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Yale Journal of Music &

Volume 5 Number 2 Music, Sound, and the Aurality of the Environment in the Anthropocene: Spiritual and Article 5 Religious Perspectives

2019

"No Human Ever Made a Cathedral Such as This": Scoping the Ecology of the Effect in 's Open-Air Environments

Robin Ryan Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan University

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Part of Studies Commons, Commons, Musicology Commons, and the Music Performance Commons

Recommended Citation Ryan, Robin (2019) ""No Human Ever Made a Cathedral Such as This": Scoping the Ecology of the Carols by Candlelight Effect in Australia's Open-Air Environments," Yale Journal of Music & Religion: Vol. 5: No. 2, Article 5. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17132/2377-231X.1139

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. It has been accepted for inclusion in Yale Journal of Music & Religion by an authorized editor of EliScholar – A Digital Platform for Scholarly Publishing at Yale. For more information, please contact [email protected]. "No Human Ever Made a Cathedral Such as This": Scoping the Ecology of the Carols by Candlelight Effect in Australia's Open-Air Environments

Cover Page Footnote It is a pleasure to thank Drs. Aline Scott-Maxwell and Lorna Kaino for their constructive feedback. I am also grateful to Pastors Ossie Cruse and Nathan Bettcher for their insights, and to John Macpherson and Caroline Cook for supplying information. The Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts at Edith Cowan University sponsored the proofreading and copy-editing of this article.

This article is available in Yale Journal of Music & Religion: https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/yjmr/vol5/iss2/5 “No Human Ever Made a Cathedral Such as This”1 Scoping the Ecology of the Carols by Candlelight Effect in Australia’s Open-Air Environments Robin Ryan

As we attend to making the images caroling experience that captures—more and sounds of our environment part holistically—the unique environmental of our worship, we will be urged to flavors of in Australia. The enflesh the gospel value of respect nation’s homegrown Carols by Candlelight and harmony with creation. Is it not timely to move occasionally from tradition may be conceptualized as a the sacredness of our churches to complete sensory experience: a collective worship in the sacred arena of God’s local remembrance of the birth of Christ, creation? Would we not perhaps performed alfresco. I will approach the topic more easily recognise the presence in the light of some emerging conversations of God under the natural canopy around ecomusicology4 and ecotheology.5 of gum trees? Or one of our many is the study of human pristine beaches at sunrise or sunset? relationships with and within biological 2 Sister Carmel Pilcher and social contexts.6 My ecocritical reading The vocal practice of carol singing, or encapsulates a spiritual experience couched “caroling,” has long been a vital tradition within a complex sensory experience of in Christian communities around the : part of a burgeoning of world. Congregations regroup annually to ecological perception that creates cultural proclaim the story of the birth of Christ, meanings for nature through “communities alongside themes of charity and world of musical practice.”7 Jeff Todd Titon peace. Through this annual proclamation, famously theorized a sound commons, where peace is accessible, although the vision all living beings enjoy a commonwealth is a distant hope in many parts of the of sound. The concept embodies the world. The widespread practice of caroling principle of sound equity, encouraging in Australia—reinforced by commercial free and open sound communication, and forms—renders it the most audible and playing its important part in environmental, visible form of Christian music performed musical, and cultural . In a nationally, with the possible exception of sound community music is communicative, Hillsong’s praise and worship repertoire.3 as natural as breathing, participatory Since the mid-twentieth century, and exchanged freely, strengthening and caroling by candlelight has become a salient sustaining individuals and communities.8 seasonal component of musical culture in a Group performance has been concep- country where landscapes are characterized tualized as a live, phenomenological field by open expanses with congregations of akin to an in its connectedness plants. Broadly probing the intersections and interdependence.9 Carolers reignite of Christian belief and sacred voice with public memory of the Christmas story the poetics of open-air environments, this as they move, sing, and act in outdoor article presents the case for a national venues. As networks of actors10 engaged

64 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) in an established “ecology of practice,”11 increasingly important to conversations choristers and their audiences potentially around ecology. Many ways of thinking form relationships with natural sites by about, and living with, the environment have becoming entrained to the floral aesthetics roots in the .15 In this age of ecological and faunal soundscapes that vivify them. crisis known as the Anthropocene—the It was this type of “entrainment” that led name derived from the observed human soul singer Nerida Vincent to compose influence and increasing dominance of Nature’s Cathedral. climatic, biophysical, and evolutionary The Merriam-Webster Dictionary processes occurring at a planetary scale16—a defines “cathedral” in three ways, the third need has arisen for improved understanding being “something that resembles or suggests of religious engagement with natural a cathedral (as in size or importance).”12 environments. Composer David Dunn Open-air sites comprising large, naturally urges that “we need to embrace every tool magnificent spaces where communities we have to remind us of the sacred.”17 Such gather are suggestive of cathedrals, even advocacy underlies thinking about how of ancient “proto-cathedrals” emanating people might live with the earth to respect from the authority of the Creator. Cultural and value spirituality and materiality. In the botanist John Charles Ryan notes that the words of theologian Elizabeth A. Johnson, ancient Greek agora was an open place of “The crisis of biodiversity in our day, when assembly. The word agora contrasts with species are going extinct at more than 1,000 claustro, referring to closed spaces, as in times the natural rate, renders this question cloisters.13 Thus, the acoustics and bodily acutely important.”18 experience of carolers positioned outdoors In a recent book situating the natural differ markedly from the enclosed venues world within the framework of religious used at Christmas. belief, Rod Giblett promotes nurturing I promote a performative context sacrality for the Symbiocene—that for caroling that expands the concept of is, the hoped-for age superseding the “sacred space” to the wider dimensions of Anthropocene.19 The term Symbiocene resonant outdoor spaces. All acts of music was coined by Glenn Albrecht from making—whether natural or built—are the Greek word sumbiosis, meaning inextricable from environment. However, “companionship.” It implies the idea of new communication technologies have living together for mutual benefit, a expanded the range of formats in which profoundly important concept and core carolers congregate. For example, singing aspect of ecological thinking that affirms from “inside the soundscape”14 engages the the interconnectedness of life and all living resonances between participatory caroling things.20 To consider caroling through and the poetics of Southern Hemisphere this lens is to explore the meaningful environmental sound. It expands awareness spiritual efficacy that nature can add to the of the spectrum of human voices to include performative tradition. Recognizing mass nonhuman voices: that is, the voices of caroling as a communal practice grounded other species. in nature also promotes acute musicianship, The relationship between religion opening new possibilities for the analysis and environmental issues is becoming of sound in worship.

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 65 Objectives and Framework settings variously shape the acoustic and The aims of this discourse connecting social tenor of caroling, yet preclude religion, music, sound, and our presence characteristics of the broader landscape and and copresence with nature are threefold. soundscape that—clearly exhibiting the First, I theologize the innate function fingerprints of the Creator—can become of carol singing. This ethos underpins conducive to a religious sphere of musical a succinct history of Australia’s Carols style and influence. by Candlelight movement. Second, the At Christmas, the challenge for a musical enquiry turns to the ecological connections director is to find ways to draw the public (dynamic points of encounter) between into the narrative using the vocal musical carolers and their landscapes in regional experience. To this end, an understanding infrastructures that privilege amateur, rather of the innate function of caroling can be than celebrity, voices—that is, community/ advantageous. England’s ninety-seventh congregational caroling as distinct from archbishop of York, the Most Reverend and commodified caroling. A thick description Right Honourable John Sentamu, applied of one event will exemplify the carols by the Gospel of St. Luke to explain how the candlelight “effect” as a concept and context first “carols” emanated from an open-air for mediating caroling with natural sound venue, above a hill near : “The before I urge sensitivity toward natural heavenly host of angels sang to an audience acoustic behaviors. of bewildered shepherds, who went and Third, I examine the body of original found the child and—because the nature of carols that couch the Gospel within a good news bears retelling—let others know 24 homegrown sense of Australia as place. The what had happened.” cultural meaning of place and how it defines As a unique form of voicing for the artwork has been studied in depth understanding, the repeatability of the by Denise Von Glahn. Importantly, Von narrative derives from this first Christmas Glahn has demonstrated how the medium carol, or holiest of songs, sung by of music reflects the evolving sense of a disembodied voices: “Glory to God in unique national character over time.21 The the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill 25 spiritual relationship between Indigenous toward men.” The godly intention or Australians and nature is integral to innate function of carol singing enshrines Australian Aboriginal Christian theology.22 God’s desire that people should be of one It inevitably forms a subtheme of this study, mind and one accord. In a Christian context, as the article considers opportunities for carol singing—or what can be imagined as First Nations Christians to proclaim their entering into this song from heaven—reflects voice at Christmas. the joy of the caroling body of angels who promote peace making to resound with God’s desire. The Godly Intention of Carol Singing The world is a work in progress. Carols The assert that can positively impact the mood of a ecological problems have resulted from community, which can affect the mood of thinking that posits the environment as a nation and the desire for peace. Because external to culture.23 Built architectural of this universal message—the greatness of

66 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) Australia’s Carols by Candlelight movement— kind, and 2017 marked its the sacred and secular converge in every eightieth anniversary. The persistence of geographical setting and cultural milieu. the Sidney Myer Music Bowl as a container Carolers could be likened to storytellers, as for the experience has sustained the they weave the Christmas narrative back tradition by defining a space and territory into place each year. for the celebration of Christmas. In earlier years, “Carols by Candlelight” The Origins of Carols by Candlelight featured classical music, with the annual Sun Carols by Candlelight began in Aria contest winner automatically invited in 1938.26 On Christmas Eve 1937, to participate. The radio and TV simulcast broadcaster Norman Banks passed a window of “Carols by Candlelight” on station 3KZ and observed an elderly woman inside, her together with channel ATV-0 began in face lit by candlelight, singing along to Away the 1960s. From 1980, it was telecast in a Manger, which was being played on the nationally through the , and radio. Wondering how many others spent 3AW replaced 3KZ as the radio broadcaster. Christmas alone, Banks conceptualized The event is also broadcast and telecast live a large group of people gathering to sing to eastern Asia, many Pacific Islands, and carols by candlelight. New Zealand. These televised performances The first event was held at Alexandra direct the religious flavor of “Carols by Gardens in Melbourne the following Candlelight” toward popular culture, such Christmas and was attended by 10,000 that the genres of voice, dance, and drama people. Following the Second World War, may be blended. this watershed event moved to King’s Based on the Melbourne event, “Carols Domain Gardens until, in 1959, the newly in the Domain” is staged in on constructed Sidney Myer Music Bowl the Saturday evening before Christmas. (see Fig. 1) provided a permanent venue. It is simulcast over the Nationally, this is the largest event of its and Smooth FM. It began in 1950 in

Figure 1: The Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Kings Domain, Melbourne, photographed by Takver in May, 2005 and released under the GNU GFDL. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Myer_Music_Bowl.

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 67 Hyde Park and lasted for a decade. It was Singer Kate Ceberano bemoaned the revived in 1983 with a similar event that struggle to secure a spot on a show that has been held annually in the Domain. is “a hot ticket for any performer.” Having The third-largest Carols by Candlelight sung carols several times in Melbourne event in Australia, Denis Walter’s “Carols and Sydney, Ceberano describes the by the Bay,” takes place at Eastern Beach in performances as “lovely events with , Victoria. different energies, because the two cities are Corporate packaging has secularized very different.” As conservative ecclesiastical these mega events, which are now allegiances to the Melbourne event declined, accompanied by large orchestras or a moderate Pentecostal flavor emerged with concert bands. Many of the productions the annual inclusion of Roma Waterman’s in Melbourne and Sydney have showcased Melbourne Gospel Choir.29 stars of current musicals and, in recent Christian beliefs associated with years, incorporated solos from televised Christmas no longer wield hegemonic talent quests, reflecting the growing domination over this commercial time of transnational significance of Anglo- year that is increasingly known, in Australia, American pop music. Many of the items as “the silly season.” Yet the event has sung at these events are not true carols; become an annual tradition for countless they may not have a strict alternating families, providing as it does a break from verse-and-refrain format. the bustle of the Christmas buildup and, if At the turn of the century, Ten so desired, an opportunity to reflect on the Network’s Australian Idol television series deeper significance of the season. began to monopolize the national media establishment. In 2004, media personality National versus Local Forms of Caroling Paul McDermott quipped: “If all Idols release The Australian public has not resisted the a Christmas track—which in the music Carols by Candlelight megagatherings. industry is considered obligatory—then The televised productions described who can guess at the numerical and musical above furnish the generic template for anomalies that may arise?”27 The spectrum clusters of events staged in other capital of voices began to revolve around the “who’s cities and regional communities. They are who” of Nine Network’s hit series The Voice. typically organized by councils (municipal Dan Bigna reviewed the elaboration on governments), councils in conjunction with familiar themes presented at Nine Network’s a church (see Fig. 2), or a group of combined 2010 “Carols by Candlelight” in the Sydney churches that rotate annual management. Myer Music Bowl: In her Introduction to The Soundscapes The gushing delivery sometimes reached of Australia: Music, Place and Spirituality, fever pitch almost painful to witness. Fiona Richards remarks: “From composers, Every facial expression and word was so performers and communities there are carefully scripted that if the good Lord many different, always vibrant approaches was to descend from the heavens, he/she to place, spirituality and music, and a would be ejected from the venue for not being on the set list. Missing was that divergence between those perspectives that little grain of unpredictability that makes are local, precise, miniature and those that good art such a fascinating proposition.28 are national, generic and large-scale.”30 The

68 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) A pageant takes place on the Civic Centre’s landscaped terrace garden. It overlooks a blazing pink sun setting above the Indian Ocean. For the beholder, the sunset endows visual agency to the power of the moment. A magical environmental ambiance is created as the community gathers for a relaxed picnic, illuminated by the light of hundreds of candles. Sound is the primary medium of caroling, but this joyous narrative art form lends itself to a broader artistic palette. Parishioners erect a platform in front of a sandstone cliff on which they present dance and drama Figure 2: Poster created by Elle Apopei for Carols (Fig. 3) in combination with carols and a by Candlelight, a combined event by the Town of message delivered by Rev. Malcolm Potts. Cottesloe and St. Philips Anglican Church, Dec. 22, 2013. Original image by Tom Wedge, courte- sy John Macpherson, St. Philips Anglican Church, Cottesloe, . voicings of localized carol events differ from major events in terms of organizational structure (amateur versus professional personnel), scale of industry promotion, and public responsiveness to sacred–secular convergence culture. Drawing on widespread attendance at candlelit events in Western Australia, Victoria, , and the Figure 3: Angels Ashleigh Holgate (left) and Alana Australian Capital Territory, I have scoped Macpherson (right) perform at Cottesloe’s “Carols by Candlelight,” Dec. 18, 2005. Image by Jonathan ways in which a Christmas soundworld Holgate, courtesy John Macpherson, St. Philips can be integrated into local place. I reason Anglican Church, Cottesloe, Western Australia. that community happenings thrive in their own innovative, mediatized formats, as the As a human network, the dancers public interacts with singularity of physical perform in ecological relationship at the level and social space. For example, 2018 marked of embodied gesture.31 The music program the twenty-fifth anniversary of “Carols comprises traditional, modern, and “world by Candlelight” presented by St. Philips music” items, supplemented by a short Anglican Church Cottesloe in cooperation musical drama based on the Christmas with the seaside municipal Town of story. Musical director and master of Cottesloe, Western Australia. The event has ceremonies John Macpherson (see Fig. 4) attracted up to 3,000 people in recent years, has written about 50 songs for the event requiring much in the way of staging, sound, and rearranged old favorites, including lights, and logistical support. While Shepherds Watched.

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 69 Figure 4: John Macpherson prepares to introduce Cottesloe’s “Carols by Candlelight,” December 18, 2016. Image by Ian Love, courtesy John Macpherson, St. Philips Anglican Church, Cottesloe, Western Australia.

Caroling is a strong catalyst for binding Christian when event management is local community to place. Children delight rotated annually by the combined churches. in singing the lyrics of Cottesloe Jingle An evangelistic rhetoric often circulates, as Bells, commodified by Macpherson to specific contexts mediate the aesthetics of suit Perth’s iconic beach. The lead singers Christmas vocal performance. A statewide harmonize or present solos, accompanied database sample (see Appendix below) by Macpherson’s band. The drama is lip- cameos the sight and sound of grassroots synched over a soundtrack of prerecorded caroling. The following section offers an character voices and songs. Macpherson’s ecocritical reading of these events. wife, Ellie, choreographs the songs and carols and creates a drama concept, for which Gary Scoping the Carols by Candlelight Effect Davidson makes the scenery. This major As defined by June Boyce-Tillman, the commitment from a small team of volunteers material tools of making music comprise not and the parish garnered an Australia Day only voices, but also the instruments and award in 2012 from the Town of Cottesloe of performance spaces, which for Community Group of the Year. can have a profound effect on performers Carols performed by candlelight in and performances.32 As Mark Pedelty has country towns are easily identifiable as

70 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) noted, different anthropogenic engage physically by holding glow-stick produce dramatically different soundscapes candles (see Fig. 5),38 singing, or dancing due to the complex, reciprocal, and systemic on the grass. relationships among social, cultural, and material factors.33 In an explanation of how voice locates religion in embodied practice, effect, and acoustic space, Jeffers Engelhardt noted that “as an aggregate of individual voices and bodies, the congregation is a voice and body that, to different degrees, subsume the sounds of individual voices.”34 Marissa Glynias Moore envisages this unifying power of hymn singing as affirming the Figure 5: Children hold their glow-stick candles participants’ place within the universal at Cottesloe’s “Carols by Candlelight,” 17 35 December, 2006. Image by Phil Hirst, courtesy church: the “body of Christ.” John Macpherson, St. Philips Anglican Church, Clare V. Johnson visualizes the physical Cottesloe, Western Australia. environment as being a key constitutive Caroling by candlelight thus projects element of the social environment and an aestheticized, gentler equivalent of a culture of a people: secular open-air concert or festival. In Each localised physical environment or its more inspiring moments, nature and “context” consists of an “organised whole the redemptive word of God cohere with in space and time of physical aspects, social activities and symbolic aspects or enlivening sonic and visual agency. From a meanings,” which are particular to that Christian perspective, one becomes absorbed place and which influence the mode of by the immensity that spells out the glory, human behaviour and the mediation of handiwork, speech, and knowledge of meaning via sense experiences occurring God.39 The words of the carols sound forth 36 in that place. as people hear, see, feel, and smell Creation is characterized (and arguably, for a believer, the “presence by warm, balmy weather and a star-studded of God”). Sounds from the undergrowth sky that makes Carols by Candlelight a reverberate around the natural “cathedral” numinous activity. Landscape and skyscape as the pervading scent emitted by eucalyptus offer cultural and spiritual images, trees (commonly called “gum trees”) fills respectively. These elements furnish a the air. The event might be described as a pictorial way of representing, structuring, celebration of eternal and local story. or symbolizing surroundings.37 The act of The sensory modality of hearing is a holding a candle is not required to make valid source of ethnographic information the music matter. It does not enhance the for comprehending nature’s innate affective power of voice and verbal text. musicality. Rather than allowing human However, in a compelling example of song to impede peoples’ ability to hear space transformed through human action, the natural soundscape, natural sounds a combination of carols, candlelight, and can be cherished when they expand into scenery encourages young children to carols. Birdsong, cicada humming, and

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 71 cricket chirping blend with the sounds Entomological “music” dominates the of other bush creatures, wind rustling bush soundscape during the Christmas through trees, or waves breaking on the season. Cicadas and crickets are the shore. Our existence in the Anthropocene dominant soundmarks. As male cicadas renders the intrusion of mechanical noise (Homoptera cicadidae) alight on trees and into this blended soundscape inevitable. bushes, they emit a shrill, metallic sound Even unnatural sounds draw listeners that can be likened to a human chorus. into a sound commons that is, arguably, Some species sound together in tempo, profounder than the managed, manicured with separate patterns that interlock to performances constructed within the create one rhythm. It is common for mole confines of church walls. crickets (members of the insect family It is evident from the open-air Gryllotalpidae) to pulse loudly out of performances, recordings, and writings the ground in “galleries” (chambers or of David Rothenberg that it is personally burrows shaped by the crickets to maximize nurturing for musicians to make music frequency). As they stridulate (rub their with the nonhuman world.40 When human wings together), their subdivisions of voices blend into the natural soundscape, sound build to a chorus. they become decontextualized, as the sphere Australian birds are likely to be aggressive, of sound creates a hybrid aural environment. loud, and melodious. I have often heard Dunn has suggested that “music may be a laughing kookaburras (Dacelo novaeguineae) conversation strategy for keeping something override human musical sound at open-air alive that we now need to make more concerts. The white and brown plumage of conscious, a way of making sense of the this, the world’s largest kingfisher, blends world from which we might refashion our seamlessly into the environment. The relationship to nonhuman living systems.”41 chuckling voice that gives the species its Sounds produced by natural acoustic name is a common and familiar sound behaviors enable mediatory language throughout the bird’s range. The loud koo- between listener and environment. As koo-koo-koo-koo-kaa-kaa-kaa is often sung defined by Barry Truax, a natural acoustic in chorus with other individuals; a shorter community is one in which sound koooa sound at other times.44 functions positively to create a unifying Caroling thus fits into Henry David relationship within an ecosystem. It is Thoreau’s concept of an interactive necessary for sound to be heard clearly in community communicating presence the area, and to reflect the community. A in sounds, with human music an artful community with good acoustic definition echoing of vibrating nature.45 Nerida can easily recognize, identify, and derive Vincent describes nature as “general meaning from the soundscape.42 For a revelation” (as opposed to the Bible’s soundscape to be distinctive and varied, “special revelation”): ”It is our setting, acoustic features are required: sound our backdrop, the arms that embrace our signals, keynotes, and “soundmarks.” A daily life, the stage on which we live.” 46 soundmark is a community sound that is Elizabeth A. Johnson expounds the notion specially regarded or noticed by people in that love of the natural world is an intrinsic that community.43 element of faith in God, with ecological

72 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) care at the center of moral life.47 Drawing or social justice—areas in which Aotearoa- on Pope John Paul II’s declaration that New Zealand hymn writers have excelled,52 “respect for life and for the dignity of although Julie Rickwood reports a regard the human person extends also to the for nature in the environmentally aware rest of creation,”48 Johnson concludes: repertoire of Australian songs performed by “our neighbor is the entire universe. We community choirs.53 must love it all as our self.”49 When Culture and context animate the essence environmental sites are transformed of faith. Carmel Pilcher’s contention that into performance venues, it is essential “our natural liturgy should be reading the that their significance and integrity environment”54 echoes Clare V. Johnson’s are protected. Thus, outdoor caroling call for a more symbiotic Christian demands an environmentally considerate, relationship with the land: ethical noninterference with nature. Attempting to interpret our lived experience of Christian time through a Environmental Iconicity northern-hemispheric lens of nature is in Australian Carols inauthentic to our actual southern lived experience and downplays the potency Place can inspire carols, just as carols can and significance of the logos spermatikos affect our understanding of place. Once [the “seed of the word” present in all mediated to Australia, the Anglo-European peoples and their cultural expressions] carols that objectify national cultural that is present and identifiable in our 55 identities serve a universal transcendent own austral position on the globe. role. Music historian John Whiteoak McRae-McMahon even suggests that observes that Australian landscape can influence thesoul of a reproduces, reinforces, or builds upon people.56 Elizabeth J. Smith calls for didactic, traditional Christmas music, besides theologically robust songs that evoke the promoting American imports such as Irving particular beauties of the Australian land and Berlin’s song White Christmas (1942).50 As demands for environmental .57 Dorothy McRae-McMahon suggests, many Her original hymn Celebrate Your Landscape Australians feel comforted by imaginary permits congregations to do this: reindeer and imitation snow on Christmas Where wide sky rolls down and 51 trees in a country that has neither. touches red sand, The repeatability of mediatized carol where sun turns to gold the grass events thrives on public consumption of of the land, carols that reinvoke bygone years. Since let Spinifex, mulga, and the public do not regard traditional carols waterhole tell as “cultural baggage,” it could be reasoned their joy in the One who made 58 that producers of Carols by Candlelight everything well. have successfully programmed imported In 1983, Leigh Newton set Mary Philip’s and homegrown Christmas music. Some carol Boomerang of Flowers to music, and carols resonate with fresh meaning, others recorded it on his album Christmas in the package the same message in a fresh Scrub (1984). The first verse and chorus guise. Few of Australia’s original carols draw on images of Australia’s unique incorporate a biblical view of environmental biodiversity.

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 73 A child is lying cradled here, by William G. James to words by John Beneath the slender gum; Wheeler. In carols that are unequivocally The God of might has left his home, Australian, the pair opened a window And to Australia come. into the creative process whereby familiar The kookaburra laughs with glee, The shy koala peeps, scenery and soundscape holistically inform The magpie carols blissfully, the story of Christ’s birth. The second set As little sleeps of the original Chappell & Co. Ltd. version is prefaced by the following comment: Chorus It is not suggested that these Carols What shall we give our infant king? should take the place of those which A boomerang of flowers? 59 have come to us from the Old World. To say come back and stay with us Familiar from childhood, they will And be forever ours. (repeat) always remain a cherished possession. But the Carols of the Old World owe Philip’s privileging of natural images much to the local background of the extends the orthodox belief in a God who countries which produced them, and “so loved the world” (usually interpreted it is surely fitting, therefore, that we to mean humans) to encompass the entire should have our own Australian Carols, 61 world, that is, not only humans but also with their own local colour. nonhumans and the physical environments Wheeler and James collectively portray that house them. Another example, The Star scenes of bell-birds chiming, black and the Cross: An Australian Carol by Leslie swans flying, boobooks (owls) calling, Rusher, references the “clear Southern Cross” brolgas dancing, currawongs chanting, of the night sky, set to the tune of Away in a magpies caroling, and wild dogs (dingos) Manger (W. J. Kirkpatrick). howling. They evoke the quieter sounds of Many of the items based on Australian chanting creeks, fluttering brown moths, culture—of which few could be described as murmuring sheep, and whispering trees. “carols”—may appear banal in comparison. We imaginatively glimpse an outback The novel lyrics of children’s carols reference station in the summer heat, surrounded Antipodean animals, scenery, towns, and by brown grass, red dust, burning hills, traditions. Songwriter Colin Buchanan is flaming ranges, and trumpeting winds. a popular guest performer at community The night scene paints a red-gold moon and carol events. To correct a national dearth points to the silver stars of the Milky Way. of accessible up-tempo carols, Buchanan The lyricist contrasts the colorful native reapplied Australian characters and animals Australian Christmas bush with the mulga to The Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas.60 He that grows in dense thickets throughout also “Aussie-fied” a line in in the interior. And in depicting the “carols of 1992, changing “dashing through the snow” bushbirds rising and falling,” he uses the to “dashing through the bush.” Aboriginal word Orana to “welcome” in Of the corpus of Australian carols Christmas Day (Carol of the Birds, Vol. 1). drawing on the imagery of a southern In connecting First Nations peoples to “austral” place, the most seminal examples “God’s space,” Uniting Church minister remain the two sets of Five Australian Chris Budden contends that “God had a Christmas Carols (ca. 1948) composed story with these peoples, and the God who

74 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) comes to us in worship is also the God who Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir comes to them. God has entrusted the care preserve the songs of four generations of of this place to First Peoples, and so they are song women. A documentary film, The hosts (and Second Peoples are guests).”62 Song Keepers (2017), follows the 32-voice choir as they embark on a three-week tour Toward Inclusivity in Caroling Events of Germany. Their mission is to take back the hymns that were given to their great- Every part of Australia has Indigenous grandparents by German missionaries, in creation stories and Indigenous community their Western Arrarnta and Pitjantjatjara connections.63 Together, art and languages.70 conservation preserve the created order. Despite the validity of adverse evidence First Nations spirituality is embodied, associated with British colonization and experiential, and performative, arising missionization, Australia’s 2016 census from an Indigenous ecological awareness. recorded that Christian faith is more evident Fiona Magowan explored the power of and alive in Indigenous communities than spiritual singing and dancing emanating it is in Settler society. Since a national from the ancestral land- and seascape of Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship formed the Yolngu people, describing its influence in 1970, Indigenous Christian leaders have on the spiritual awareness of ecology in been self-determining in their worship of their Christian songs. She reported that God. First Nations artists produce vast bodies their place-essences were conveyed through of visual art themed around Christmas: musical structures, just as they are in paintings with vital colors, natural elements traditional songs.64 of the biota, and remote landscapes.71 The German Lutheran missionaries arrived intense palpability of place in their work in the Central Desert in 1887, founded challenges Indigenous singer-songwriters choirs, and learned the local languages.65 In to portray the same experience in sound. the 1950s and 1960s, Pitjantjatjara people Data from the 2016 census highlights performed Christmas and Easter pageants the increasing cultural and social diversity of using traditional music, spinifex-grass fires, Australia. The Australia Council’s landmark camels, and donkeys.66 In 1971, Western report Connecting Australians: Results of the Desert Pitjantjatjara women at Ernabella National Arts Participation Survey, published Mission (est. 1937) set the Christmas in June 2017, confirmed the essential role of story to their own tunes. In a measure of the arts in reflecting this diversity to promote how Christianity was incorporated into inclusive public life.72 The Australia Council Pitjantjatjara life, youthful gospel groups for the Arts’s 2017 report Showcasing began composing songs with guitars, Creativity: Programming and Presenting First through dreams.67 Nations Performing Arts (March 8, 2017) Over 50 children comprised the first indicates that performing arts by First Indigenous children’s choir to sing at Nations peoples are underrepresented in ’s “Carols by Candlelight.”68 In Australian mainstream venues and festivals. 2007, the Ernabella Praise and Worship The report stresses the need to build cross- Singers recorded a Christmas album cultural engagement between mainstream featuring traditional carols sung in their presenters and First Nations artists and language.69 Members of the Central

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 75 communities. The inclusion of previously research and knowledge management. silenced voices at high-profile caroling Further study might contrast traditions events would enhance public understanding of alfresco caroling in the Southern and of Australia’s past and present in view of a Northern Hemispheres. long-standing “cultural cringe.”73 The ecological potential of open-air caroling remains underdetermined. In Singing is a principal means of com- recommending that producers rethink munication at Christmas, through which its paradigm, I have noted that Carols by Australians connect with the lifestyles, Candlelight sometimes represents a watered- rhythms, and tensions of the island- down version of Christmas in Australia— continent. A homegrown tradition of mass not only through a transplantation of caroling by candlelight furnishes potential Northern Hemisphere iconicity, but also pathways for connecting with biota. Viewed through a representational deficit of cultural nationally, caroling events produced in a hybridity. A philosophy of inclusiveness plenitude of sites suggest ways in which balances programs of traditional Christmas human voices might blend imaginatively music with Indigenous musical forms and into a local sound commons. Consciousness the caroling traditions of the many newly of place is evident in the lyrics of original imported that speak to a broad “austral” carols that reference the physical cross-section of Australian society—as is loci of Creation in settings of beach, bush, expected of the arts. and outback. A pluralistic voice realistically mirrors The case for a more authentic Australian the nation’s present moment and faithfully caroling experience is a compelling one. reflects the angelic proclamation: “I bring Consideration of the land- and soundscapes you good news of great joy that will be of caroling reveals how the practice operates for all people.” 74 Crucially, expanding to facilitate new modes of congregating. into ambient sound makes people of all A wider study could determine how the ethnicities more present in a place, and— consumption of caroling operates between from a Christian perspective—more social groups, in terms of age and ethnicity. connected to the larger whole of Creation This could be based on the set of indicators that sounds forth the eternal story in its and measures used for the Australia Council’s original language.

76 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) Appendix: Statewide Database Sample Adelaide orchestra (an orchestra dressed up in Christmas “Carols by Candlelight,” Elder Park, on the banks outfits) and a lantern parade. Director of the Torrens River. Michelle Leonard encourages “spontaneously combusting caroling”—that is, going into shops to share the joy of music, ensuring that Lord Mayor’s “,” Riverstage, live music is valorized over canned music.79 City Botanic Gardens (Nine Network). In 2017, Leonard directed 51 children from Hobart regional New South Wales (NSW) to record Three major carol services at St. David’s Park, the Christmas album Yindyamarra: A Prospect Hobart, Clarence, and Glenorchy. of Peace.80 She commissioned Josephine Gibson to compose the title track to lyrics Perth in the language of NSW,81 to fill “Carols by Candlelight,” Supreme Court a gap in the Christmas choral repertoire for Gardens, Perth. Large gatherings at Cottesloe children. Leonard singled out a moment when Civic Centre, Claremont, Scarborough, and the children create a soundscape of birdcalls: Rockingham. “Candlelight Carols” at South “They literally bring their landscape into the Beach, Fremantle, invites the community to studio and to life in this recording.”82 “sing along, or swim along.” Carols under the Martin Place Melbourne Leonard’s Moorambilla Voices choir sing at A number of untelevised metropolitan events Sydney’s Martin Place Christmas Tree Concert. attract up to 25,000 people. For example, They are joined on stage by soloists from the “Carols by Candlelight” staged by the City of Seven Network. Children from regional NSW Monash in Jells Park, Wheelers Hill. The City take part in this City of Sydney concert. of Yarra stages an event in Abbotsford Convent Gardens; the City of Manningham in Ruffey Carols under the Sydney Harbour Bridge Lake Park; and the City of Wyndham on the This event is held at Bradfield Park and typically lawns of historic Werribee Mansion. In 2016, includes a Bible talk. A jazz band entertains on Melbourne’s Cross Generation Uniting Church stage during a sausage sizzle provided by scouts. led “Carols under the Ironbarks” at the Ironbark North Sydney Community Carols Hut, La Trobe University Wildlife Reserve.75 This event is held at the Civic Park Twilight (Australian Capital Territory) Food Fair. Young hip-hop and jazz dancers “Carols by Candlelight” is staged at perform with Kids Covers Band and a dance . The picnic was designed group. Community carols are led by the North for families to enjoy a peaceful, joyful night Sydney Girls High School choir.83 of community singing.76 The Canberra Times Carols by Balmoral Beach supplies songbooks for advance practice of St. Clement’s Anglican Church, Mosman, NSW, European and American carols, the William organizes Balmoral’s “Carols by Candlelight.” G. James Australian carols, and fun songs like Families picnic under the stars at the Rotunda Christmas by the Pool. 77 “Carols under the Tree” on Balmoral Beach. They arrive on a free shuttle at the National Library of Australia features and pay AUD5 for a candle pack and songbook.84 homegrown carols, followed by bell ringing at the National on Christmas Eve.78 Caroling in Outback Mining Towns In suburban Gungahlin, the Anglican Church For relief from the heat, many people in the congregation perform Colin Buchanan’s opal-mining town of Coober Pedy live in desert original carols. “dugouts.” Congregations of Christians gather underground in resonant spaces, including Sydney the Catacomb Anglican Church, named after The Leichhardt Espresso Chorus perform the Roman catacombs where early Christians “Carols on Norton,” accompanied by a met and buried martyrs. They participate in

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 77 Combined Churches “Carols by Candlelight” and prayed for a better future. The choir sing celebrations. Western Australia’s isolated mining at Sydney’s Combined Churches Christmas town of Newman hosts a mixed population of Spectacular. In 2010, their leader, Jeremiah, residents and shift workers. Anne Richmond, explained on television: who worked at the town library in 2010, This Christmas is different from the recounted her Christmas experience: way we were in a refugee camp. The A new Baptist pastor was in town, an ex- difference here is that we have freedom, gang member covered in tattoos. I joined and we are happy. It has to do with your a singing group formed for Christmas. emotion and you communicating with It was difficult to get people to practice. God, especially with worship songs. It’s They had little concept of choir or like you are linking the congregation to blending, although there were some God because God loves worship.87 good voices, about 16 in all. I recruited Caroling for Charity two of the pastor’s sons to sing the first Reinforcing the Good King Wenceslas tradition verse of “Once in Royal David’s City.” of recognizing one’s good fortune, the Salvation They had sweet voices, but were shy of Army collect alms for the poor. They sing the microphone, and the idea of it all familiar carols, the basis of their musical was not familiar to the crowd. My boss repertoire for over 120 years. Graeme Press, complained that it was all too religious, director of Sydney’s Salvation Army Christmas and that people wouldn’t come next year. Choir, includes people from drug and alcohol By next year we were gone, and I have no rehabilitation programs in their performances.88 idea how the carols went.85 Carols Performed around Water A Bush Christmas In many communities where homes adjoin Perth’s Collegium Musicum Choir performed the small bays or canals, large boats or ferries costumed tableau An Australian Bush Christmas cruise around on Christmas Eve. Organizers in 2008. Dr. Margaret Pride conducted nine play carols through a public-address system, or traditional carols and five Australian carols by feature concerts by live choirs. Accompanied William G. James. A narrated tableau depicted by a fleet of private power cruisers, the boat of the attempts of pioneers to adapt their Christmas singers exhibits decorative lights to enhance customs to their new environment. the atmosphere.89 On Christmas Eve 2018, I Carol Singing by Refugees attended “Carols by the Boardwalk” on the Perth’s first attempt to engage refugee artists shores of Lake Curalo in far southeast New with mainstream presenters took place in 2017, South Wales. In a most unusual manifestation when Burundi Peace Band joined Voicemale to of a sound commons, a long-nosed bandicoot present carols in Fremantle, Western Australia.86 (Perameles nasuta) suddenly darted out of the Harvest Gospel Flavour Choir from Blacktown, bush. It whistled and shrieked loudly, scooting NSW, performed a cappella songs from refugee across the lawn where small children were camps in West Africa, where they worshipped dancing about to the carols.90

78 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) NOTES 1 “No human ever made a cathedral such 8 Jeff Todd Titon, “Exhibiting Music in a as this” is a line from the song Nature’s Cathedral Sound Community,” Ethnologies 37/1 (2015): 23–41, (1998), composed by Nerida Vincent of Canowindra, https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/ethno/2015- New South Wales, included on her album Living v37-n1-ethno03047/1039654ar/. See also “A Sound Desert (2000). Nerida is now better known as Commons for All Living Creatures,” Smithsonian Nerida Cuddy (www.nerida.info). See https://blog. Folkways Magazine, “Sounds and Soundscapes” issue, cornerstone.edu.au/nerida/2014/02/23/natures- March 2013, https://folkways.si.edu/magazine- cathedral/#comment-2199. I thank Nerida for her fall-winter-2012-sound-commons-living-creatures/ inspiration, Pastor Ossie Cruse for support, and John science-and-nature-world/music/article/smithsonian. and Ellie Macpherson, Phil Hirst, Lorna Kaino, and 9 See Wendy Arons and Theresa J. May, eds., Anne Richmond for their contributions. I am indebted Readings in Performance and Ecology (New York: to Aline Scott-Maxwell for direction, and to my two Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). anonymous referees for useful advice. The Western 10 Term introduced by Bruno Latour, Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Edith Cowan Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor- University, provided the initial edit of this article. Network-Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2 Carmel Pilcher, “Marking Liturgical Time 2005). In Latour’s “sociology of associations,” in Australia: Pastoral Considerations,” in Christian nonhuman entities can act and can be actants, as Worship in Australia: Inculturating the Liturgical the focus shifts from the actor to the network that Tradition, ed. Stephen Burns and Anita Monro incorporates and folds about actants. (Sydney: St. Pauls Publications, 2009), 56–57. 11 Randall Harlow recently proposed that 3 Hillsong Music Australia—the best-known every act of musicking amounts to a construction of a musical export from the Australian church to the network of actors that define an “ecology of practice.” world—has released four albums of contemporary “Ecologies of Practice in Musical Performance,” Christmas songs, mostly reworkings of traditional MUSICultures: Journal of the Canadian Society for carols, with the occasional original carol. These Traditional Music 45/1–2 (2018). have not gained much traction within Australian 12 https://www.merriam-webster.com/ churches despite considerable online attention. A thesaurus/cathedral. significant album, Christmas in Australia, was released 13 John Charles Ryan, Green Sense: The by Hillsong’s foundational songwriter, Geoff Bullock, Aesthetics of Plants, Place and Language (Oxford: in 1997. The cover typifies a summer beach scene on Trueheart Academic, 2012), 3. Christmas Day. 14 Term coined by Hildegard Westerkamp, 4 A field most succinctly defined as “the study “Speaking from Inside the Soundscape,” in The Book of music, culture, and nature in all the complexities of Music and Nature, ed. David Rothenberg and Marta of those terms.” See Aaron S. Allen, “,” Ulvaeus (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, New Grove Dictionary of American Music, vol. 2, 2001). ed. Charles Hiroshi Garrett (New York: Oxford 15 For examples, see Rod Giblett, Environmental University Press, 2014), for perspectives on how Humanities and Theologies: Ecoculture, Literature and ecomusicology considers musical and sonic issues, the Bible (New York: Routledge, 2018). both textual and performative, related to ecology and 16 Definition by Glenn Albrecht, “Exiting the the natural environment. Anthropocene and Entering the Symbiocene,” Minding 5 Ecotheology reconsiders the manner in which Nature Journal 9/2 (Spring 2016), https://www. we imagine God that recovers a sense of connection humansandnature.org/exiting-the-anthropocene- to the world of Creation. After Rod Pattenden, and-entering-the-symbiocene. “Mapping the Liturgy: Seeing Sacred Space,” in Burns 17 David Dunn, “Nature, Sound Art, and the and Monro, Christian Worship in Australia, 218. Sacred,” in Rothenberg and Ulvaeus, The Book of 6 Definition according to Aaron S. Allen and Music and Nature, 98. Kevin Dawe, eds., Current Directions in Ecomusicology: 18 Elizabeth A. Johnson, Ask the Beasts: Darwin Music Culture, Nature (New York: Routledge, 2016), and the God of Love (London: Bloomsbury, 2014), 288. Cultural ecology orients the processes by which inside cover sleeve. societies adapt to environments. 19 Giblett, Environmental Humanities and 7 is the critical study of Theologies. literary and other artistic practices in relation to 20 Albrecht, “Exiting the Anthropocene and environmental concerns (ibid., 289). Entering the Symbiocene.”

Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 79 21 Denise Von Glahn, The Sounds of Place: Psycho-Social Introduction, trans. Claire Montagna Music and the American (Boston: (London: Sage Publications, 1995), 160. Northeastern University Press, 2003). 37 After Denis Cosgrove and Stephen Daniels, 22 See Graham Paulson, “Towards an eds., The Iconography of Landscape (Cambridge: Aboriginal Theology,” Pacifica: Australasian Theological Cambridge University Press, 1988). Studies 19/3 (2006): 310–20. 38 Short-term light sources used in sacred and 23 Ryan, Green Sense, 26. secular celebrations around the world. 24 John Sentamu, “Change the World, Don’t 39 After Psalm 19:1–4 (KJV). Give In to It,” Weekly Telegraph, “News Review,” Dec. 40 See, for instance, David Rothenberg, Bug 26, 2007–Jan. 1, 2008: 5. Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise (New 25 Luke 2:14 (King James Version). York: Picador, 2013). 26 An earlier format began in 41 Dunn, “Nature, Sound Art, and the Sacred,” in 1865, when Cornish miners working in Moonta 97–98. gathered on Christmas Eve to sing carols with lighted 42 See Barry Truax, Handbook for Acoustic tallow candles stuck to the brims of their safety hats. Ecology (Vancouver, BC: ARC Publications, 1978); This tradition spread to Adelaide from 1928. See and Acoustic Communication, 2nd ed. (Westport, CT: John Whiteoak, “Christmas Music,” in Currency Ablex Publishing, 2001). Companion to Music and Dance in Australia, ed. 43 Truax, Handbook for . John Whiteoak and Aline Scott-Maxwell (Sydney: 44 Derived from https://www.environment. Currency Press, 2003), 138. nsw.gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native- 27 Paul McDermott, “Society in Danger animals/native-animal-facts/laughing-kookaburra. I of Worshipping False Idols,” , Sept. 22, have been swooped by a kookaburra during a concert. 2004: 2. It scavenged food from my mouth, causing my lips to 28 Dan Bigna, “Keith’s Risk a Catalyst for vibrate for some time afterwards. Experience,” Canberra Times, Dec. 30, 2010: 8. 45 After Jeff Todd Titon, “Why Thoreau?” in 29 Dorothy McRae-McMahon notes that Aaron S. Allen and Kevin Dawe, eds., Current Directions Pentecostalists currently comprise the fastest in Ecomusicology: Music, Culture, Nature (New York: growing religious denomination in Australia, having Routledge, 2016), 78. successfully engaged consumerist culture in what is 46 Nerida Vincent, “Loving Life in Beautiful now arguably the most secular country in the world. Canowindra,” blog post, Feb. 23, 2014. Dorothy McRae-McMahon, “Liturgy in the Southern 47 Johnson, Ask the Beasts, inside cover sleeve. Hemisphere: The Australian Context,” in Burns and 48 Pope John Paul II, “Peace with God the Monro, Christian Worship in Australia, 132. Creator, Peace with All of Creation, World Day of Peace 30 Fiona Richards, ed., The Soundscapes of Message January 1, 1990,” in “And God Saw That It Australia: Music, Place and Spirituality (Aldershot, UK: Was Good”: Catholic Theology and the Environment, ed. Ashgate, 2007), 3. Drew Christiansen and Walter Grazer (Washington, 31 A concept articulated by Harlow in DC: U.S. Catholic Conference, 1996), 215–22, cited “Ecologies of Practice in Musical Performance.” in Johnson, Ask the Beasts, 281. 32 June Boyce-Tillman, Experiencing Music- 49 Johnson, Ask the Beasts, 281. -Restoring the Spiritual: Music as Well-Being (Bern, 50 Whiteoak, “Christmas Music,” 138. Switzerland: Peter Lang, 2016). 51 McRae-McMahon, “Liturgy in the Southern 33 Mark Pedelty, Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and Hemisphere,” 137. the Environment (Philadelphia: Temple University 52 The flourishing culture of Aotearoa-New Press, 2012), 118. Zealand’s hymn writers and composers, led by 34 Jeffers Engelhardt, “Editorial Introduction: Colin Gibson and Shirley Murray, is represented Voicing Religion,” Yale Journal of Music & Religion 4/1 in three significant volumes. Of relevance is the (2018): 3. songbook Carol Our Christmas: A Book of New 35 Marissa Glynias Moore, “Sounding the Zealand Carols (Raumati Beach, NZ: New Zealand Congregational Voice,” ibid., 37. Hymnbook Trust, 1996), containing 52 popular 36 Clare V. Johnson, “‘Relating Liturgical contemporary carols. Time to ‘Place-Time’: The Spatiotemporal 53 Julie Rickwood, “Choralecology?: Dislocation of the Liturgical Year in Australia,” in Community Choirs and Environmental Burns and Monro, Christian Worship in Australia, Activism,” Social Alternatives 33/1 (2014): 30–38. 40. Johnson is quoting from Mirilia Bonnes and Rickwood coined the term choralecology for this Gianfranco Secchiaroli, Environmental Psychology: A emerging field of critical inquiry.

80 Yale Journal of Music & Religion Vol. 5, No. 2 (2019) 54 Pilcher, “Marking Liturgical Time in Share Their Faith (Sydney: Bible Society Australia, Australia: Pastoral Considerations,” 56. 2017). 55 Johnson, “Relating Liturgical Time to 72 Australia Council, Connecting Australians: ‘Place-Time,” 42. Results of the National Arts Participation Survey, June 56 McRae-McMahon, “Liturgy in the Southern 2017. Hemisphere,” 134. 73 The term “cultural cringe” was coined in 57 Elizabeth J. Smith, “Crafting and Singing Australia after the Second World War by the social Hymns in Australia,” in Burns and Monro, Christian commentator A. A. Phillips to describe an internalized Worship in Australia, 193. inferiority complex that causes people in colonized 58 Opening stanza of No. 188 in Together in countries to dismiss their culture as inferior to the Song, ed. Wesley Milgate (East Melbourne: Harper cultures of other countries. Collins Religious, 1999), set to the tune Hanover. 74 Luke 2:10–11 (New International Version). 59 An imaginary wreath of flowers in the shape 75 Ironbark is the common name for a group of of the Australian Aboriginal curved throwing stick. species in the genus Eucalyptus. Boomerangs are also clapped together to accompany 76 Based on Lucy Baker, “A Capital Christmas,” Indigenous songs and chants. Canberra Times, Dec. 17, 2010: 5. 60 Fran Knight, blog post review of The 77 Melanie Clark, “Singing by Candlelight,” Twelve Days of Aussie Christmas, by Colin Buchanan, Canberra Times, “See Canberra: Share the City You illustrations by Glen Singleton. Live In” (supplement), December 2010: 12. 61 London and Sydney: Chappell & Co. Ltd., 78 Michael Inman, “Christmas Bells to Ring ca. 1948. Out over the Lake,” Canberra Times, Dec. 24, 2010: 4. 62 Chris Budden, “Acknowledging First 79 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Peoples in Christian Worship in Australia,” in Burns “Sounds Like Christmas,” Compass, Dec. 23, 2017. and Monro, Christian Worship in Australia, 65. ABC Religion & (TV), prod. Kim Akhurst. 63 Annie Clarke and Chris Johnston, “Time, 80 Michelle Leonard, Yindyamarra: A Prospect Memory, Place and Land: Social Meaning and of Peace, a Christmas album performed by the Heritage Conservation in Australia,” paper presented Moorambilla Voices (Sydney: Australian Broadcasting at the Scientific Symposium, ICOMOS 14th General Corporation, 2017). CD. Yindyamarra means “the Assembly, Zimbabwe, 2003, 3–4. wisdom of respectfully knowing how to live well, in a 64 Fiona Magowan, “Spirit, Place and Power world worth living in.” in Arnhem Land Traditional and Christian Music,” in 81 Wiradjuri elder Stan Grant, Sr., gave Richards, The Soundscapes of Australia. permission to use text connected to his country. 65 Emily Nicol, The Song Keepers: A Strong 82 Quoted in Lliane Clarke, “Writing Music Family of Song, National Indigenous Television, July for Yindyamarra: A Prospect of Peace,” Limelight: 16, 2018. Australia’s Classical Music and Arts Magazine, Sept. 66 See Fiona Magowan, “Christian Influences 29, 2017. on Indigenous Arts,” in Whiteoak and Scott-Maxwel, 83 Matt Heazlewood, “Waxing Lyrical about Currency Companion to Music and Dance in Australia, Caroling,” Mosman Daily, Dec. 2, 2010: 37. 136–38. 84 Ibid. 67 Peggy Brock, Indigenous Peoples and Religious 85 Anne Richmond, personal communication, Change (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005), 146–47. July 3, 2017. 68 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 86 Lorna Kaino, personal communication, Jan. “Outback Kids to Sing at Adelaide Carols,” ABC News, 7, 2018. Dec. 16, 2011. 87 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 69 Jesunya Iti Wirkankunytja, The Ernabella “Sounds Like Christmas.” Praise and Worship Singers. Pitjantjatjara Christmas 88 Ibid. Hymns Recorded by Steven Fraser in Kane Hall, 89 Adapted from http://tww.id.au/christmas/ Pukatja, South Australia. A Ngapartji Ngapartji carols.html. Community Project, Tracks of the Desert, Inc., ER- 90 The bristly-coated bandicoot is a marsupial EPWS-04C, 2007. Sound recording. with pointed ears, a short tail, grey-brown fur, a 70 Naina Sen, Trisha Morton-Thomas, and white underbelly, a humped back, large hind feet, Rachel Clements, The Song Keepers, 2018. DVD. and a long pointy snout. An image of a bandicoot 71 For plentiful examples, see Louise may be viewed at https://www.environment.nsw. Sherman and Christobel Mattingley, Our Mob, God’s gov.au/topics/animals-and-plants/native-animals/ Story: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists native-animal-facts/bandicoots.

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