Redgum’s I Was Only 19 remains a powerful anthem for Australian soldiers as it turns 40

Four decades on, Redgum’s I Was Only 19 is still sacred to war veterans. See why and what other classic Aussie songs are turning 40 this year.

Kathy McCabe

@McCabeRadar

4 min read

March 20, 2023 - 5:00PM

News Corp Australia Network

Redgum frontman and I Was Only 19’s songwriter John Schumann said has been approached by many soliders over the years reflecting on how much the song means to them. Picture Matt Turner

IT has been 40 years since Redgum’s powerful song I Was Only 19 brought the dark shame of Australia’s treatment of Vietnam War veterans into the light.

The band’s frontman and I Was Only 19’s songwriter John Schumann said the song, which precipitated the Royal Commission into effects of chemical defoliants on veterans, endures as a galvanising anthem for Australian soldiers suffering PTSD or who have lost mates in Middle East conflicts.

Whether at a gig, a pub or even a bus stop, Schumann is regularly approached by soldiers who share how much the song means to them.

Schumann will play the Redgum songs with his Vagabond Crew to mark the 40th anniversary. Picture: Tait Schmaal.

One group of SAS recruits told him when they graduated, they packed their bags, stood together by the door of their barracks, turned the light down and played I Was Only 19.

He remembers one gig a few years ago when he spotted a bunch of men like “mountains” standing at the back of the venue. He knew straight away they were soldiers.

“When I finished playing, they came over and told me they were from the SAS, they loved 19, and one of their mates had died and were heartbroken about it and asked if I would mind talking to his wife,” he said.

“We’re standing at the back of this pub and they ring her and pass me the phone. All I could tell her was I was devastated for her loss, that I’d lost people and I know it gets better but it’s really hard.”

Schumann and Goanna’s Shane Howard both had hits with protest songs in 1983. Picture: Supplied.

Schumann penned the song after speaking to his brother-in-law Mick Storen, whose descriptions of his experience of the Vietnam War informed the intricate details of the lyrics.

He believes it is those real-life details, from “the passing out parade at Puckapunyal” to the “rash that comes and goes” from exposure to Agent Orange, which struck a chord with the nation, propelled I Was Only 19 to No. 1 and stamped its place in the Australian songbook.

As well as being a musician, Schumann has long been involved in mental health initiatives with returned services and police and his experience is the song makes those suffering from psychological injury feel “less alone.” It may have even saved lives.

“This I know about post traumatic stress disorder is that you absolutely feel like you are on your own,” he said.

“But If you feel that you’re not on your own, that what you have is an honourable injury, a psychological one, because of what they experienced, then it will take people along the road to help rather than on the road to taking their life.”

I Was Only 19 was released in March 1983. Picture: Supplied.

As I Was Only 19 turns 40, Schumann and his band the Vagabond Crew are heading out on the Redgum Years tour in tribute of the band’s repertoire of pop hits including I’ve Been To Bali Too and the folk songs which captured quintessential Australian places and characters such as Gladstone Pier and The Diamantina Drover.

He has been resistant to reuniting the band, who brought a strong Australian accent and stories to the pop charts, out of respect for its legacy.

But once in rehearsals with his band, and after singing some of the classics he hadn’t performed in years, including songs written by and with Redgum’s cofounder Michael Atkinson, Schumann was struck by their relevance in 2023.

“I thought these shows were just going to be about nostalgia but as I got into them, I found these songs still feel relevant; it was like Michael and I were peering into the 21st century when we first wrote them.”

John Schumann and the Vagabond Crew kick off their Redgum Years tour on April 1 at Sydney’s Factory Theatre. For all dates and tickets, schumann.com.au

TUNES OF 1983

1983 was a seminal year for Australian music as protest songs swept the pop charts. Politically and socially, the nation underwent seismic change as Bob Hawke deposed Malcolm Fraser to become Prime Minister at the March election and musicians and their fans protested against the proposed Franklin Dam and marched for nuclear disarmament.

It was a year when the Australian voice took over the airwaves whether it was the punny Australiana by Austen Tayshus or Australian Crawl’s Reckless.

Here’s some of the other Australian classics turning 40 this year.

Power and The Passion, Midnight Oil

Released as a single from their 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 album in March 1983 and peaked at No. 8 on the charts.

Classic lyric: “Flat chat, Pine Gap, in every home a Big Mac, And no one goes outback, that’s that.”

Let The Franklin Flow, Goanna

Released in April and reached No. 12 on the charts.

Classic lyric: “We fell the forests and we scar the land, has to be something worth fighting for, and desecrate it with greedy hands, destroy the beauty that nature planned.”

Reckless, Australian Crawl

From the Semantics EP, Reckless was released in September 1983 and hit No. 1 on the charts.

Classic lyric: “Meet me down by the jetty landing, Where the pontoons bump and spray, The others reading, standing, As the Manly Ferry cuts its way to Circular Quay.”

Cattle and Cane, The Go-Betweens

The first single from their second album Before Hollywood was released in February and reached No. 4 on the UK Independent Chart.

Classic lyric: “I recall a schoolboy coming home, Through fields of cane to a house of tin and timber, And in the sky, a rain of falling cinders, From time to time the waste, memory wastes.”