My Island Home facts for kids

Quick facts for kids "My Island Home"
1987 single cover
Single by Warumpi Band
from the album Go Bush
B-side	"Didjeridoo Blue"
Released	12 January 1987
Recorded	1986
Genre	Rock
Length	4:58
Label	Parole
Songwriter(s)	Neil Murray
Warumpi Band singles chronology
"Sit Down Money" (1986) "My Island Home" (1987) "No Fear" / "Tjiluru Tijiluru" (1987)

"My Island Home" is a famous rock song. It was written by Neil Murray and George Burarrwanga. The Warumpi Band first performed it. The song is about George Burarrwanga's home on Elcho Island. This island is located off the coast of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The Warumpi Band recorded the song in 1986. It was released as a single in January 1987. It was part of their second album, Go Bush. Later, in 1995, Christine Anu released her own version of the song. She used to be a backing singer for Neil Murray.

Christine Anu's version of "My Island Home" won 'Song of the Year' at the 1995 APRA Awards. In 2001, the song was also named one of the APRA Top 30 Australian songs of all time.

The Warumpi Band's Version

Neil Murray, who was a vocalist and guitarist for the Warumpi Band, shared how he wrote the song. He said the idea for "My Island Home" came to him on a bus in June 1985. Before that, he had spent about six years living in the deserts of Central Australia.

Neil had visited George, the band's lead singer, at his home on Galiwinku in Arnhem Land. They camped with George's family in a remote part of the island. They lived well on bush tucker and seafood they caught themselves.

After this trip, Neil had to travel to Melbourne and Sydney in the middle of winter to promote the band. He felt a strong desire to be back in a boat on a tropical sea. The words for the song came to him, but he didn't have a notebook. He remembered the tune until he got to Sydney and found his guitar to figure out the chords.

The Warumpi Band first recorded the song in 1986. It was released on their album Go Bush in 1987. Later, George Rrurrambu recorded a version of the song in the Gumatj language for his solo album, Nerbu Message.

Christine Anu's Version

"Island Home"
Single by Christine Anu
from the album Stylin' Up
B-side	"Kulba Yaday"
Released	23 January 1995
Recorded	1994
Genre	World
Length	3:51
Label	Parole
Songwriter(s)	Neil Murray
Producer(s)	David Bridie
Christine Anu singles chronology
"Monkey and the Turtle" (1994) "Island Home" (1995) "Party" (1995)

In January 1995, Christine Anu released her own version of "My Island Home." This was the second single from her first album, Stylin' Up. Christine Anu is a Torres Strait Islander. She changed some of the song's words to fit her own experiences. For example, instead of comparing island life to the desert, she compared it to city life. She also sang it from a woman's point of view.

The music video for her song shows her singing. It also shows an Aboriginal man who decides to leave his job as a cleaner. He starts running through the city, then the desert, and finally reaches the ocean. When he gets there, he swims to his home island and waves to his family.

At the 1995 APRA Awards, "My Island Home" won Song of the Year. It was also nominated for the ARIA Award for Song of the Year at the ARIA Music Awards of 1995. However, it lost to "Chains" by Tina Arena.

Even though it reached number 67 on the Australian singles chart, the song stayed on the national top 100 chart for 20 weeks. It was also voted number 47 in the Triple J Hottest 100, 1995.

Christine Anu performed the song at the closing ceremony of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She also sang it at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney. In 2001, the song was listed in the APRA Top 30 Australian songs of all time.

Anu re-recorded the song for her second album, Come My Way, in 2000. This new version was called "Earth Beat." It had fewer echo effects but added soft synth sounds and stronger guitar. This made it sound more rhythmic and polished than the original, which was more focused on the drum beat.

In 2016, Christine Anu's version of "My Island Home" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia. This means it's considered a very important Australian sound.

In 2018, Anu performed the song again at the opening ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Chart Performance

Other Versions

The Aboriginal band Tiddas also recorded a version of "My Island Home." Their version was included on the soundtrack for the film Radiance.

Images for kids

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  1987 single cover

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  Christine Anu's 1995 single cover