Project Description

The Queensland Kodály Choir Legacy Project

The Queensland Kodaly Choir (QKC), formed in 1991 by Dr James Cuskelly OAM, developed into a well-known and respected community choir rehearsing each week in Brisbane, Queensland, with around 70 members ranging from 18-80 years of age. In 2019, QKC sang their last notes together as a group and the institution was disbanded in 2020. However, the choir was keen to continue to share their passion for singing and music-making with others in the community and so the QKC Legacy Project was created. Its aim was to build a legacy of Australian choral music and reflect the unique philosophy, diversity, and musical backgrounds of QKC. Eminent Australian composers Astrid Jorgensen OAM, Sandra Milliken and Fay White – who have all previously worked with the choir – were commissioned to create songs, arrangements and recordings for use by the wider choral music community, both at home and abroad.

The Legacy Project had its official launch on Thursday, 4 January 2024, at the Cuskelly College of Music Summer School.

On a Distant Shore

My contribution to the Legacy Project is On a Distant Shore, an anthology of 45 choral arrangements across 20 Australian Folk Song titles. Details of the contributions by Astrid and Fay to the Legacy Project can be found on the Cuskelly College of Music website.

The complete On a Distant Shore project includes:

  • the two-part anthology – 45 choral arrangements with performance notes and a glossary of terms;
  • individual booklets for each arrangement – vocal score, instrument parts, performance notes and glossary of terms; and
  • rehearsal tracks for each arrangement – audio recordings for each dynamic part in the score, reducing the volume of the staves that are not the selected part, so that the selected part is louder than the others.

Included Titles and Arrangements

PART 1

Andy’s Gone with Cattle
SSAA a cappella
SSA with piano
2-Part with piano

The Banks of the Condamine
SATB with piano & tin whistle

The Black Velvet Band
SATB with piano & tin whistle
TBB with piano & tin whistle

Cabbage Tree Hat
SAB with piano & flute
SSA/3-Part with piano & flute
2-Part with piano & flute

The “Catalpa”
SATB with piano
TBB with piano, in d minor
TBB with piano, in e minor

Cross of the South
SATB with piano
2-Part with piano

The Dying Stockman
SATB a cappella

The Eumerella Shore
SATB with piano & flute
SSA with piano & flute
2-Part with piano & flute

Jamie Raeburn’s Farewell
SATB with piano

Jim Jones at Botany Bay
SATB with piano

Lazy Harry’s
SATB with piano
TTBB with piano

The Little Rosewood Casket
SSA a cappella

PART 2

Moreton Bay
SATB with piano
SSA with piano
TBB with piano

My Name is Ben Hall
SAB, a cappella

My Son Ted
SATB with piano

On the Banks of the Reedy Lagoon
SATB with piano & harmonica
SSA/3-Part with piano & harmonica
2-Part with piano & harmonica

The Queensland Drover
SATB with piano & violin
SSA/3-Part with piano & violin
SA/2-Part with piano & violin – in C major
SA/2-Part with piano & violin – in D major

Shores of Botany Bay
SATB with piano & flute
SSA with piano & flute – in d minor
SSA with piano & flute – in e minor
TBB with piano & flute – in d minor
TBB with piano & flute – in e minor
2-Part with piano & flute

The Springtime it Brings on the Shearing
SSAA with piano
2-Part with piano

With My Swag All on My Shoulder
SAB with piano & violin
2-Part with piano & violin

Accessing On a Distant Shore resources

The Queensland Kodály Choir has generously determined that all of these resources should be made freely available to anyone who would like to make use of them. To facilitate this, whilst each of the arrangements is copyright, the full set of project resources (as listed above) has been licensed under Creative Commons International Licence, meaning that they can be freely shared, copied and/or redistributed under certain terms, as listed below *.

Conductors/choirs wishing to access the Anthology – Parts 1 & 2 – and/or the rehearsal tracks, can do so by following the link to the Cuskelly College of Music website.  The individual titles (including cover title page, vocal score, piano accompaniment, extracted instrument parts, performance notes and glossary of terms) are available below.

I hope you enjoy perusing these arrangements and that you can find an opportunity to add one or more of them to your choral repertoire.

Individual Titles A to L

Andy’s Gone with Cattle
SSAA a cappella

Andy’s Gone with Cattle
SSA choir and piano

Andy’s Gone with Cattle
2-Part choir and piano

The Banks of the Condamine
SATB choir and piano

The Black Velvet Band
SATB choir, piano and tin whistle

The Black Velvet Band
TBB choir, piano and tin whistle

Cabbage Tree Hat
SAB choir, piano and flute

Cabbage Tree Hat
SSA/3-Part choir, piano and flute

Cabbage Tree Hat
2-Part choir, piano and flute

The “Catalpa”
SATB choir and piano

The “Catalpa”
TBB choir and piano in d minor

The “Catalpa”
TBB choir and piano in e minor

Cross of the South – a Ballad of Eureka Stockade
SATB choir and piano

Cross of the South – a Ballad of Eureka Stockade
2-Part choir and piano

The Dying Stockman
SATB choir, a cappella

The Eumerella Shore
SATB choir, piano and flute

The Eumerella Shore
SSA choir, piano and flute

The Eumerella Shore
2-Part choir, piano and flute

Jamie Reaburn’s Farewell
SATB choir and piano

Jim Jones at Botany Bay
SATB choir and piano

Lazy Harry’s
SATB choir and piano

Lazy Harry’s
TTBB choir and piano

The Little Rosewood Casket
SSA choir, a cappella

Individual Titles M to W

Moreton Bay
SATB choir and piano

Moreton Bay
SSA choir and piano

Moreton Bay
TBB choir and piano

My Name is Ben Hall
SAB choir, a cappella

My Son Ted
SATB choir and piano

On the Banks of the Reedy Lagoon
SATB choir, piano and harmonica

On the Banks of the Reedy Lagoon
SSA/3-Part choir, piano and harmonica

On the Banks of the Reedy Lagoon
2-Part choir, piano and harmonica

The Queensland Drover
SATB choir, piano and violin

The Queensland Drover
SSA/3-Part choir, piano and violin

The Queensland Drover
SA/2-Part choir, piano and violin – in C major

The Queensland Drover
SA/2-Part choir, piano and violin – in D major

Shores of Botany Bay
SATB choir and piano

Shores of Botany Bay
SSA choir, piano and flute – in d minor

Shores of Botany Bay
SSA choir, piano and flute – in e minor

Shores of Botany Bay
TBB choir, piano and flute – in d minor

Shores of Botany Bay
TBB choir, piano and flute – in e minor

Shores of Botany Bay
2-Part choir, piano and flute

The Springtime it Brings on the Shearing
SSAA choir and piano

The Springtime it Brings on the Shearing
2-Part choir and piano

With My Swag All on My Shoulder
SAB choir, piano and violin

With My Swag All on My Shoulder
2-Part choir, piano and violin

*Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
You are free to share, copy or redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following terms:

  • Attribution— You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if any changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
  • Non-Commercial— You may not use the material for commercial purposes.
  • No Derivatives— If you transform or build upon the material, you may not distribute the modified material.Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

Featured Images: “Diggers on way to Bendigo” and “The Overlanders” by S. T. Gill, Courtesy State Library Victoria.