The nostalgic jingle Slip! Slop! Slap! is credited for changing Australian attitudes towards sun safety, and now the earworm is being recognised for its cultural significance.
The well-known 1980s animated television advert featuring Sid the seagull slipping on a T-shirt, slopping on sunscreen, and slapping on a hat, became one of Australia's most successful health campaigns.
The jingle — written by Phillip Adams and composed by Peter Best for Cancer Council Victoria – has now been added to the National Film and Sound Archive's (NFSA) Sounds of Australia registry.
"It's really one that's stood the test of time, and I think for a lot of people is something that they recall from summers past," NFSA curator Nick Henderson said.
Each year, the NFSA selects 10 recordings — from hundreds of public nominations — that have informed or reflected life in Australia to add to its collection. They include popular music, advertising themes, spoken word and radio broadcasts that are Australian and more than 10 years old.
This year 11 sounds — spanning 96 years — have been added, instead of the usual 10, after there was a tie for 10th place from the voting panel of audio and industry experts.
One of Australia's most recognisable patriotic songs, I am Australian — also known as We are Australian — makes the list with the 1997 cover version featuring Judith Durham, Russel Hitchcock and Mandawuy Yunupingu.
Written in 1987 by Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton, the lyrics feature many references to Australian and First Nations history, environment, and culture — from red soil plains to Albert Namatjira.
It's regularly rolled out as an anthem at national sporting events, and has featured in branding and advertising for the 1999 republic referendum, Telstra and even the ABC.
Sherbet's 1976 hit synonymous with Australian cricket Howzat, the Loved Ones' eponymous rock song, and Robyn Archer's 1977 feminist blues anthem Menstruation Blues have also made the list.
"This is perhaps one of Robyn Archer's most well-known or iconic songs. It comes from her first album and it's one that's been on her repertoire ever since," Mr Henderson said.
"It was actually the first album produced entirely by woman, so it really is deserving.
"It raises a lot of issues which were taboo then and possibly even taboo now in terms of Australian sound recordings."
The newest sound in this year's inclusions is the 2012 Aria award-winning album Concerto of the Greater Sea by the oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros, while the oldest is a 1927 recording of Verdi's Anvil Chorus performed by pioneering harmonica player PC Spouse.
"In the early 20th century, particularly in the 1920s through to 1940s, the harmonica was one of the most popular instruments in Australia, so many people had them," Mr Henderson said.
"Percy Spouse was a champion harmonica player and also had a very significant sound-recording career."
Other inductees this year include actress and operetta star Nellie Stewart's Sweet Nell of Old Drury and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander singer Wilma Reading's I Only Came To Say Goodbye.
"Wilma Reading was perhaps much better known internationally. She had this amazing career after releasing a few recordings in Sydney in the early 1960s," Mr Henderson said.
"Her career took her overseas with Duke Ellington, touring behind the Iron Curtain in the 1970s in the Soviet Union right through to performing at the reunification of Germany.
"She had an amazing international career. She's from Cairns and is still in Cairns at the moment."
Harry Williams and the Country Outcasts by Harry and Wilga Williams, and a 1959 ABC narration of Ivan Smith's The Death of a Wombat round out the list.
There are now 186 recordings in the NFSA's Sounds of Australia archive, including the Australia's earliest known sound recording from 1896.
2023 Sounds of Australia
- 1.Anvil Chorus, P. C. Spouse - 1927
- 2.Sweet Nell of Old Drury, Nellie Stewart - 1931
- 3.The Death of a Wombat, Ivan Smith (author), George S. English (composer), ABC (broadcaster) – 1959
- 4.I Only Came To Say Goodbye, Wilma Reading - 1961
- 5.The Loved One, The Loved Ones - 1966
- 6.Howzat, Sherbet - 1976
- 7.Menstruation Blues, Robyn Archer - 1977
- 8.Harry Williams and the Country Outcasts, Harry and Wilga Williams - 1979
- 9.Slip Slop Slap jingle, Phillip Adams (writer), Peter Best (composer) and Cancer Council Victoria – 1981
- 10.I am Australian, various — 1997
- 11.Concerto of the Greater Sea, Joseph Tawadros — 2012