Great Southern Land

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Barbara

Adding the vocals to the earliest demo CD Messiah King, November 2002

Hello. I am an Australian Christian lyricist. My December 2003 album Favoured Chick showcased 14 of my original songs - all my lyrics and many teamed up with music by Ng Wah Lok. These songs were written during 2001-2002 while I was living and working in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and in 2003 while I was living in Canberra, Australia. Ng Wah Lok has re-released 10 on these songs on the album Messiah King. I then lived in Jakarta, Indonesia (2005-2008) where I recorded my album Soular Eclipse. Now I am in Melbourne, Australia. Thanks for your interest in my contemporary worship songs. Although I've only been writing for a short time I've already been blessed with the lyrics to over 200 songs. The music composers cannot keep up with this prolific flow of words yet!

Please contact me if you compose music, have basic melodies or complete scores without words so we might collaborate!

For those interested in further details, below you can read something of my testimony on how the songs usually come about, the encouragement that has supported their publishing, their intended purposes and my reasons for often using a distinctly Australian focus for many of the songs.

Enjoying some relaxation on a tropical island in Malaysia during 2002.

Listen to an interview with Barbara on OneWayFM Canberra,

September 2004, by Col Freeman:

Q. What inspires you to write?

Q. What encouraged you to go public with your songs?

Q. What are the songs meant for?

Q. Some of your songs are unashamedly 'Australian'... how come?

Q. What inspires you to write?

Many of the songs here on the Great Southern Land Worship site were penned during a spiritually enriched period in my experiencing God. While working in Malaysia, by virtue of my comfortable lifestyle there, I was less encumbered with worldly pressures. (Other working mums will appreciate what I mean.) This provided opportunity for, among other things, deeper meditation and more intimate closeness with the Lord. The Spirit continues to inspire me with various songs. The inspiration usually comes after studying the Word, or receiving a message through hearing preaching, or reading devotionals, or through participating in rallies, musicals, choir or other services for the Lord. Darker experiences in Canberra inspired the songs Implicitly , In His Mighty Hand, Lighthouse and Valleys Low. I have found that the lyrics flow quite fluently and when I look back on what has come from the keyboard of my computer, I don't recognise it as my own work and can only defer to God as the author. I have been further blessed to work with talented musicians and composers to set some songs to music. We have endeavoured to keep a contemporary feel to both the lyrics and the tunes, so that these songs may be readily applied in your day to day worship contexts. I try to write internationally applicable lyrics but have also penned some especially for Australian, Malaysian and Indonesian worship experiences. I hope to write especially for other South East Asian and Australian contexts too. I would be happy to write for your camp theme or special conference if you are seeking lyrics. Just contact me with the details.

Q. What encouraged you to go public with your songs?

Well I never really felt the songs I was given were for my sole use... they are generally corporate worship songs. So I was eager to publish. Credits are widely due. For example, my efforts have been encouraged by mentors and friends in my local church and 'care group' in KL and I thank them for that. I have also been inspired by various church worship teams and especially the KLBC musical directorship. And I have gratefully taken advice from and had music written for my songs by the respected and successful song writer/pastor Ng Wah Lok (of "Every Time I pray" and "Approved in Every Way" fame). Pastor Wah Lok has been instrumental in seeing that my lyrics saw the light of day, instead of just going into a file for no one else to see or hear.

The award for best hymn (for Harvest of the Field) in the 2004 Australian Gospel Music Awards was a pleasant encouragement, but I hope not only my hymns but pop songs, jazz and other style worship songs are also recognised! Our song Birds and Bees was a finalist for Best Children's Gospel Song in the 2006 Australian Gospel Music Awards.

Q. What are the songs meant for?

I pray that you will be encouraged and uplifted, ministered to and be able to minister through, these songs. I would love the songs to become a part of your local worship experience. I would particularly like my Christmas songs to break through into the secular music scene. God bless you and may He be pleased with our worship.

Q. Some of your songs are unashamedly 'Australian'... how come?

So, why did I put an Australian slant on many of my songs, particularly when I was writing in Malaysia? Well, I am Australian and couldn't help but continue to be so even in the Malaysian context. Raising two young Australian children in a foreign environment made me very conscious of maintaining some sort of 'Australian distinctive' in our Christian family culture. I am also academically interested in contextualising Christian experiences according to culture and era so I try to practise this myself. (I wrote a Masters thesis entitled "Unity in Diversity: Contextual Theology in Ecumenical Indonesia".) I draw on the scriptures and Australian experiences in the writing of most of my songs. Indonesian and Malaysian influences sneak in as they are part of my life experience. Besides, I think they are very appropriate for an Australian worship context, as we are certainly a nation within a wider South East Asian context and we boast multicultural everything! I appreciate that there are already successful Christian Australian artists contributing to the world wide worship scene, Hillsong being the most prominent example. But in the interests of diversity I still see a gap that can be filled by Australian-Asian Christian music, and perhaps that's where my songs fit in. I also would like to promote the use of traditional Australian aboriginal instruments in worship. Certainly 'Great Southern Land', 'Our Great Southern Land', all the songs in 'Then the Angels Wept' (a school musical) and 'That's what Aussie Kids are Praising You for' are especially for Australians! Whereas, I wrote 'Breakthrough Generation' for the Malaysian context, although I would hope it's message to be true for Australia Christian youth also. Star on the Hill and In You 50 Years were both written especially for the Kuala Lumpur Baptist Church. It's Going to Rain Today was written first in Indonesian (Hari Ini Mau Hujan) followed by an English version.

In 2005-2006, in a huge undertaking, I collaborated with composer Benjamin Thorn to complete composition of a musical production Then the Angels Wept, which has an Australian outback Christmas setting, and is suited to school productions. Contact me if you would like to try it.

Great Southern Land

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