The Presets join Australia’s National Songbook. Photo: Supplied.
From Midnight Oil and Yothu Yindi to The Presets, ten songs have been selected for a new national archive celebrating the music that helped shape Australia.
What makes an Australian song part of the country’s history? The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) and APRA AMCOS have named the first ten entries in The National Songbook, a new annual collection recognising culturally significant Australian songwriting.
Unveiled in Canberra on November 4, the inaugural selection spans more than a century of music, from ‘Waltzing Matilda’ to The Presets‘ 2007 dancefloor anthem ‘My People’.
It’s not simply a greatest-hits list. The selections touch on protest, identity, belonging and the songs that keep finding new audiences. Midnight Oil‘s ‘Beds Are Burning’ and Yothu Yindi‘s ‘Treaty’ sit alongside Ruby Hunter‘s ‘Down City Streets’, The Easybeats‘ ‘Friday on My Mind’ and Neil Murray‘s ‘My Island Home’, recorded by Warumpi Band and later Christine Anu.
The first ten National Songbook selections
- ‘Waltzing Matilda’ : Andrew ‘Banjo’ Paterson and Christina Macpherson
- ‘Friday on My Mind’ : Harry Vanda and George Young, recorded by The Easybeats
- ‘I Am Woman’ : Helen Reddy and Ray Burton
- ‘Beds Are Burning’ : Midnight Oil
- ‘My Island Home’ : Neil Murray, recorded by Warumpi Band and Christine Anu
- ‘Down City Streets’ : Ruby Hunter, first recorded by Archie Roach
- ‘Earth Cry’ : Peter Sculthorpe
- ‘Treaty’ : Yothu Yindi
- The Boys soundtrack : The Necks
- ‘My People’ : The Presets
More than an Australian music hall of fame
The National Songbook is designed to grow each year as a permanent digital archive, preserving not just songs but the stories behind them. To qualify, a work must have been released at least ten years earlier, be written or co-written by an Australian APRA member, and demonstrate significant cultural impact.
The first songs were chosen by an industry panel spanning songwriting, broadcasting, music history and the arts. The project arrives as APRA marks its centenary in 2026, and at a time when the visibility of homegrown music remains a major industry conversation.
From the political urgency of ‘Treaty’ to the synth-driven bite of ‘My People’, the list offers a reminder that songs don’t have to sound alike to tell an Australian story.
Explore the full collection and the stories behind each song at the National Film and Sound Archive.
