10 sound recordings with cultural, historical and aesthetic significance have been added to the National Film and Sound Archive’s (NFSA’s) Sounds of Australia for 2018. 

They include the best-selling Aboriginal music album in history, the first non-single to top the Hottest 100 popular poll, one of the first female singers to make the Australian charts and the musical tongue-twister that inspired over 130 cover versions.

They received this honour because they’ve helped shape Australian culture, history and identity are, in chronological order: 

    1905 Caro Mio Ben – Ada Crossley
    1926 Freshie/After the Dawn – Sydney Simpson and his Wentworth Café Orchestra
    1955-1967 Binny Lum Collection
    1959 Come Closer to Me – Pilita Corrales
    1962 I’ve Been Everywhere – Lucky Starr
    1976 Girls in Our Town – Margret RoadKnight
    1982 Solid Rock – Goanna
    1992-2008 Songlines: Songs of the East Australian Humpback Whales – Mark Franklin
    1999 These Days –Powderfinger
    2008 Gurrumul – Gurrumul

Established in 2007, the Sounds of Australia is the NFSA’s selection of sound recordings which inform or reflect life in Australia. Each year, the Australian public nominates new sounds to be added with final selections determined by a panel of industry experts.

There are now more than 130 sounds in the complete Sounds of Australia list.