Shrine Stories: The Sheet Music

The Shrine Stories podcast takes you on a deep dive behind the objects on our gallery floor.

 

In this episode, we uncover the story behind the song, Dream of Australia, which plays in our galleries. Petty Officer Ted McHaffie wrote it in 1936 during a particularly lonesome and frustrating time in his service.

 

Tragically, five years later, Ted was one of the 645 Australian soldiers killed when HMAS Sydney II was sunk by a German raider, and so the song was never recorded.

 

That was until Ted’s nephew, Dr Robert Hoskin, decided it was time that this tune had an audience.

Music: Across the Line - Lone Canyon