First things first. What exactly was America’s obsession with Australia in the 1980s? Paul Hogan was taming dogs, carrying around big knives, and having no shame when grabbing testicles in New York City. We brought over Bryan Brown to pull pranks on Brian Dennehy in F/X (1986), then battling bad guys in the sequel with a robotic clown. We slowly, but surely coaxed Sam Neill over here because only he could fight velociraptors. The Facts of Life even did a whole film called The Facts of Life Down Under (1987). We snatched up Peter Weir too. The list seems to go on and on.

Edit: Thanks to Gary in the comments–the answer is Mel Gibson in Mad Max. I completely forgot about him and that series of movies.

Now I normally like to focus on the music video and the people who worked on it, but this time around there is quite a bit of backstory on the song to discuss. It’s a mess that is shameful when you think about it.

The main riff of the song is played on the flute. The flute part was based on a well-known Australian children’s rhyme called Kookaburra. There was a woman named Marion Sinclair who was a music teacher that got involved with the Australian equivalent of the Girl Scouts known as the Girl Guides. In 1934 she wrote it, and submitted the song in a contest the Girl Guides were holding. It became rather well-known after that.

She passed away in 1988, which according to Australian law meant that it was still under copyright. The publishing rights are held by Larrikin Music, and those rights are administered by Music Sales Corporation in New York City.

There was an Australian music-themed game show called Spicks and Specks. They asked a question on the show about the use of Kookaburra in the song Down Under in 2008. In June of 2009, Larrikin Music sued Men at Work for copyright infringement. The band’s legal counsel tried to argue that the song was actually held by the Girl Guides. The court ruled in favor of Larrikin Music giving them 5% of the royalties backdated to 2002. You can imagine how large a number that must be. Up till then it was thought that the song was in the public domain.

This song is so beloved by Australia that it was even played by Men at Work during the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics among many other uses. Australians didn’t take kindly to this as you would expect.

What a ridiculous example of greed run amok without any consideration to an entire nation who for all intents and purposes consider the song, and Kookaburra, to be a national anthem.

Speaking of greed, co-writer Colin Hay was quoted in an interview with Songfacts as saying this about the song:

“The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the overdevelopment of the country. It was a song about the loss of spirit in that country. It’s really about the plundering of the country by greedy people. It is ultimately about celebrating the country, but not in a nationalistic way and not in a flag-waving sense. It’s really more than that.”

It makes sense when you know that the exterior shots for the music video were shot at the Cronulla sand dunes near Sydney. The Cronulla sand dunes have been a major source of controversy over development and exploitation of the territory for a long time. There’s an article explaining it’s history over on Wikipedia. One of the very noteworthy things about it, considering the lyrics of the song, is that sand mining which lasted from the 1930s till 1990 has left the area more susceptible to storms like those that happened in May and June of 1974. That, and it tying in with the lyrics about thunder. Either that, or the thunder represents a storm of development and exploitation omnipresent in Australia.

You can see the theme that Colin Hay was talking about in the music video itself. The hippies coming for a spiritual experience, which is followed shortly by someone who tells the band that the land has been sold. Then we get the flute riff being played in a tree next to a stuffed Koala bear that appears to have hung itself. You can even see a direct reference to the sand mining during the dance part which has three members digging sand and throwing it behind them. There’s also the obvious references to beer at several points in the video along with the Australian Vegemite Sandwich.

The music video also has the celebration of the country when the band meets Australians, or at least those who are fascinated by the country, in different parts of the world.

In the end, they walk far enough that we can see this vast national treasure has power lines running next to or through it. I’m not sure what the appearance of what looks like a coffin near the end is a reference to except that there was a famous crime committed in Cronulla known as the Wanda Beach Murders. That, or more likely it’s a reference to the way Australians treated the Aborigines who have a history in the Cronulla sand dunes seeing as the ones being whipped are covered in black while the band is dressed in white. The ones in black are even carrying the band’s equipment in what appears like a coffin. You can also see a member of the band on a cellphone as well as another member that appears to be dragging the Koala bear from earlier behind him.

Tony Stevens directed the music video, and seems to have only done several music videos for Men at Work. According to IMDb, he seems to be an editor who is still working today–primarily in documentary films.

Enjoy this music video and song that I had no idea came with so much history and significance.