Land" – 5:05 # "Uniform" (extended mix) – 6:02

7" single (US release)

# "Great Southern Land" (edit) # "Great Southern Land" (album version)

1994 single (German release)

# "Great Southern Land" (1994 version) – 3:47 # "Dedicated to Glam" (12" mix) – 4:25 # "Great Southern Land" (original version) – 5:16

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Great Southern Land 1982 singles Icehouse (band) songs Australian patriotic songs Songs written by Iva Davies Songs about Australia Song recordings produced by Keith Forsey 1982 songs Chrysalis Records singles Regular Records singles