Antill, John (1904-1986), was an Australian composer and music administrator who won wide recognition with his orchestral work Corroboree, inspired by the unusual instrumental music and rhythms of Australian Aboriginal culture. Antill may have started planning the work after attending a corroboree (Aboriginal ceremonial assembly) near Botany Bay in 1913, but he only began composing the score in the mid-1930's. Antill carried out much important research into native Australian music and culture while writing Corroboree. The English conductor Sir Eugene Goossens conducted the first performance in 1946 with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. The music of Corroboree was also used for a ballet, first performed in 1950 by the National Theatre Ballet, Sydney. Antill's other works include operas, ballets, choral pieces, and orchestral works, among them a harmonica concerto (1967).