How ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ Became An Aussie Classic

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are advised this article contains the name of a deceased person.

Its lyrics are permanently lodged in the back of every Australian’s mind. You’ll probably hear the tune as you read them: A sheep or two, and a kangaroo. A clothesline out the back…

‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ is an iconic piece of Australiana. But it could have been an official part of our national identity – the song was actually originally written with the aim of becoming Australia’s new national anthem.

Back in 1973, the Australian government decided it was time to break with the UK and ditch ‘God Save The Queen’. To find a replacement, a competition called the Australian National Anthem Quest was held, inviting submissions from the public. One of the 1400 entries it received was a tune about verandas, Vegemite and a Woolies down the street by comedy musical duo Captain Rock.

‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ didn’t win. (In fact, the Australian Council For The Arts deemed that none of the entries were up to scratch and ‘Advance Australia Fair’ was eventually adopted). But the Captain Rock track became a classic all the same.

After Captain Rock – AKA Wally Johnson and Bob Brown – wrote ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ in the early ‘70s, the song slowly took on a life of its own. It was later covered by country music singer-songwriter John Williamson and then, with some tweaks to the lyrics, by a trio called Bullamakanka.

‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ eventually became an Australian fixture: Bullamakanka’s version was the theme song to Burke’s Backyard for 17 years. John Williamson played the song at Steve Irwin’s funeral. It was even covered by, um, André Rieu.

(We reckon it would have made or a much better national anthem than ‘Advance Australia Fair’, but hey, what can you do?)

A Family Affair

It’s been almost 50 years since Johnson and Brown first penned ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’.

The pair wrote the track about a home in Eltham, a leafy suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne. But Narayana Johnson, the son of Wally Johnson, said the home he grew up in in NSW’s Northern Rivers region bears a striking resemblance to what was so vividly described in song.

“Even though ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ is written about a house in Melbourne, the house that my dad and mum built in Murwillumbah literally has all the things listed in that song,” he laughs. “It’s really funny. It’s like they went and built the same thing.”

The legacy of ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ has always been felt by the Johnson family, even after Wally Johnson’s death in 1995.

“I definitely knew that my Dad had written this iconic song, and that was cool. But it wasn’t until I got older and started writing my own music that I started to understand how it would have felt to write a song that’s had such staying power and is still part of Australian culture,” reflects Narayana.

Like his dad, Narayana is a musician. For a long time, he made music as half of Willow Beats, a duo who made fluid, bass-heavy tracks like ‘Merewif’. This year, Narayana began sharing music as a solo artist under the name River Boy.

But 2020 has held another significant moment for Narayana – together with furniture heroes Koala, he’s been working on a reimagined version of ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’.

The idea behind updating the track is to ensure it reflects what home looks like now for a wide range of Australians, everywhere from the bushland of Eltham to the beaches of Exmouth. So far, the 2.0 lyrics reference sights like surfboards on roof racks and tramlines.

High-profile Aussie stars like cricketer Steve Smith and chef Adam Liaw have contributed to the lyrics. Narayana is bringing it all to life in song.

New Beginnings

For Narayana, the opportunity to reimagine ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ is a “really special” opportunity.

“Obviously [‘Gumtrees’] holds a lot of cultural weight in this country and particularly for our family, so it’s an important song to us,” he says.

Part of Narayana’s vision for the track is to retain the tongue-in-cheek energy that made the original so beloved.

“There are a lot of parts from the original that I wanted to bring through, while still making it feel 2020 and really modern,” he explains. “The first key element I wanted to bring through is that light-heartedness and that playfulness. It was a bit silly and cheeky and I’m trying to remember that as I make this song – it’s got to be really fun and it’s got to feel good. It can be a bit silly.”

But Narayana says there’s a deeper message to ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ as well – one that rings particularly true in 2020.

“I also feel like the song has a more sentimental meaning as well, which is that the actual important things in life are the simple things – like our family and our friends and the spaces that we share with those people,” he says.

As the lyrics to Koala’s updated version of ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ put it: “Friend or two and a backyard brew / Lounging on the grass / Good music wafting past”. It doesn’t get much better – or more Australian – than that.

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Check out the new ‘Home Among The Gumtrees’ here, performed by River Boy and co-written by you.