Early Indigenous Australian Recorded Music: Jazz, Blues, Classical and Rock and Roll
by Daniel Finn
I thought I knew roughly where the story of Indigenous Australian recorded music began.
I was way off.
Looking back into the 1940s and 1950s, I found Indigenous artists working across classical music, jazz, blues, harmony singing and some of Australia's earliest rock and roll.
In 1955, cousins Olive McGuiness and Eva Bell became the first Indigenous Australian recording artists to release a commercially available record. Performing as Olive and Eva, they released four songs written by composer Grace O’Clerkin and followed with another record in 1956.
Olive & Eva - Old Rugged Hills
Olive & Eva - Rhyhtm of Corroboree
Harold Blair took a completely different path, becoming the first Aboriginal Australian to gain recognition as a classical singer. His career took him from Queensland into opera and concert performance.
Harold Blair - "Five Australian Aboriginal Songs" 1956
George Assang performed as Vic Sabrino and worked across jazz, blues and early rock and roll. His 1955 version of “Rock Around the Clock” is sometimes considered a contender for the first Australian rock and roll recording, although the exact recording date remains unclear.
Vic Sabrino - Rock Around The Clock
Around the same period, Dulcie Pitt was performing jazz and blues as Georgia Lee. In 1962, she released Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under, becoming the first Indigenous Australian woman to release an album. It was also the first Australian album recorded in stereo.
Georgia Lee Sings the Blues Down Under (1962)
Her niece Wilma Reading started performing professionally in Brisbane in 1959 before building an international jazz career. She appeared on American television, performed across Europe and the Soviet Union and worked with musicians connected to Duke Ellington’s band.
Wilma Reading on the Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club
What surprised me was the range.
Olive and Eva were singing harmonies, Harold Blair was performing classical music, George Assang was recording early rock and roll, and Georgia Lee and Wilma Reading were working in jazz and blues.
So I’ve started putting together a playlist of what I can find.
Some of these recordings are difficult to track down, but there is a lot more Indigenous Australian music from this period than I realised.