In 1987 the Australian Bicentennial Authority appointed Reeves as composer for the soundtrack to the promotional film for the "Tall Ships" celebration to take place on Sydney Harbour in 1988. Also in that year, his theatre musical "Seven Little Australians", based on the classic Australian story originally created by Ethel Turner, opened at the Comedy Theatre in Melbourne. The musical was to run for more than 500 performances in the main theatres throughout the eastern states. The Royal Queensland Theatre Company produced a sellout season in 1991. The amateur rights are now regularly taken up and many musical societies have performed the piece in recent years. David Reeves' production quickly became the biggest box office success ever in this country for a fully homegrown original stage musical production with music, lyrics and book all created by Australians.