Anthem

 

Transforming our national anthem 

There are many current initiatives to transform our national anthem. Hopefully, one day the peoples of this land will get to choose a new version (or versions!).  We don’t think it’s up to us to say what the end result will be, but we offer this as one possible alternative.  We welcome your involvement in having this version (or other alternative versions) sung and performed in your local community. No matter how small your action we’d then like to hear about it. In the comments section below, please tell us the story of how you talked about this with friends, in your workplace, had it sung in your child’s school, at your sporting event and so on. Thanks!  

About this revised anthem 

The lyrics for this revised anthem were written by Judith Durham, Kutcha Edwards, Lou Bennett, Camilla Chance and Bill Hauritz. In the video clip above it is performed by Kutcha Edwards during the KAGE Team of Life theatre production. For more information about this revised anthem, click here  For a pdf of the lyrics to print, click here.

Lyrics

Australia, celebrate as one, with peace and harmony.
Our precious water, soil and sun, grant life for you and me.
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts to love, respect and share,
And honouring the Dreaming, advance Australia fair.
With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance Australia fair.
 Australia, let us stand as one, upon this sacred land.
A new day dawns, we’re moving on to trust and understand.
Combine our ancient history and cultures everywhere,
To bond together for all time, advance Australia fair.
With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance Australia fair.
Australia, let us strive as one, to work with willing hands.
Our Southern Cross will guide us on, as friends with other lands.
While we embrace tomorrow’s world with courage, truth and care,
And all our actions prove the words, advance Australia fair,
With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance Australia fair.
And when this special land of ours is in our children’s care,
From shore to shore forever more, advance Australia fair.
With joyful hearts then let us sing, advance . . Australia . . fair.

Tell us more!

What actions are you and your friends/ colleagues / family taking? Please tell us below … and please include where this action took place! Thanks. Please note, we don’t publish all comments that are submitted. We are particularly interested in hearing from people about actions you have taken (or are going to take) in your local contexts. Thanks :) 

This Post Has 353 Comments

  1. Jess

    Shared on Instagram! This is truely incredible!

  2. Elizabeth Bolger

    So inclusive of all Australians! Love it!
    And we already know the tune

  3. Alicia

    absolutely in love with this!! this deserves to be our anthem

  4. Ashoolka

    I once watched a woman brought to tears with pride signing the national anthem of Ecuador and it left me saddened by the level of shame I felt for my own home country. Admittedly I haven’t even memorized our current version, I don’t align with it, but I felt love, pride and unity listening to your version. I know this energy exists amongst us and it should be the message to shine through our national anthem. Thank you for this!!!

  5. Georgia

    This is so beautiful and NEEDS to be the new anthem. Was crying tears of joy, this version makes me so proud and so happy. Not even going to bother singing the old one now (this will be my national anthem) ☺️

  6. lawrence

    We should All learn these new lyrics and sing them, in active protest, whenever we sing the National Anthem.

  7. Bronwyn

    I haven’t sung the original anthem since primary school back in the 90’s. I will gladly and proudly sing this version. As a teenager I was lucky enough to see Kutcha on occasion at a mates place. Always such an pleasure to be in his presence. This is exactly what we need for so called Australia.

  8. Logan

    I hope this is the Anthem I get to teach my son. Beautiful

  9. Ryan Kearney

    This is everything the national anthem should be, and more. It’s unifying and celebrates our cultural diversity as a country, people need this!

  10. Robyn Lipcsey

    This is beautiful. I want to sing this anthem. I have shared it on Instagram and will think about how I can help this campaign.
    Thank you,
    Robyn

  11. Reuben Styles

    Let’s make this happen. Shared on Instagram and now tweeting at gov / scomo as he brought up changing lyrics. These lyrics you guys have made are actually unifying. Can genuinely see people wanting to sing along.

  12. Elle Mcbride

    As a small child I would sing the anthem and it never resonated, I broke into tears listening to this today as a woman. Thank you, I cannot wait to se the anthem change.

  13. Amelia

    This is absolutely beautiful. I will gladly do whatever is needed to get this to be our national anthem. It brings tears of joy to finally hear our first nations people recognised in our anthem

  14. Wick Collins

    Incredible. THIS would be showing solidarity. THIS would be showing respect for the true owners of this land.
    I would proudly stand and sing this.

  15. Susan Johnston

    Listening to this makes me want to stand up, in a way the old one never has. I’d love to play this at my nature playgroup as part of learning to care for and connect to the rest of our natural country.

  16. Rosemary

    This is a gorgeous offering of unity and love, I have shared this with my online following and will keep it bookmarked for any future events I attend which try to play the old anthem. Will continue to Share this often. Thank you

  17. Amy

    I think it would be a great idea to get a petition running. There are a lot of people out there who are against the current anthem. With a multitude of support this ‘future anthem’ can become a reality!

  18. Kay Campbell

    Love this ❤️❤️❤️ Resonates more deeply with
    me

  19. Carla

    Truly wonderful. I would love this to be OUR anthem

  20. Lillie

    The previous national anthem is a show of nationalism and jingoism, an attempt to make us feel indebted to a country and nation that has done only the bare minimum for marginalized groups across the nation, to me this anthem is much more than “hey you, yeah you, we made you, fight for us” as most anthems are, rather its a show of the uniting power and effect music can have on people, true art, and art that serves the people.

  21. Kirsty Marshall

    This is absolutely perfect. I felt goosebumps and immense pride and hope listening to this song which I’m sure is what an anthem is supposed to evoke. Thank you for creating and sharing and I will do whatever I can to support this becoming our national anthem.

  22. Rebecca

    I love it. This version is very much more reflective of our country. This version makes sense. It has meaning that I can understand better than the original. These lyrics give Austlralia its own cultural identity. These lyrics are inclusive of everyone, it unites, it is uplifting and it moved me. Everything a national anthem should be. And in my heart this is our national anthem. Thank you for writing it.

  23. Edwin Hill

    I’m an Aussie living overseas and, from where I view things, the country, need a booster shot to get back on track. This rewritten anthem- coming from the pens of artists is a heaven-sent (Dreamtime-sent!) gift to help the Aus gov’t give focus to a connry that after 200 plus years of white history is still experiencing a deep identity crisis. Australian culture needs to be strengthened and changing our anthems words to the now ones would help all Australian feel less lost.

    But we don’t feel lost! Some of you may say. It’s time to weigh up the flimsiness (highly influenced by the USA) of Aussie white heritage against older cultures globally to understand that Barry McKenzie, ACDC, injecting saucs into meat pies and all the rest are great but the profile remains…. weak. So, these lyrics are an opportunity to consolidate and face up to the extra good (Aboriginal heritage) and the not so good( the mistakes our forefathers made) in our history. That’ll help make everyone strong without any party losing out.

    Balance things up, give the indigenous native people of Australia and their rich, noble culture and past it’s due. It’ll help get the country out of the “frozen adolescence” that the newcomers are still caught up in. It’s give everyone real pride versus the jingoism that, at times, passes for pride…

  24. Ken

    Awesome rewording, let us hope this becomes our new song for Australia, this year 2021.

  25. Aubrey Heck

    Love it!

  26. Narelle

    Perfect!

  27. Ellie

    Thank you for writing the anthem as it should be. Honest, accurate, inspiring, inclusive. Thanks also to Joe Williams for writing about it in Indigenous X for Guardian Australia. I will be sharing this with all of my family and friends and I will be learning the words to this new improved anthem for Invasion Day this year. May it be adopted by the nation soon. Changing one word is not good enough – you have bought the words to us. Thank you again.

  28. Kathy Conway

    The singer dignified our anthem almost beyond recognition, but It’s not a goer.
    The change from “young” to “one” upset me – partly because it was so tokenenistic but also because I can easily imagine racist elements of our community corralling to sing “young” extra loud whilst the rest of us feel saddled with a bad song. I believe we can only progress as a nation by out playing the racists and that requires a new song.
    Please remember that Advance Australia Fair won the competition to be the Anthem because it was at the time a song that was known to the most poplulous state of NSW. Likewise Jan 26. The rest of Australia barely got on board. Since then many children have learnt it but who knows how many without nationalistic tendancies truly embraced it?
    For a good while now, but especially throughout this “covid” year, the song “We Are One” has gained a lot of currency and in many ways its time has come. A rewording of that song would be fantastic but really it needs only to be tweaked. There are now versions on youtube which are in part sung in first nation language which seem to have a lot of support. I think some of it’s popularity may come down to the melody. It has the ability to rouse.
    As much as I personally applaud the sentiments of this rewording of Advance Australia Fair, I say to all who are wanting this – take a look at the political support that Australians exhibit when they are at the poll for those who want to care for our land, our water, our sea and the air we breathe.
    But from little things big thing grow. The little things have to be at the right size to start out with. And the government needs to be the right colour as well.

  29. Mark By

    Bloody beautiful. This is exactly what our national anthem needs to be. We are one nation with many different people, dating back 60,000 plus years.

  30. june

    It is high time that we adopted this version as our National Anthem. Just changing the one word of the current one is a pathetic attempt towards reconciliation. Thank you.

  31. Leona Cairns

    I will be contacting the Principal, Mrs Tracey Gray, of the Sapphire Coast Anglican College in Bega to suggest that this year, 2021, the children of this school be taught this version of Australia’s National Anthem. My grand daughter attends this school. Could I also mention that l am visually impaired and find the robot pictures hard to see.i

  32. Leona Cairns

    Beautiful version of an anthem for Australia. Sing it on January 26, 2021. Or new year’s resolution for all Australia, learn the words in preparation for 2022.

  33. Bryan

    This is 1000 times better than current version.

  34. Carolyn Wright

    This is the best ‘alternative version’ I’ve heard. I’d be happy if this one became our official anthem. It fits much better with the long history of this place and hopes for the future.

  35. Beverley

    I think this version is very sensitive and much more inclusive of all Australians.
    The First Nations people were the custodians of this wonderful country for tens of thousands of years before the BOAT PEOPLE arrived.
    Therefore they deserve much more recognition in any national anthem we have.

  36. Laureen

    I love this version. It is beautiful and inclusive. It is Australia.

  37. ALIALEX

    This is it.

  38. Liz

    Wonderful, beautiful, I can sing with these words

  39. Tammy

    I feel this one in my heart and being. Love it.

    1. Nae

      Beautiful & inclusive of all Australians, including country and how we need to grow together to keep Australia beautiful for generations to come ❤

  40. Belinda

    I love this, it’s absolutely perfect. I have shared and will continue sharing to spread the awareness. It should absolutely be our National Anthem. Thank you.

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