Following a nationwide competition run by the Australian Council of the Arts to find a National Anthem to replace God Save The Queen, it was finally announced by Sir Ninian Stephen in April 1984 that Advance Australia Fair would be our new National Anthem.
Despite some grumbling from people who preferred Waltzing Matilda and those who wished to maintain God Save The Queen, the Australian people quickly accepted Advance Australia Fair and, from schoolyards to sporting fields, we all learned the words and, to a lesser extent, the melody. Since then, we have become passionate about it and robustly accepted the recent word change from: ‘we are young and free’ to ‘we are one and free’.
To most Australians it is our anthem and we are proud of it. However, to this very patriotic Old Bushy I have always thought it to be trite and lacking passion. It just doesn’t get the blood pumping like The Star-Spangled Banner or La Marseillaise. It is rarely sung with true passion that makes us proud to be Australian. Having harboured these thoughts for many years I recently decided to do something about it and write a new anthem. An anthem that proudly spelt out who we are and how we got to where we are.
Below is the first verse of My Australia and what I would envisage would be sung on ceremonial occasions. A lifelong friend who is a pianist has written a very stirring melody to back these words.
My Australia
With Southern Cross, our guiding light;
And freedom as our goal.
From every tribe and plight we came
To give our land its soul.
Where free the Koori softly trod,
Came convicts in their chains;
With colonising squatters rife.
To settle on your plains.
Drawn to your great moulding hearth;
From war and misery.
Through drought and flood; with sweat and blood.
We forged our history.
Adaption shaped both man and State
And stamped our mettle strong.
A Nation built with common cause,
Nurturing us through ages long.
And on this land for evermore,
We’ll build our destiny.