This chapter explores the music histories of two internationally recognizable Australian sites – The Sydney Opera House and Uluru. By examining music’s relationship with place, the chapter discusses millennial-old musical histories, early colonial negotiations and contemporary musical encounters. The world-renowned Sydney Opera House opened to gala performances, protest and acclaim in 1973. Positioned on Sydney Harbour, the site has variously been known as Bennelong Point and Tubowgule, has fostered music making for millennia, and continues to be symbolic of Australia’s musical identity. Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) is a Dreaming site and geological phenomenon in Australia’s geographical ‘Red Centre’ with long-established importance in Anangu songlines, which also holds significant symbolic value in contemporary music making. Centring this account in place, the chapter explores the musical encounters that have shaped music in Australia across time, drawing attention to the acoustic possibilities of Country, people and stories of the past.

This Introduction provides an account of how Music in Australia has been conceptualised in previous music histories. It shows that music historians have sought to draw boundaries around what Australian music is by emphasizing the milestones of European settlement, and have often struggled to reconcile Indigenous music making and non-Indigenous music into one account of music in Australia. It explores also the history of cultural institutions in Australia that have built the foundations for music in Australia. Stepping back to look at these cultural institutions and the wide ranging music making in the past and present, the introduction summarises the book’s contents across the themes of Continuities, Encounters, Diversities and Institutions.