Introduction

Australian Church music is clearly alive and humming along today, with many new compositions, associations and study courses surfacing in many different Church traditions and environments. Studying, creating and performing Australian Church music together is a special way of expressing our faith and our interaction with God, in our own Church denominations. Church music also builds Church unity, when we listen to and appreciate each other's Christian music traditions, and when we perform approved common repertoires together.

Although Australia's Church music traditions were originally inherited from its immigrant peoples, colonial Australia did develop its own unique and well-known Church music and texts. The rich diversity of Australian Church music, and its fascinating multicultural history, deserves greater exploration, and much more positive attention.