The trend of Australian music have often mirrored those of the United States and United Kingdom. Australian Aboriginal music during the prehistory of Australia is not well documented.
1800s
Aboriginal music continued to be created and performed during this period.. There is evidence that Aboriginal music may have been influenced by contact with seafaring nations before European settlement.
Some Aboriginal music was documented by scientists and explorers like Lesesur and Freycinet. Surveyor Philip Chauncy transcribed examples of Aboriginal song possibly influenced by a generation of European settlement.
Rosendo Salvado and Isaac Nathan published music with Aboriginal titles which resembles their culture of origin, consequently transcriptions are regarded as 'filtered' by ear and notation.
The majority of populations in colonial settlements were born abroad or in transit. Consequently the music was mostly imported. Australians were initially in awe of European music training. It was not long before music was being written and composed by residents of the colonies. A generation after settlement, there were printing presses and pipe organs being installed. but British habits of publishing in London and printing in Leipzig were followed. We do well to remember that the recently united kingdom of Britain was allied and intermarried across Europe, especially Prussia. German composers like Hugo Alpen, Raimund Pechotsch, Karl Linger, Julius Herz, Augustus Juncker found welcome.
Staples of colonial composition included Waltz, Quadrille, Polka, Galop, Gavotte. British culture at the time favoured minimalist salon music, and this is reflected in Australian fondness for piano accompanied vocal Ballads.
1910s
The year 1900 deserves a special mention for several reasons. The silver Jubilee of Queen Victoria, celebrating the safe return of South Africa to the empire and Australian troops from the Boer war. Most importantly Edmund Barton, supported by crown representative Lord Brassey, formed the federation of the colonies into a single nation. Until this time, New South wales housed the colonial censorship office and all published material carried the mark 'Entered at Stationers Hall'. The Commonwealth of Australia formed a single archive.
The newly formed states no longer imposed tax on each other. Unfortunately, once independent the nation was no longer sovereign British territory for copyright purposes. This became important as Australia reached populations attractive as a return leg of performing arts on [English speaking] 'world' tours. Entrepreneurs began operating regular chains of theatres and performances. The Fuller Brothers represented UK companies. American J.C.Williamson managed USA contracts. Others like Rickards, Musgrove, Nicholson etc blended these with their own material.
Australia followed a worldwide trend for serious art music to separate away from more affordable and accessible forms of entertainment. Variety theatre or 'Tivoli' became a Household Australian term, equivalent to British Vaudeville Music-Hall and American Broadway musical. This was an expansive period, a golden age of live entertainment which came under threat from changes in technology - radio, phonograph and talkies all caused a drastic fall in demand in domestic music production by the end of the decade.
During this period the ubiquitous waltz began losing its primacy as the leading rhythm in dance halls The fox-trot, barn dance, tango, mazurka were found.
1960s
Still strongly reflecting American culture, in 1962 Australia experienced the Twist fad, soon followed by the Stomp fad (reflecting surf culture, which came to Australia through the Americans a few years before). In 1964, one of the biggest bands of this genre, the Beach Boys toured Australia. Other American acts also toured - rock and roll was still quite popular there - but very few American acts were just as successful.
More and more Australians were buying television sets, which gave the four television networks - Seven, Nine, Ten and ABC - an opportunity to air its own music show. In music shows of the 1950s and 1960s, every single song on the show was performed live in a small studio in front of an audience of 300 at the most, and they were nearly always teenagers.
Rick Springfield's success began in 1962 and peaked in 1981 to 1983.
