His voice is synonymous with an iconic period in Australian music, evoking memories of a simpler, less complicated time of long, hot summers.
As the frontman of Goanna, Shane Howard’s unique voice has been the soundtrack to not only Australian’s lives, but those around the world for more than 40 years.
The lyrics behind enduring songs like Solid Rock, Sacred Ground, Let the Franklin Flow and Razor’s Edge have challenged existing social paradigms and lit a fire for the rights of Aboriginal people.
On August 24 he will perform and share the stories and inspiration behind these songs and on August 25 he will play at Cauldron Distillery with renowned didgeridoo player and Tamborine Mountain local, Russell Smith.
“I was really delighted when Russell asked me if I’d like to come up, not just to sing songs but to talk about where the songs came from and how they came to be written,” Shane said.
“It’s the story behind the story that’s interesting this far behind the track and I’m grateful for Russell for facilitating that.
“I’ve been all around the mountain but never on it so I’m looking forward to it,” he said, adding it could be an opportunity to write a song about the mountain.
The Stories and Songs series at the library created by Russell has been hugely popular.
Russell said it was actually while performing with Goanna at WOMADelaide in 2022 that inspired him to create Stories and Songs on the mountain and he was thrilled to be able to bring an Aussie legend here.
“People want to hear Shane’s story,” he said.
“He is well and truly loved around the country and has influenced me to do what I do today.”
While writing songs is something Shane has spent his life doing, it’s his memoir he’s now turned his focus to.
“I am far enough down the track that I think it might be worth reviewing it,” he said of his life.
And the message he hopes to convey in it is: “It doesn’t matter what you do, everything is hard, so if you are going to do it for the rest of your life make sure it’s something you love.”
Shane said the two pillars of Goanna’s music, Solid Rock and Let the Franklin Flow, addressed Indigenous and environmental issues and were the foreground of awareness in this country.
“I thought they would blow away in the wind, but they did the opposite; they embedded in memory,” he shared.
So much so that in 2018 Solid Rock was identified by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia as one of ‘the essential sounds that helped define Australian history and culture’.
“In 1981 when I went to Uluru I had no idea that that song would catapult me deeper into Aboriginal society,” he revealed.
What followed was a profound connection with Indigenous Australians through hours and hours of listening to their stories from cities to small outback communities of stolen land, dispossession and neglect.
“I didn’t want to be silent about those things, but I had no power. All I could do was write a song about it,” he explained.
His affinity with First Nations People’s was so strong that when the Voice to Parliament Referendum in 2023 failed he returned the Member of the Order of Australia he was appointed in 2016.
“The voice to parliament was a chance to address that (colonialist’s treatment of First Nation’s people),” Shane said.
“I was deeply saddened that we turned our backs on that moment as a nation.
“What kind of a nation do we want to be? We keep sweeping our historical baggage under the carpet, but it won’t go away. How can we hold our heads up and be a virtuous nation? We have to ask big questions and no longer bumble along with the lie that this nation was peacefully settled.
“As an older man I’d love to see us become a good and decent country that does the right thing before I’m gone.
“It takes bravery and honesty.”
Bookings for Songs and Stories on August 24 can be made at the Tamborine Mountain Library. Bookings for Shane Howard with Russell Smith and Dane Sharp on August 25 can be made through Cauldron Distillery.
