[Sheet music] Don't forget there's someone in Australia

Sheet music for the song titled 'Don't forget there’s someone in Australia', written and composed by Alf J. Lawrance and Harry Gifford. This copy was published by Herman Darewski, London, in 1917. It has been pasted into a brown paper cover with the title attached to the front, above bold decorated letters spelling the name of E A Nicholls.

The lyrics are written in the voice of a loved-one saying goodbye to a soldier. The voice implores the soldier to remember that their country and loved ones are waiting for them at home.

This copy of the music originally belonged to Private Ernest Alfred Nicholls and features his name at the top of the front cover. It is part of a collection of sheet music that was donated to the Memorial in 1971, and is symbolic of the concerts, theatre and other musical performances that Australian soldiers took in whilst on leave in London during the First World War.

A prolific songwriter and talented pianist, Lawrance wrote hundreds of songs during the two decades he was involved in the Australian variety industry . He and his wife, singer Violet Carmen, first came to Australia as a piano/vocal duo. He died in 1955.

Gifford was born in 1876 in Plymouth and was a prolific songwriter in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some of his biggest hits were collaborations with Fred Godfrey in the 1910s and during the First World War. He died in 1960.


Towards the bottom of this page is a sound recording of this sheet music, or a parody, that was created as part of the Music and the First World War project. More information about this recording, including names of the performers, can be found on the catalogue record for the sound recording. A link to the catalogue record for the sound recording can be found at the bottom of this page, under the heading ‘Related objects’ where it can be identified with the prefix [sound recording].