This song, written by Jack O'Hagan and sung by Clement Q. Williams, was recorded in 1934 to celebrate the centenary of Melbourne the following year. The record topped the hit parade in 1935.

Composer: Jack O'Hagan
Performer: Clement Q. Williams
Regal Zonophone G22195
NFSA title: 182143

Read more about Australia's songs about cities and towns: http://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/sound/sounds-australia/songs-about-towns-and-places/
Watch footage from the 1935 Centenary of Melbourne: http://aso.gov.au/titles/newsreels/centenary-celebrations/

Let's Take A Trip To Melbourne (1934)

A popular radio jingle advertising an Australian brand of jelly crystals. The song was recorded in 1938 and broadcast on Sydney radio in the 1940s – up to 100 times a day.
NFSA title: 402848 & 281850
John Dunne, a 2SM presenter and studio manager, is believed to have conducted the 2SM orchestra for the recording of the jingle. Dunne brought in ideas from America for the station and was keen to link advertisers with talent quests. The violin solo towards the end of the tune is performed by prize-winner Betty Elsa Gillas (later Rofe) who had won first prize on Uncle Tom’s Amateur Hour, a talent quest children’s program presented on 2SM by John Dunne. Seven-year-old Joy King won a state-wide competition in New South Wales to sing the 'Aeroplane Jelly Song’.

The tune is undeniably catchy, though its recognition factor was probably helped by the longevity of the advertising campaign and the frequency of the broadcast. A big part of the recording’s appeal is down to Joy’s charming and plaintive delivery of the simple lyrics. And in case you were wondering what aeroplanes have to do with jelly, the lyrics provide the answer: 'The quality’s high as the name will imply’. So now you know!

Joy King - The Aeroplane Jelly song

Early recording of Waltzing Matilda.
NFSA title no: 283469
The first recorded version of Waltzing Matilda, recorded in London in 1926, by John Collinson a tenor from Queensland, accompanied on piano by Russell Callow. For no obvious reason they changed the melody a little for the chorus. It didn’t sell many copies, a fate shared by the next recorded version, by Colin Crane in 1930.

John Collinson - Waltzing Matilda (1926)

NFSA title no: 1251712
Image: courtesy of State Library Victoria
Syria Lamonte (1869-1935) is the earliest known Australian performer to make a commercial recording. Lamonte was born Sarah Cohen in Sydney and arrived in London in 1896. She recorded 21 record ‘sides’ between August and October 1898 at The Gramophone Company in London.

American sound engineer Fred Gaisberg recorded the discs using the new zinc-etched, flat disc technology. This involved cutting a lateral groove into a wax coating on a zinc disc which was then acid-etched to make a deeper groove from which stampers could be made. One of the songs she recorded was They Always Follow Me, from the 1897 musical The Belle of New York.

Syria Lamonte - They Always Follow Me (1898)

A Hawaiian Club recording with: Eric Kahn, bass; Norm Scott, ukulele; Neville Kahn, steel guitar; Johnny Wade, Spanish guitar and vocals.

Regal Zonophone G-23807

NFSA Title: 312218

Aloha Oe - Hawaiian Club Quartet (1939)

NFSA title: 189109
Known as 'The Australian Queen of Irish Song', Marie Narelle undertook tours to Ireland, the UK and the US, and in the latter she recorded on wax cylinder with Thomas A Edison Inc. ‘Sweet Spirit Hear My Prayer’ is a ballad from the opera Lurline, composed by Irish composer and musician William Vincent Wallace to a libretto by English playwright Edward Fitzball and first performed in 1860. Wallace became known as ‘the Australian Paganini’ during his time here from 1835 to 1838, during which he opened the first Australian music academy and organised the country’s first music festival, at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney.

Marie Narelle - Sweet Spirit Hear My Prayer (1910)

NFSA title: 274967
This sentimental love song was composed by Melbourne born composer, May H. Braye, with lyrics by Helen Taylor. Brahe also published her compositions under ten pseudonyms, eight of which were male names.

mr big - 8ball & mjg

CODEINE SIMPSON