Great Southern Land

Updated on Feb 04, 2024

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A-side "Great Southern Land" Genre New wave, synthpop		B-side "Uniform" Length 3:22 (7") 5:14 (LP)
Released 3 August 1982 (1982-08-03) 1989 Format 7" vinyl single, 12" vinyl single, CD single

"Great Southern Land" is a single released by the Australian rock band Icehouse. It was released in August 1982, before the album Primitive Man. Peaking at number five on the Australian Singles Chart, it was later featured in the 1988 Yahoo Serious film Young Einstein, and remains their most popular song according to listeners of Triple M in 2007.

It was re-released in the U.S. on Chrysalis Records in 1989 as both a 7" and CD single, to coincide with the U.S. release of the compilation album, Great Southern Land.

On 5 September 2011, "Great Southern Land" re-entered the Australian (ARIA) Singles Chart at #66.

There are two versions of the music video. The Australian original version, was filmed at the disused Jones' quarry in Wahroonga in 1982, with solarised clips of the band in daylight and surrounded by camp fires at night. The USA version was made in 1989 for the movie Young Einstein and it has Iva Davies walking around Myall Lakes National Park.

In November 2014 the song was selected for inclusion on the Australian National Film & Sound Archive's "Sounds of Australia" list.

The song is also used as the walk out tune for the Australian cricket team for their home matches during the Australian summer.

Remixes

In 1993, producer Bill Laswell set up a 16-minute remix with Australian Aborigines, Parliament-Funkadelic alumnus Bernie Worrell and the avant-garde guitarist Buckethead for inclusion on the 1994 remix compilation Full Circle. An edited version named "Byrralku Dhangudha", with the Aborigines partly singing the chorus in their own language was included on the EP Spin One in 1993. The same edit was released as a single in Germany in 1994 as "Great Southern Land (1994 version)". Another remix version by Endorphin was released on the Icehouse album Meltdown in 2002.

In 2012, Tourism Australia collaborated with Iva Davies to create an online video clip to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the song. The clip includes famous musicians such as Katie Noonan, Cut Copy, Van She and Eskimo Joe, along with everyday Australian characters including an oyster farmer from Barilla Bay in Tasmania and a local choir from the Blue Mountains.