• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Peter Dawson [music videos]

14 October 2012 · Leave a Comment

Peter Dawson (born in Adelaide, South Australia, on 31 January 1882) was a popular baritone singer who sang professionally from the early 1900s to the 1950s. After winning various singing contests, he was encouraged to travel to England, where he received further training in music. He was well-received in Britain, and his popularity is credited with assisting the survival of concert recitals and the older style of ballad songs. He was one of the first singers to recognize the potential of putting songs onto recording discs (gramophone records); by the end of his career, it is estimated that he recorded about 3500 songs and sold over 13 million records.

During the First World War he joined the army (the Australian Imperial Force), although he was not sent overseas to fight; whilst in the Second World War he helped to entertain the troops and assisted with recruitment efforts in both Australia and New Zealand.

As well as singing, Peter Dawson also wrote songs and music, often using pseudonyms. In 1951 he published the story of his life in his book, Fifty Years of Song. Fifty Years of Song. Dawson died on 27 September 1961 in Sydney and was buried in Rookwood cemetery.

Peter Dawson – Advance Australia Fair


Peter Dawson – The A.I.F. Is Marching


Peter Dawson – Along the Road to Gundagai


Peter Dawson – On The Road To Mandalay
(UK song, based upon the poem “Mandalay” by Rudyard Kipling)


Peter Dawson – The Riveter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFYrmnem1oQ

Peter Dawson – Song of Australia


Peter Dawson – V is for Victory; In Memory of You; Whalin’ up the Lachlan; Lassiter’s Last Ride
(V is for Victory: words and music by Peter Dawson, 1941; In Memory of You: words by Harald Bowden, music by Peter Dawson, 1941; Whalin’ up the Lachlan: words by Louis Esson, music by Peter Dawson, 1923)


Peter Dawson – Waltzing Matilda


References and further information:
James Glennon. Dawson, Peter Smith (1882–1961), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University (accessed 8 October 2012)
Peter Dawson (bass-baritone), Wikipedia (accessed 8 October 2012)
Peter Dawson 1882-1961, Live Performance Australia (accessed 8 October 2012)

Filed Under: music videos, musicians and singers Tagged With: early music, Peter Dawson

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Australian flag, Kangaroo, Wattle, 100hThe Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
A list of significant Australiana
Significant events and commemorative dates
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian literature
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Australian explorers
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • To Australia [poem by Ruby Jean Stephenson, 18 November 1943]
  • [General news items] [4 April 1912]
  • [Australia has had more than its share of shipping disasters of late] [4 April 1912]
  • [Probably Professor Marshall Hall was right] [4 April 1912]
  • Gold-seekers of the Fifties [1 July 1899]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Clancy of The Overflow [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
  • The drover’s wife [by Henry Lawson]

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • IAC on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Stephen on How M’Ginnis Went Missing [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • IAC on The late Louisa Lawson [by George Black, 2 October 1920]
  • Percy Delouche on Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
  • Phil on The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]

For Australia

Copyright © 2023 · Log in