The contrabass as a vehicle for Australian music; how a small repertoire can inform the creative output of one composer

Australian music for the contrabass is treated as a microcosm of Australian art music over the past forty years. More than thirty works in this repertoire are surveyed and subjected to analysis of various degrees of depth. Threads of musical development are discerned and demonstrated to reflect the broader development of compositional techniques. This analysis is shown to inform a portfolio of creative work which is heavily focused on the contrabass as a performing medium. These compositions, including solo, orchestral and theatrical works, reveal an emerging individual style which is, nevertheless, strongly connected to the surveyed body of repertoire.