This afternoon at Boandik Lodge, a local old(er) folks home, along with lots of other carols, I’ll sing The North Wind.
The notion of Australian themed Christmas carols may seem a bit quaint, but these songs are a vivid memory of Christmas growing up.(And probably are for most Australians who grow up in the 1960s and early 1970s.
The idea that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation would commission the writing of anything similar (as they did for this and its fourteen companion carols) these days seems a bit fantastical as well.
1.
The North Wind is tossing the leaves,
The red dust is over the town,
The sparrows are under the eaves,
And the grass in the paddock is brown;
As we lift up our voices and sing
To the Christ-Child the Heavenly King.
2.
The tree-ferns in green gullies sway;
The cool stream flows silently by;
The joy bells are greeting the day,
And the chimes are adrift in the sky,
As we lift up our voices and sing
To the Christ-Child the Heavenly King.
Words: John Wheeler & Music: William James
(c) 1948 WARNER CHAPPELL
Here’s ‘Bucko and Champs’ giving a suitable Aussie rendition.
mgpcpastor's blog 
They are a vivid memory for me too, we used to learn one or two new ones every year in primary school, (early to mid seventies in NSW), and they make me feel ridiculously nostalgic for childhood Christmases. But my husband’s education (in Melbourrne) seems to have bypassed them completely.
The Three Drovers, Sun Gleams Bright, The North Wind, and the one with birds singing ‘Orana’ are the main ones I can remember.
There’s a recording around that I think has fifteen or so of them which I’d like to get.