Song · Midnight Oil
“Truganini” by Midnight Oil
From the album Earth and Sun and Moon (1993)
“Truganini” by Midnight Oil appears on 11 radio countdowns from 5 stations between 1993 and 2005. It was first released in 1993 on the album Earth and Sun and Moon. Its best result is #55 on the Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1993. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #67 alternative song of 1993 and #1,972 alternative song of all time.
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"Truganini" comes from Earth and Sun and Moon, Midnight Oil's eighth studio album, released in March 1993, and it takes its name from Truganini, a Nuenonne woman from south-east Tasmania. Rob Hirst and Jim Moginie built it around a very Australian problem, drought, and use it to ask what the colonists were chasing in such an unforgiving land at all. From there the song widens out to Truganini and Albert Namatjira, two Indigenous Australians whose lives European settlement upended, and weighs how the country now feels about its old ties to the monarchy.
Nick Launay produced with the band and mixed it, with Brent Clark helping record, and it moves with a hard, driving urgency under a big, open chorus. It reached number four in New Zealand, 10 in Australia, 11 in Canada and 29 in the UK, and number four on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
Year-end countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 67 | 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana | 91X Top 91 Songs of 1993 | 91 |
| 1993 | 63 | Live 105 San Francisco, CA | Live 105 Top 105 Songs of 1993 | 105 |
| 1993 | 55 | Q101 Chicago, IL | Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1993 | 101 |
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 990 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) | 2000 |
| 2000 | 736 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) | 2001 |
| 2001 | 736 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) | 2002 |
| 2002 | 736 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) | 2003 |
| 2003 | 736 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) | 2004 |
| 2003 | 1454 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
| 2004 | 736 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) | 2005 |
| 2005 | 737 | CD101 | CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) | 1994 |
Also listed as: Truganni.
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