Aussie music for the walk from Coogee to Bondi
A curated Spotify playlist of 30 Australian songs — from Gurrumul to Kylie, Paul Kelly to Midnight Oil — with personal reflections on each track. The perfect soundtrack for the iconic 90-minute coastal walk from Coogee to Bondi and back. (15 min read)
The walk from Coogee Beach to Bondi Beach is an institution for locals and tourists. It takes me about 90 minutes each way and this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on new music or listen to some old favourites.
When I travel, I like to be immersed in local music. I find this a great way to learn about a place’s history and culture.
Australia has some wonderful story-telling musicians and their work is not only brilliant, it can bridge the gap in understanding Aussies.
I have created a dedicated playlist on Spotify for visitors to Coogee and provided personal reflections on each of the tracks here.
The collection, which includes superb music by artists such as Gurrumul, Paul Kelly, Kylie Minogue and Midnight Oil, gives unique insights into Australian history, culture and creativity. The full collection is about 3 hours, which is perfect for walking from Coogee to Bondi and back.
It’s like love (Dewayne Everettsmith)
A 26 year old Palawa Indigenous musician from Tasmania co-wrote and performs the song which was later adapted for Tourism Australia’s international marketing campaign “There’s nothing like Australia”.
Melaythina (Dewayne Everettsmith)
Tasmania once had many unique Aboriginal languages, but the impact of colonisation has silenced all but a collection of ancient words. This is the first commercially available song in Palawa kani language. Palawa kani was constructed in the 1990s from community memory and documentary evidence of about a dozen original Indigenous languages. The song, Melaythina, was written by Aboriginal community members before Everettsmith put his own music to it. Melay is about welcoming to country, it’s about welcoming Aboriginal people, Palawa people, to land and it’s also welcoming broader community. It recognises very important places and spots in Tasmania, to Tasmanian Aboriginal people, but to general Tasmanians.
Everettsmith is currently collaborating with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra on an album recovering traditional language. Read more
Wiyathul (Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu)
Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (born 1970) is an Indigenous Australian musician, from remote Northern Australia, who sings in the Yolngu language. He was born blind and speaks only a few words of English. His beautiful voice is healing the planet at the deepest level. It is very grounding.
Waltzing Matilda (Ophelia of the Spirits)
That “Waltzing Matilda” is the “unofficial national anthem” speaks volumes about our country. The song, by a famous writer called AB (Banjo) Patterson, is about a swagman – a homeless person moving about the country looking for work. “Matilda” is the slang term for his “swag” – the pack he carries on his back. He steals a sheep and when caught, he kills himself by drowning in a billabong (a waterhole).
Most versions are corny in the extreme, but this one is instrumental and ethereal. This version unites our country – by marrying the familiar (every kid knows the song), but dispensing with the lyrics (which are too dark for many of us).
Down Under (Colin Hay)
Men at Work, of which Colin Hay was a member, achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a #1 album and single simultaneously in the USA (with “Business as Usual” and “Down Under” respectively). At the same time, they also had a simultaneous #1 single and album in the UK. The group won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist and sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
For most Australians this is “the vegemite sandwich” song. All Aussie kids eat vegemite – usually on toast or crumpets. It is a yeast extract and full of B-Vitamins. The taste is very strong and salty and it is hard to believe it used to be promoted as an infant supplement. You must try it.
By the Boab Tree (Ophelia of the Spirits)
I’ve never seen a boab for real – they are, ancient (2000-6000 year old), fat-trunked trees that are native only to Madagascar and North-Western Australia. They can have girths of 30m, with a diameter of about 9-10m. The plant is important to remote Aboriginal people and various parts of it can be used. The song comes from the film “Australia”. I think it was composed for the movie.
My island home (Christine Anu)
“I come from the salt water people”. Water is so much part of our culture and heritage. Christine Anu was born in north Queensland, but her parents are from the islands of the Torres Strait – which separate Australia from Papua New Guinea. Torres Strait Islanders are a separate culture and our second indigenous race.
Took the children away (Archie Roach)
In 1990, Archie Roach (1956-2022) wrote and performed this poignant song detailing his personal experience as a member of the Stolen Generations, forcibly removed from his family at age two. It chronicles the trauma of Indigenous children taken by government welfare and police to be placed in institutions, highlighting the lasting impact of separation, loss of culture, and ultimate journey toward healing and reconnection.
Roach was a Gunditjmara (Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung) and Bundjalung elder who campaigned for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Ironically, he was posthumously made a Companion of the Order of Australia (our highest national honour) in 2023.
I knew I loved you (Savage Garden)
The Savage Garden boys grew up one suburb away from Paul in Brisbane. They are no longer together but were a big deal in the 1990s. In November 1999, the album “Affirmation”, from which this song is taken, went platinum in the US in a month, largely due this song which became the most-played single on US radio for the year.
Into My Arms (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds)
Nick Cave is our equivalent of Leonard Cohen. He is very dark. No compilation of Australian music would be complete without him.
Under the Milky Way (The Church)
Lying within the middle of the Milky Way is the most famous constellation in the southern hemisphere, the Southern Cross. We have it on our flag, but it is also significant to Aboriginal people. It represents the four daughters of Mululu, a group elder. He made his daughters promise that after his death they would find a way to join him in the sky, which, when the time came, they did. Now they can be seen as the four brightest stars of the Southern Cross. Their father, Mululu can be found close by, watching and protecting them forever, as the bright star alpha Centauri.
This song was voted the best Australian song of the last 21 years in a poll in “The Age” newspaper. The Church had indie-cred but were never commercially successful.
Throw Your Arms Around Me (Hunters & Collectors)
“Throw Your Arms Around Me” is the song that Hunters and Collectors are best remembered for. It still gets played at least somewhere in the country at most times of the day. The song has been covered Pearl Jam and Crowded House. This is a great pub love song. “We may never meet again, so shed your skin and lets get started”.
Holy Grail (Mark Seymour)
Napoleon forced the grand army to march on Moscow in the winter of 1812. They froze to death in the ice and snow and the crows moved in to feed. According to Mark Seymour (from Hunters and Collectors), this song is a parable about an army whose beliefs led to its own destruction. It also alludes to the endless search for the ‘rock ‘n’ roll carrot’ (otherwise known as ‘the Holy Grail’), that dangles before the collective nose of every band that ever walked the earth. Sadly, this song is now a major sporting event standard… they play it for the footy, etc.
Freedom calling (Colin Hay)
“If you hear a voice call out your name, saying you can stop yourself from falling… there is no need to be afraid, for it is only freedom calling”. I love this song – about the way that the tribulations of life are a call to freedom.
I am Australian (Travis Collins)
Oral story telling is prevalent in the genetic memory of Australians. It is the way with Indigenous Australians, but also with those of Irish stock. It wasn’t until I put this collection of music together that I realized how much I’m drawn to the story. This song attempts to recognize the diversity of the backgrounds of the people that live here. It was performed at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and all the kids of that generation learned it at school.
Tenterfield Saddler (Hugh Jackman – The Boy from Oz)
Written and performed by Peter Allen, this is the Hugh Jackman version of the song about Peter’s life.
“The late George Woolnough” is Peter’s grandfather, who was the saddler in the Australian town of Tenterfield. He “worked on High Street, and lived on Manners”, Manners being another street name. There is a library dedicated to him.
“The son of George Woolnough” – Peter’s father – took to the bottle, and shot himself, inspiring the lines “something was wrong, and it’s easier to drink than go crazy” and “George had no answers about why a son ever has need of a gun”.
“The grandson of George” is Peter, who changed his name from Woolnough to Allen when he became part of “The Allen Brothers”. He’s “been all ’round the world and lives no special place”, compared to a line from another song, “no matter how far or how wide I roam, I still call Australia home.”
The “girl with an interesting face” is Liza Minelli, who Allen married in 1967.
Flame Trees (Sarah Blasko)
Flame Trees are tall with very bright red flowers – strikingly beautiful. The original version of this song was by Cold Chisel – a working class pub band that was huge in the 1980s. I prefer this version though both make me feel nostalgic for a town called Toowoomba, in Queensland.
Better Be Home Soon (Kasey Chambers)
This is another cover – with the original by Crowded House. It was the theme song for Australia’s first overtly gay movie called “The Sum of Us” – with Russell Crowe as a poofter son called “Jeff”.
I Honestly Love You (Olivia Newton-John)
ONJ was huge in the 1970’s in Australia… then she moved to California to be in movies – and we never got over it. Even so, we all owned this song.
Harley & Rose (Joe Camilleri)
Harley and Rose love each other “they just lost it for a while”. This is another one of classic Australian stories – by the Black Sorrows (including Joe Camilleri).
Deeper water (Paul Kelly)
Paul Kelly is the Australian poet of my generation. First time I saw him live was when he was the support act to Tracey Chapman. He has heart, and wisdom and is one damn fine story teller. This song is awesome – telling the story of growth, of life, using the analogy of deeper water.
Treaty (Radio Mix) (Yothu Yindi)
Mandawuy Yunupingu is the band leader of Yothu Yindi, a band with both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal members. “Yothu Yindi” means ‘mother and child’ and is a kinship term used by the Yolngu people of the Arnhem Land.
Mandawuy’s family has a long and proud tradition in the struggle for Aboriginal land rights and at the beginning of the 1990s there was political talk of the possibility of a symbolic treaty between black and white Australians. In an attempt to keep the idea on the political landscape, Midnight Oil’s Peter Garrett (later the Federal Minister for the Environment) and Paul Kelly collaborated with Mandawuy on a song called “Treaty.” When it was initially released the song hardly created a ripple, treated as the political statement it was. When the song was remixed it became an interternational success and Mandawuy Yunupingu named as 1992 Australian of the Year. We still have no treaty.
While previous conservative Prime Ministers refused to apologise to the “stolen generation” of Aboriginal children taken from their homes, a formal apology was one of the first acts of the progressive Rudd Government in 2008.
Sounds of Then (This Is Australia) (GANGgajang)
This is a song about national identity… but the irony is lost on many. It does convey the sense of the heat and the ugliness… but it is masked in a catchy tune.
From St Kilda to Kings Cross (Paul Kelly)
There is a huge rivalry between Melbourne (St Kilda) and Sydney (Kings Cross) in this country. Coming from Brisbane, I’ve never bought into it – both cities have things to commend them… but Paul Kelly is from Melbourne and the line “I’d give you all of Sydney Harbour, all that land and all that water, for that one sweet promenade” gives him away. Best to avoid any conversations about Sydney and Melbourne.
Wake Up Jeff! (The Wiggles)
Did you know that the most successful Australian music artists of all time are The Wiggles? They make pro-social music and educational videos for preschoolers and have been hugely successful – with international franchising and take-up by Disney. 1 November 2003 was “Wiggles Day” in NYC.
The Animal Song (Savage Garden)
Another fun song from the boys from Woodridge. Really popular in Australia and abroad in 1999.
Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport (Rolf Harris)
In the early 1970’s, before the Whitlam Government, Australian kids looked to a British import – Rolf Harris – to sing them stories about their country. This silly song was a always a favourite but lost its shine when the singer was found guilty of a string of indecent assaults in the UK.
Two Little Boys (Rolf Harris)
Another one from Rolf Harris. I have fond memories of singing this at kindergarten, and with my mother. That it was important to me as child speaks to the lingering dominance of British culture until the 1970s.
From little things (Paul Kelly)
With the election of the Whitlam Government in 1972, our country changed a great deal. Minority groups were, for the first time, a concern of the Federal Government. Aboriginal land rights is a complicated issue – and this lovely song is the story of the struggle – which is still not over.
Gough (The Whitlams)
This song speaks loudly to me because, like many others, I started to become politically aware in 1972. Just like the song says “I hated the “Liberals” (which, perversely, are the conservatives in Australian politics) but I didn’t know why”. On 11 November 1975, the popularly elected Whitlam Government was dismissed by the Governor General (a ceremonial representative of the English Crown), precipitating a Constitutional crisis and forever changing our political system. Australians are not very politically active (except in Melbourne) but I love that a band was created to honour Gough Whitlam and continue to protest about the dismissal. 11 November is also Armistice Day (when the allies signed the treaty with Germany to end World War 1) and the day that Ned Kelly (a bushranger who was also a popular hero) died.
The light on the hill (Keating the Musical)
Paul Keating was the Australian Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996. He was a cultural revolutionary – interested in the arts, multiculturalism, engagement with Asia, an Australian republic, etc. He was also very stylish and very clever. Too clever for this country.
This song, which comes from “Keating – the Musical” tells the story of his regret at the work being incomplete when he was defeated at the 1996 election by John Howard (the friend of George W Bush). There is mention in the song of the loss of “Oxley” – a traditional labor seat which fell to a xenophobic woman called Pauline Hanson – who precipitated or reflected a wave of anti-Asian sentiment from which the country has still not recoved.
Turn it into love (Kylie Minogue)
When a Kylie Minogue song comes on in a dance club EVERYONE smiles and becomes friendly. She is our princess and her music unites the room. She started her career as a soap star and none of us could have predicted where it would lead. I love this song – so simple “turn it into love”.
Better the Devil You Know (Kylie Minogue)
I was at the concert where this song was recorded in 2006 … and I can still clearly remember the joy (and the tears) in the crowd. Kylie survived breast cancer. Her voice was never the same again – but the fans did not care. It was a great show, with many of the old numbers reinterpreted in interesting ways. Listen to the applause in this recording!
Fever (Kylie Minogue)
This is a sexy Kylie song which helped her break into the US. Although she was huge in Australia, Britain and Europe, it was not until this album that the Americans got into her.
Now I can dance (Tina Arena)
This song came to me at a transition point in my life – after a long period of grief. I embraced the song and got much pleasure from it. Ironically, the place I had gone to heal the sadness, was the place the song was written about.
When you say you love me (Human Nature)
This is Australia’s only real boy-band, doing a song written by Darren Hayes (of Savage Garden). They mostly do covers and have been commercially very successful, including as support acts for Celine Dion, Michael Jackson, Take That, etc. They also sang at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.
Love Is In the Air – Strictly Ballroom (JPY)
While this was the theme song for the film “Strictly Ballroom”, the performer, John Paul Young, was a favourite pin-up for girls in the 1970’s and was in the wank bank of this creepy man called Ian “Molly” Meldrum. Meldrum who was the host of “Countdown” – the must watch music program for all kids and young teenagers – used to call him “Squeak”.
A God that can dance (Marcia Hines)
Marcia Hines is an American import (she was born in Boston), but has lived in Australia since she was 16. She moved here for a role in hair, then played Mary Magdelene in Jesus Christ Superstar (and made headlines because she is black). She is our equivalent of Paula Abdul on Australian Idol – always the encouraging, supportive judge. She has had a full music career and its hard to choose just one song – but I thought you’d like this one.
All these things I am (Bruce Woodley & Claire Woodley)
From the co-writer of “I am Australian”, this is a song about migration to Australia and the ways in which our country is better because of the contributions of the diverse cultures from which our citizens come. About 30% of Australians were born overseas and over half were born overseas or have a parent who was born overseas.
Wedding Cake Island (Midnight Oil)
Midnight Oil was the conscience of Australian rock music for 25 years – protesting about the destruction of the environment, nuclear weapons, US political interference in Australian politics, Aboriginal land rights etc. They disbanded in 2002 when the lead singer, Peter Garrett, entered Federal politics (he was the member for the seat of Kingsford Smith – which includes Coogee – and Minister for the Environment. He was well and truly tamed by the political machine).
Most of their music is, quite frankly, ugly. This instrumental number is about Wedding Cake Island – off Coogee Beach. It ends with a nice, instrumental version of the Australian national anthem – Advance Australia Fair.
Run, Cathy Freeman, Run/Advance Australia Fair (Stephen Bennett)
“Advance Australia Fair” is the Australian national anthem. The song was written in 1878, but did not become the official anthem until 1984… before that we had “God save the Queen [of England]”. This is a subtle, instrumental version of the song… it doesn’t kick in until the end.
The first part of the recording is dedicated to Cathy Freeman – an Aboriginal Australian woman who was the stunning athlete who lit the flame at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In 2026 Freeman was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (our nation’s highest honour).
If not now then when? (Paul Kelly)
Paul Kelly wrote and performed this song in support of an Indigenous voice to the Australian Parliament.
The creation of a new mechanism of consultation with Indigenous peoples arose from the Uluru Statement from the Heart (2017) and a referendum on this issue was committed to by Anthony Albanese of the Labor Party at the 2022 Federal Election. The referendum held on 23 October 2023 was the most divisive in Australian history and badly handled by Prime Minister Albanese. While portrayed as a “culture war”, some argue the conservative opposition to the voice was driven by concern that a favourable result would pave the way for Australia to become a republic. Nationally, only 40% supported an Indigenous voice to Parliament (a drop from 60% to 65% support a year earlier). In contrast, a clear majority of the people of Kingsford-Smith (the electorate which includes Coogee) voted in favour of the voice.
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