Goanna Band Story

In 1978, The Gordon Institute and the State College of Victoria amalgamated with Deakin at Waurn Ponds and Shane Howard was elected the first president of the  Deakin University Student Association (DUSA). Little did he know that in the following years he would become an icon of Australia’s golden age of rock music.

Growing up in Warrnambool, Shane was introduced to music at a very young age. His mother was a radio announcer and musician. “It was like breathing, singing together as a family”, he says of his childhood. In his teenage years, his brother brought a guitar into the family and Shane was soon learning to play chords and write songs.

As a young adult, he played and wrote songs as he travelled far and wide along Australia’s East Coast, settling in Geelong in 1976 and studying at Deakin’s Waurn Ponds campus. Throughout his studies he met other students passionate about music and formed the Goanna Band.

Throughout his esteemed career Shane and the Goanna Band have been instrumental in activism for First Nations people and the environment. Following a moving visit to Central Australia in 1981, Shane wrote the song ‘Solid Rock’, that has become an icon of Australian folk rock music.

In November, Goanna band return to their Geelong roots and perform at Deakin’s Costa Hall on Friday November 18th. Buy tickets here.