This series consists of 81 wax cylinders containing recordings of Australian Aboriginal songs made by Prof. Edward Harold Davies in South Australia and the Northern Territory in the late 1920s. During this time Davies was a member of the University of Adelaide's Board for Anthropological Research (BAR: see AA 346), which made regular expeditions to remote locations in order to pursue scientific research on Aboriginal subjects. The wax cylinders in this series were recorded during expeditions to Macumba (SA) and Alice Springs (NT) 1926-27; Koonibba (SA) 1928; and Hermannsburg (NT) 1929. One cylinder was recorded at Swan Reach (SA) but the type of expedition on which it was made is obscure. Note also that Davies was a member of the BAR expedition to MacDonald Downs in 1930, where he made sound recordings with the assistance of Norman B Tindale (see AA 338). The wax cyclinders recorded at MacDonald Downs are located in the Tindale collection (see AA 338/11/1/1-14). Davies also worked with Tindale in 1932 on the wax cylinder recordings of the Tanganekald man Clarence Long (Milerum). These too are located in the Tindale collection (see AA 338/11/5/1-15).

As a member of the BAR, Davies's research was ultimately directed towards the question of the origin of music and its evolution to its 'highest' form in Western classical music.

In order to conduct his fieldwork Davies obtained an Edison phonograph and had improvements made to the recording horn. His recording method focused on an individual singer, as opposed to previous recorders, such as Sir Baldwin Spencer, who recorded a body of singers. Further details of Davies's methods are found in his paper 'Adelaide University Field Anthropology, Central Australia. No. 4 - Aboriginal Songs', Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, Vol. 51, 1927, pp. 81-92. Documentation relating to the recordings is also found in his 'Field notes' (see AA 70/4). Davies usually transcribed and summarised song texts, gave the name of the performer, and provided other contextual details.

A summary listing of the wax cylinders is:

• AA 70/8/1-14
  Macumba (14 cylinders)


• AA 70/8/15-24
  Alice Springs (10 cylinders)


• AA 70/8/25
  Swan Reach (1 cylinder)


• AA 70/8/26-39
  Koonibba (14 cylinders)


• AA 70/8/40-44
  Penong (5 cylinders)


• AA 70/8/45-47
  Yardea (3 cylinders)


• AA 70/8/48-81
  Hermannsburg (34 cylinders)

Note that 6 cylinders formerly held in the Davies collection (described as 'Charlotte Waters, 1926') have been moved to the Tindale collection. They contain a Southern Aranda play corroboree from Charlotte Waters that was recorded at Ernabella (SA) by Tindale in 1933.

Song, CD and Transcription Tape Catalogue information for recordings has been provided in [ ]. For example: [Song 1. Track 1. Tape No. 9567; TT4; Cyl. 1; Tape 4; Record 6]

• Song 1 refers to the song number


• CD 1 refers to the CD number


• Track 1 refers to the track number on the Access CD


• Tape No. 9567 refers to the Tape number in the Transcription Tape Catalogue


• TT4 refers to the Transcription Tape number in the Transcription Tape Catalogue


• Cyl. 1 and similar information refers to the record number, cylinder number and/or tape number in the Transcription Tape Catalogue