Solid Rock sings out from atop Harbour Bridge this Reconciliation Week

Australians have been marking Reconciliation Week* since May 27 with events all over the nation but surely one of the most spectacular and memorable was a performance of the iconic Australian 1982 hit song Solid Rock at the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The song’s writer, Shane Howard, from Aussie band Goanna, was joined by the Sydney choir Barayagal* and its leader, Gamilaraay* songwriter Nardi Simpson, to perform the song in celebration of Reconciliation efforts but also to recognise the work still to do to make it a reality.

The performance was filmed and the video released by Reconciliation Australia in the lead up to Reconciliation Week, which is held from 27 May to 3 June each year.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge performance had special significance with this year’s National Reconciliation Week (NRW) being the 25th anniversary of the historic Walk for Reconciliation* across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, when more than 250,000 Australians demonstrated their support for Reconciliation and First Nations justice.

Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine said the NRW theme this year, Bridging Now to Next, shows we still have a long way to go on our Reconciliation journey as a nation, but we have come a long way.

“Since the year 2000 there is now far greater awareness amongst Australians of the complexity and magnitude* of First Nations’ histories, cultures and social systems, and what we must do to reach a just, equitable* and reconciled country,” she said.

“This year is the third year of our NRW Voices for Reconciliation project, with more than 500 Australian choirs coming together to perform Solid Rock across Australia.”

Australian musicologist* and writer of the Encyclopaedia of Australian Rock and Pop, Ian McFarlane, described Solid Rock as “a damning indictment* of the European invasion of Australia”.

Howard’s record label at the time, WEA, opposed releasing it as a single because they thought it had little commercial appeal*.

But the song, which directly challenged Australia’s official colonial history of peaceful settlement, ended up being a hit with the Australian public.

Howard said that he was deeply honoured that Solid Rock was chosen for the Voices for Reconciliation choirs this National Reconciliation Week. He shared some advice for the choirs performing it.

“Sing it with gusto*, sing it like you mean it, sing it like it matters, because it does,” he said. “Sing it like we are on a journey to somewhere much better, because we are.

“It’s all in the song and we still haven’t faced up as a nation and proclaimed*, ‘Let us tell the truth, let us get on with the business of truth-telling, and then let’s get on with the treaty* business. Let’s turn our anger into action’.”

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GLOSSARY

• Barayagal: meaning ‘Sydney sings’, is a community choir hosted by the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Sydney University that is open to people of different cultures
• Gamilaraay: A First Nations people whose lands extend from NSW to southern Qld, forming one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Australia
• Reconciliation Week: a time to reflect on the past and consider a better future of reconciliation, including closing the gap for First Nations people, which is marked between May 27 and June 3 in Australia each year. These dates in themselves are significant milestones in the reconciliation journey – May 27 is the anniversary of the 1967 referendum, when Indigenous Australians won the right to vote and June 3 is the anniversary of the High Court Mabo decision – an important moment for land rights
• walk for reconciliation: in 2000 more than 250,000 Australians walked over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of reconciliation
• magnitude: size and strength
• equitable: equal and fair
• musicologist: someone who studies music
• indictment: something illustrating that a system is bad and should be condemned
• commercial appeal: the ability to make money
• gusto: enjoyment and enthusiasm
• proclaimed: announced officially
• treaty: a formal agreement between two states, First Nations people were never offered a treaty when Europeans entered and took their land

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QUICK QUIZ
1. Why is the song ‘Solid Rock’ significant for reconciliation?
2. What year was it released?
3. Why did record label WEA oppose releasing it?
4. When did the historic walk for reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge occur?
5. Within which dates does Reconciliation Week occur each year?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Sing it with gusto
Get into a group of 4-6 students in your class to sing this year’s National Reconciliation Week song, Solid Rock, with gusto as its writer wanted it to be sung.

You will find the lyrics to Solid Rock at https://genius.com/Goanna-solid-rock-lyrics.

Feel free to add in different beats or instruments to add to your performance.

Work on the song together, and if some groups are brave enough to perform to the class, you might have that opportunity.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, The Arts, History, Intercultural, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Write your own chorus to a song with the theme of ‘Bridging Now to Next’ for National Reconciliation Week. Work with a partner if you’d like to collaborate.

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Intercultural, The Arts, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.

Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?

Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.