Great Southern Land

"Great Southern Land"
Great Southern Land (12" vinyl) - Regular Records
Single by Icehouse
from the album Primitive Man
B-side"Uniform"
Released9 August 1982 (1982-08-09)[1]
Genre
Length3:22 (7")
5:14 (LP)
Label
SongwriterIva Davies
Producers
Icehouse singles chronology
"Love in Motion"
(1981)		 "Great Southern Land"
(1982)		 "Hey Little Girl"
(1982)

"Great Southern Land" is a song by the Australian rock band Icehouse. Written by the band's vocalist and lead guitarist Iva Davies, it was released on 9 August 1982[1] as the lead single from their second studio album Primitive Man.[2] It peaked at No. 5 on the Australian Singles Chart,[3] and was later featured in the 1988 film Young Einstein.[4] "Great Southern Land" was Icehouse's most popular song according to listeners of Triple M in 2007.[5]

At the 1982 Countdown Music Awards, the song was nominated for Best Australian Single.[6][7] Unusually for a commercial radio hit, the song's length on the 7" single release exceeded five minutes. Iva Davies composed the song's lyrics using the cut-up technique championed by William Burroughs,[8] intentionally creating a contrast to Men at Work’s hit "Down Under" which Davies said relied on clichés about Australia.[9]

In 1989 an edited version of "Great Southern Land" remixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero was released internationally under Chrysalis Records as a cassette single (3:43) in conjunction with the film Young Einstein[4] and the Icehouse greatest hits compilation album, Great Southern Land. The full length remixed version (5:20) of the song appears on the Australian release of the same album, on some international editions of the album, and on the music video compilation (as "Great Southern Land '89").

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. Appearing the video alongside Davies are the song's co-producer Keith Forsey, and Icehouse 1982 touring band members John Lloyd and Michael Hoste. The USA version ("Great Southern Land '89") was made in 1989 for the movie Young Einstein and it has Iva Davies walking around Myall Lakes National Park on the east coast of Australia.[10]

In 1999, Iva Davies was commissioned by Spectak Productions on behalf of the City of Sydney Council to create a musical score to ring in the new Millennium in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. Iva took his song “Great Southern Land” and created a new version released as CD under the title “The Ghost of Time”. The performance in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House, featuring Iva Davies, Guy Pratt, Richard Tognetti, Glenn Krawczyk, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and TaikOz, was seen by millions of people around the world. Having watched that show on television, Australian film director Peter Weir subsequently contacted Davies and engaged him to compose the soundtrack for the movie Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World "based on that style".[11]

On 5 September 2011, "Great Southern Land" re-entered the Australian (ARIA) Singles Chart at No. 66.[12] In November 2014 the song was selected for inclusion on the Australian National Film & Sound Archive's "Sounds of Australia" list.[13]

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

Qantas added eight 787-9 Dreamliners to its fleet in 2017. The airlines named each Dreamliner from suggestions and votes from the public. The name “Great Southern Land” was chosen for the first aircraft out of 45,000 suggestions from the public.

In January 2018, as part of Triple M's "Ozzest 100", the 'most Australian' songs of all time, "Great Southern Land" was ranked number 4.[14] In 2025 it placed 35 in the Triple J Hottest 100 of Australian Songs.[15]

Remixes

In 1993, producer Bill Laswell set up a 16-minute remix with Aboriginal Australians, 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 unnamed Aborigines partly singing the chorus in 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)".[16] Another remix version by Endorphin was released on the Icehouse album Meltdown in 2002.[17]

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.

A cover version partly sung in the Gamilaraay language was recorded by Mitch Tambo and Reigan Derry in 2023, with the approval of Davies.[18]

Track listing

All tracks written by Iva Davies.[19]

7" single (Australian release)

  1. "Great Southern Land" – 5:07[20]
  2. "Uniform" – 4:03

12" single (Australian release)

  1. "Great Southern Land" – 5:05
  2. "Uniform" (extended mix) – 6:02

7" single (US release)

  1. "Great Southern Land" (edit)
  2. "Great Southern Land" (album version)

1994 single (German release)

  1. "Great Southern Land" (1994 version) – 3:47
  2. "Dedicated to Glam" (12" mix) – 4:25
  3. "Great Southern Land" (original version) – 5:16

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for "Great Southern Land"
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)[26] 2× Platinum 60,000‡

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References

  1. 1 2 "Platterlog: Singles – Supplementary Page: 43 > 9 August 1982". Platterlog. Retrieved 22 January 2023 – via Imgur.
  2. ↑ Holmgren, Magnus. "The Flowers / Icehouse". Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 29 September 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  3. 1 2 Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, New South Wales: Australian Chart Book. p. 147. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  4. 1 2 "Young Einstein soundtrack listing". Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Retrieved 12 June 2008.
  5. ↑ "Triple M's Essential 2007 Countdown". Triple M. Archived from the original on 22 November 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2008.
  6. ↑ "Australian Music Awards". Ron Jeff. Retrieved 16 December 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  7. ↑ "Final episode of Countdown". 1970scountdown. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  8. ↑ Moore, Tony (7 November 2019). "Great southern songs: Iva Davies explains three Icehouse classics". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  9. ↑ "Australia's real national anthems". Archived from the original on 7 December 2025. Retrieved 20 June 2026.
  10. ↑ "THE ICEHOUSE STORY - Icehouse On Video". Spellbound-icehouse.org. 19 July 1987. Archived from the original on 9 October 2014. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  11. ↑ Hamey, Sharyn (10 January 2014). "Interview: IVA DAVIES". Rock Club 40. Retrieved 1 July 2026.
  12. 1 2 "The ARIA Report Issue #1123 – Week Commencing 5 September 2011" (PDF). ARIA, via the National Library of Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  13. ↑ "Four Iconic Bands Become Part of the NFSA's Sounds of Australia" (PDF). Nfsa.gov.au. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  14. ↑ "Here Are The Songs That Made Triple M's 'Ozzest 100'". Music Feeds. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2020.
  15. ↑ "Countdown #1 to #100 - Hottest 100 Australian Songs". triple j. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
  16. ↑ "Iva Davies & Icehouse - Discography". Spellbound-icehouse.org. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  17. ↑ "Meltdown credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 16 July 2008.
  18. ↑ Bertrand Tungandame (3 March 2023). "Mitch Tambo's take on the Icehouse classic anthem 'Great Southern Land' in Gamilaraay language". SBS NITV Radio.
  19. ↑ "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. Archived from the original on 5 May 2008. Retrieved 13 December 2007. Note: requires user to input song title e.g. GREAT SOUTHERN LAND
  20. ↑ "Icehouse - Great Southern Land (Vinyl)". Discogs.com. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
  21. ↑ "Icehouse – Great Southern Land". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  22. ↑ "Official Singles Chart on 3/7/1983 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  23. ↑ "Top Radio Hits Ukraine Weekly Chart". TopHit. Retrieved June 15, 2025.
  24. ↑ "Kent Music Report No 445 – 3 January 1983 > National Top 100 Singles for 1982". Kent Music Report, via Imgur.com. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  25. ↑ "End of Year Charts 1982". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  26. ↑ "New Zealand single certifications – Icehouse (Flowers) – Great Southern Land". Radioscope. Retrieved 23 February 2026. Type Great Southern Land in the "Search:" field and press Enter.
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