The anthem, “Advance Australia Fair,” has been adapted to recognize the country’s indigenous history and communities, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced late Thursday, hours before 2021.
The first line, “Australians let us all rejoice, because we are young and free”, now ends with “one and free”.
“Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, but the story of our country is old, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly recognize and respect,” Morrison wrote in an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald. .
“In the spirit of unity, it is only right that we now recognize this too and ensure that our national anthem reflects this truth and shared appreciation. Changing from ‘young and free’ to ‘one and free’ doesn’t take anything away, but I believe it adds a lot. “
The government has a history of changing the song to make it more inclusive – when Peter Dodds McCormick’s original 1878 composition was declared the official anthem in 1984, replacing “ God Save the Queen, ” two instances were of ‘sons’ swapped with sex. neutral terms.
The anthem has become controversial in recent years amid growing conversations about indigenous representation, systemic inequality and racial injustice. In particular, many have pushed back against the phrase “for we are young and free” – a nod to the time Britain’s First Fleet landed in Australia in 1788 – as Australia is home to one of the world’s oldest known civilizations.
In 2018, a 9-year-old girl was attacked by prominent politicians, who called for her to be expelled from school for refusing to stand during the national anthem out of respect for the indigenous population. In 2019, athletes made headlines for refusing to sing the national anthem during football matches. And in 2020, national rugby union players sang the national anthem in the language of the Eora nation – the first time it was sung in an indigenous language at a major sporting event.
Peter Vickery, the founder and chairman of the non-profit Representation In Anthem, has been campaigning for a more inclusive national anthem since 2016. “Many of our indigenous people have found it difficult, if not impossible, to get the exclusionary words of ‘Advance Australia Fair,’” Vickery said Friday.
Vickery worked with other Indigenous leaders and singers to create alternative, more inclusive lyrics – a change was the phrase “one and free” that Morrison adopted. Their campaign gained visibility and momentum last year when Gladys Berejiklian, Prime Minister of the State of New South Wales, expressed support.
“To be honest, I’m delighted,” said Vickery. “It achieves an important goal of our work, which is to translate words of hurt or exclusion into words of inclusion, and to embrace a multicultural society of the 21st century.”
Other prominent Indigenous Australian figures include Secretary of Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt and Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter
Cathy Freeman, also celebrated the change.
But it was also greeted with skepticism by some who called it insubstantial, and more symbolic than bringing about any real change.
“Changing the national anthem with one word is not good enough!” tweeted native former world boxing champion
Anthony Mundine on Friday, adding that the country “had to scrap the song and start over with a little bit of black history and white history.”
Vickery openly acknowledged such criticism, saying that the campaign’s symbolic power “can never be a substitute for content.” But, he added, the anthem was still “a critically important first step.”
Other critics argued that the message is of unity, and the inclusion of “free” in the text
undermined through controversial policies for asylum seekers and refugees held in Australia’s notorious offshore immigration centers, and through the systemic barriers that indigenous people continue to face.
While the country’s indigenous population makes up 3.3% of the 25 million people, they account for more than a quarter of the 41,000 prisoners. Indigenous Australians are also nearly twice as likely to die by suicide, have a life expectancy nearly nine years lower, and have higher infant mortality rates than non-Indigenous Australians.
The unemployment rate for Indigenous Australians is more than four times the national average.
Ian Hamm, president of the First Nations Foundation indigenous organization, praised the amended text, but also highlighted other more concrete actions that need to be taken.
For example, Australia still does not have a treaty between its government and its indigenous people – unlike other Commonwealth countries such as New Zealand and Canada. The Australian constitution also does not explicitly mention the country’s indigenous people.
“I think it’s a good step, but after all, it’s just one step, one thing,” Hamm said. “And the national anthem in itself is just that – it’s a song. There are a lot of other initiatives and changes and efforts that need to be done to create equal opportunities for Aboriginal people and equality in life outcomes for Aboriginal people.”
