Peter Barnes
The Australian war heroes song ‘Can You Hear Australia’s Heroes Marching?’, was created from Peter Barnes’ experience in visiting the Adelaide River War Cemetery in the Northern Territory and seeing the graves of very brave Australians who gave their lives in the service and defence of their country.
He felt he should do something within his capabilities to honour the memory of such incredible sacrifice.
A total of 434 war graves marked by bronze plaques are contained in the NT war cemetery.
The burials are made up of 14 airmen of the RAF, 12 unidentified men of the British Merchant Navy; one soldier of the Canadian Army; 18 sailors, 181 soldiers and 201 airmen of the Australian Forces and seven men of the Australian Merchant Navy.
The Northern Territory Memorial to the Missing honours a further 292 Servicemen and women lost to the north of Australia.
The adjacent civil section contains the graves of the nine Post Office staff killed on 19 February 1942 during the bombing of Darwin, one of 63 separate occasions from that date. The civilian casualties of WW2 include those of 31 Indigenous Australians.
“To stand on my homeland, surrounded by our war dead, who fought heroically to defend Australia and their loved ones down the track, was a profound experience and initiated the creation of the song.” – Peter Barnes
Click here for the YouTube Channel with videos relating to the song. This channel has over four million video views. People have watched YouTube videos of this song every day since first uploading the song on YouTube in December 2006.
Over the past twenty four years, the Australian war heroes song has been used for commemorative purposes across Australia by schools, churches, choirs, bands, councils, retirement homes, military services, RSL branches, and ANZAC tributes at NRL and AFL matches.
Radio stations throughout Australia have broadcast the song leading up to ANZAC Day and Remembrance Day. The song has also been requested to be played at funerals (for veterans).
All sheet music for the song are FREE. Go to the download page to download free pdf files of the sheet music. Also, you can download mp3s for the song’s backing and mastered recording of the song for free.
The song is great as an Anzac song to be played or performed for Anzac Day commemorative purposes, especially for children in primary schools and students in secondary schools.
“Just a quick note to say thank you for the use of your song, and to let you know that our Anzac Day ceremony (held today) was an outstanding success. The overwhelming reaction that I got was due mostly to your beautiful remembrance song. I received so many favourable comments, and there was even some tears amongst those that attended. We had a couple of returned servicemen as our special guests and speakers, and they too were very moved by it. So thank you once again.” – Email from a school.
Can You Hear Australia’s Heroes Marching?
Concept, title, lyrics, and copyright owner (author) of the song: Peter Barnes
Singer and music composition: Darren Mullan
Spoken words voice: David Hill
The song was produced and recorded at Quentin Eyers Music in Adelaide, South Australia, in 2001. March 2026, will be the 25th anniversary year of the recording of the song.
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