DESCRIPTION:
A segment from the long running Australian music TV series Countdown, which aired on the ABC from 1974-1987.

This particular segment aired during the Countdown episode which originally aired on October 30, 1983, on the ABC.

This clip features an interview of Australian band Men At Work, featuring members Colin Hay, Ron Strykert, Jerry Speiser, Greg Ham, and John Rees, conducted by Countdown Talent Co-Ordinator Molly Meldrum.

The interview begins with a discussion about returning home from an overseas tour. A discussion of the use of ‘Down Under’ (playing in the background of the interview) as an unofficial anthem for the Australia II crew in the 1983 America’s Cup. They also discuss their upcoming Australian tour.


Vaxfacts: This episode aired a month after the 1983 America’s Cup was won by Australian businessman Alan Bond’s yacht syndicate Australia II. Men At Work’s song ‘Down Under, already a number 1 Australian hit in 1981, was the unofficial anthem of the Australia II crew, (and Australia as a whole), and returned to number 1 with Australia II winning the America’s Cup, the first time any team had defeated the New York Yacht Club in 132 years, thus breaking the longest winning streak in sporting history.

Colin Hay has told the story that the inspiration for ‘Down Under’ came to him as he was driving through the intersection of Power Street and Riversdale Road, in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn. Two buildings of note at that intersection are the Melbourne Tram Museum (Melbourne having one of the largest tram (streetcar) networks in the world), and St Anthony’s Shrine, the Catholic church which serves as the Shrine to the Capuchin priests and friars in Australia. Built in the early 1960s by Melbourne’s large and growing Italian community, and dedicated to St Anthony of Padua, as well as serving as the National Shrine to the Capuchin Franciscan Friars of Australia, it has also served as the unofficial “Italian church”, with many Italian-Australians having been either married or baptised there- one such baptism was that of Vaxman80 himself! Note the irony of such an iconic Australian song coming from just outside an Italian church!