Bruce Smeaton

Australian composer (born 1938)

Bruce Smeaton
Born	(1938-03-05) 5 March 1938 (age 86) Brighton, Victoria, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Occupation	Composer
Years active	1973-present
Spouse(s)	Helen Telford (former) Mary Smeaton (current)
Children	3

Bruce Smeaton (born 5 March 1938) is an Australian composer who is well known for a variety of Australian film and television scores in all genres, including features, shorts, television, documentaries and advertisements.^[1] His scores include Picnic at Hanging Rock, Seven Little Australians, Roxanne, Iceman, and Circle of Iron. He has won the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Best Original Music Score award for The Cars That Ate Paris (1974), The Great Macarthy (1975), The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978) and Street Hero (1984, shared with Garth Porter and others).^[2]

Biography

Smeaton was born in Brighton, Victoria. His music has been championed by the Southern Cross Records and 1M1 Records labels.

In 1964, he spent time as a public school music teacher, at Fawkner Technical School (then an all-boys school) in the Moomba Park area of North Fawkner, a suburb of Melbourne. At the time he had a passionate interest in vintage cars which he would often bring to school.

His ground-breaking synthesized score for Wendy Cracked a Walnut was nominated for an ARIA Award in 1991 for Best Soundtrack / Cast / Show Album.^[3]

He currently lives in Binalong, New South Wales. He has been married twice & has three adult children.

Filmography

Documentaries

Bush, Books and Breedens (1973)
My Brother Wartovo (1973)
Kangaroo Island (1974)
Pozieres (2000)

Feature films

Libido (1973)
The Cars That Ate Paris (1974)
Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
The Great Macarthy (1975)
The Devil's Playground (1976)
The Trespassers (1976)
Eliza Fraser a.k.a. The Adventures of Eliza Fraser (1976)
Summerfield (1977)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
Circle of Iron a.k.a. The Silent Flute (1978)
The Last of the Knucklemen (1979)
Grendel Grendel Grendel (1980)
...Maybe This Time (1980)
Double Deal (1981)
Monkey Grip (1982)
Squizzy Taylor (1982)
Barbarosa (1982)
Undercover (1983)
Iceman (1984)
The Naked Country (1984)
Departure (1985)
Plenty (1985)
Eleni (1985)
Contagion (1987)
Roxanne (1987)
Evil Angels a.k.a. A Cry in the Dark (1988)
Wendy Cracked a Walnut aka Almost (1989)
The Missing (1999)

Short films

The Clown and the Mindreader (n.d.)

Television shows

Seven Little Australians (1973, TV miniseries)
Ben Hall (1975, TV series)
Tandarra (1976, miniseries)
Patrol Boat (1979, TV series)
The Timeless Land (1980, TV miniseries)
A Town Like Alice (1981, TV miniseries)
1915 (1982, miniseries)
Five Mile Creek (1983, TV series)
The Coral Island (1983, TV miniseries)
Eureka Stockade (1984, TV miniseries)
Boy in the Bush (1984, TV miniseries)
A Thousand Skies (1986, TV miniseries)
Jackson's Crew (1986, pilot)
Tusitala (1986, TV miniseries)
The Alien Years (1988, TV miniseries)
Act of Betrayal (1988, movie)
Naked Under Capricorn (1989, movie)
The Private War of Lucinda Smith (1990, dramatised documentary)
The Last of the Ryans (1997, movie)

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony held by the Australian Recording Industry Association. They commenced in 1987.


Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result	Ref.
1991	Wendy Cracked a Walnut	Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album	Nominated	^[4]

References

^ "Search Results for author:"Smeaton, Bruce, 1938-"". catalogue. National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
^ "Australian Film Institute Feature Awards 1958–2002". Australian Film Institute. Archived from the original on 7 March 2011. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
^ Isnare.com (www.isnare.com/encyclopedia/ARIA_Award_for_Best_Original_Soundtrack,_Cast_or_Show_Album)
^ ARIA Award previous winners. "History Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). Retrieved 12 July 2022.

External links

Bruce Smeaton at IMDb

AACTA Award for Best Original Music Score

1975–2000

The Cars That Ate Paris and The Great McCarthy – Bruce Smeaton (1975)
No Award (1976)
The Picture Show Man – Peter Best (1977)
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith – Bruce Smeaton (1978)
Mad Max – Brian May (1979)
Manganinnie – Peter Sculthorpe (1980)
Fatty Finn – Rory O'Donoghue and Grahame Bond (1981)
The Man from Snowy River – Bruce Rowland (1982)
Phar Lap – Bruce Rowland (1983)
Street Hero – Garth Porter and Bruce Smeaton (1984)
Rebel – Ray Cook, Chris Neal, Peter Best, Billy Byers, Bruce Rowland (1985)
Young Einstein – William Motzing and Martin Armiger (1986)
The Tale of Ruby Rose – Paul Schütze (1987)
The Lighthorsemen – Mario Millo (1988)
Dead Calm – Graeme Revell (1989)
The Big Steal – Phil Judd (1990)
Dingo – Michel Legrand and Miles Davis (1991)
Romper Stomper – John Clifford White (1992)
The Piano – Michael Nyman (1993)
Traps – Douglas Stephen Rae (1994)
Hotel Sorrento – Nerida Tyson-Chew (1995)
Shine – David Hirschfelder (1996)
Doing Time for Patsy Cline – Peter Best (1997)
Oscar and Lucinda – Thomas Newman (1998)
In a Savage Land – David Bridie (1999)
Bootmen – Cezary Skubiszewski (2000)

2001–present

The Dish – Edmund Choi (2001)
Rabbit-Proof Fence – Peter Gabriel (2002)
Japanese Story – Elizabeth Drake (2003)
Somersault – Decoder Ring (2004)
The Proposition – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (2005)
Suburban Mayhem – Mick Harvey (2006)
The Home Song Stories – Antony Partos (2007)
Unfinished Sky – Antony Partos (2008)
Mao's Last Dancer – Christopher Gordon (2009)
Animal Kingdom – Antony Partos and Sam Petty (2010)
The Hunter – Andrew Lancaster, Michael Lira and Matteo Zingales (2011)
Not Suitable for Children – Matteo Zingales and Jono Ma (2012)
The Great Gatsby – Craig Armstrong (2013)
The Railwayman – David Hirschfelder (2014)
Mad Max: Fury Road – Tom Holkenborg (2015)
Tanna – Antony Partos (2016)
Lion – Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O'Halloran (2017)
Ladies in Black – Christopher Gordon (2018)
Judy and Punch – François Tétaz (2019)
Babyteeth - Amanda Brown (2020)
June Again - Christopher Gordon (2021)
Falling for Figaro - Cezary Skubiszewski (2022)

v t e AACTA Award for Best Original Music Score
1975–2000	The Cars That Ate Paris and The Great McCarthy – Bruce Smeaton (1975) No Award (1976) The Picture Show Man – Peter Best (1977) The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith – Bruce Smeaton (1978) Mad Max – Brian May (1979) Manganinnie – Peter Sculthorpe (1980) Fatty Finn – Rory O'Donoghue and Grahame Bond (1981) The Man from Snowy River – Bruce Rowland (1982) Phar Lap – Bruce Rowland (1983) Street Hero – Garth Porter and Bruce Smeaton (1984) Rebel – Ray Cook, Chris Neal, Peter Best, Billy Byers, Bruce Rowland (1985) Young Einstein – William Motzing and Martin Armiger (1986) The Tale of Ruby Rose – Paul Schütze (1987) The Lighthorsemen – Mario Millo (1988) Dead Calm – Graeme Revell (1989) The Big Steal – Phil Judd (1990) Dingo – Michel Legrand and Miles Davis (1991) Romper Stomper – John Clifford White (1992) The Piano – Michael Nyman (1993) Traps – Douglas Stephen Rae (1994) Hotel Sorrento – Nerida Tyson-Chew (1995) Shine – David Hirschfelder (1996) Doing Time for Patsy Cline – Peter Best (1997) Oscar and Lucinda – Thomas Newman (1998) In a Savage Land – David Bridie (1999) Bootmen – Cezary Skubiszewski (2000)
2001–present	The Dish – Edmund Choi (2001) Rabbit-Proof Fence – Peter Gabriel (2002) Japanese Story – Elizabeth Drake (2003) Somersault – Decoder Ring (2004) The Proposition – Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (2005) Suburban Mayhem – Mick Harvey (2006) The Home Song Stories – Antony Partos (2007) Unfinished Sky – Antony Partos (2008) Mao's Last Dancer – Christopher Gordon (2009) Animal Kingdom – Antony Partos and Sam Petty (2010) The Hunter – Andrew Lancaster, Michael Lira and Matteo Zingales (2011) Not Suitable for Children – Matteo Zingales and Jono Ma (2012) The Great Gatsby – Craig Armstrong (2013) The Railwayman – David Hirschfelder (2014) Mad Max: Fury Road – Tom Holkenborg (2015) Tanna – Antony Partos (2016) Lion – Volker Bertelmann and Dustin O'Halloran (2017) Ladies in Black – Christopher Gordon (2018) Judy and Punch – François Tétaz (2019) Babyteeth - Amanda Brown (2020) June Again - Christopher Gordon (2021) Falling for Figaro - Cezary Skubiszewski (2022)

AACTA Award for Best Original Music Score

1975–2000