NFSA blog entries by Graham McDonald

The NFSA acknowledges and remembers the significant contribution made by Chrissy Amphlett to Australian music and popular culture.

Jazz pianist Dave Brubeck died earlier this month at the age of 91. Sound archivist Graham McDonald recently found some Messages to Australia that were recorded by Brubeck for radio in 1962.

How did a boilermaker-turned-soldier become an internationally performing tenor? NFSA sound curator Graham McDonald investigates the background of the man who first recorded Waltzing Matilda.

The NFSA congratulates Belinda Webster, an indefatigable advocate for contemporary Australian music and this year’s recipient of the Don Banks Award from the Australia Council.

Sound Archivist Graham McDonald has compiled a selection of rare and beautiful record sleeve designs from Australia, USA, UK and the rest of the world.

One of the CDs we picked up from this year’s National Folk Festival was from a Sydney based trio The Lurkers. They play what they describe as 'subversive homespun bluegrass’.

A recent acquisition in the recorded sound section of NFSA included a curious copy of a Seekers LP from the late 1960s. Come the Day (Columbia SCXM.6093) reached number seven on the album charts in Australia, and included Georgy Girl, a number one hit, which stayed on the charts for 33 weeks in 1967.

The copy that arrived here is a Taiwanese release, on the First Record label, and definitely aroused our interest.

Wake in Fright, The Sentimental Bloke and The Story of the Kelly Gang – each could well have become victim to Australia’s fragile heritage of moving image were it not for the determination and detective work of a couple of people, or in some cases just a single individual, to ensure their survival. Instead they share a history of resurrection and restoration – and now comes another important discovery in Australia’s search for 'lost’ film.

As the NFSA was preparing to award its first Sound Heritage Award to Dr Karl Neuenfeldt for his work in documenting the music of the Torres Strait region, we heard of the death of jazz and blues singer Georgia Lee in her home town of Cairns at the age of 89.