A new year, a new national anthem for Australia
The anthem has been tweaked to recognise the country's Indigenous history and communities
January 02, 2021
- Australian premier makes surprise announcement hours before January 1
- Australian national anthem has been tweaked to be more inclusive
On Friday, Australia did not only wake up to a new year but also a new national anthem.
Hours before January 1, 2021, Australian PM Scott Morrison announced that the anthem, "Advance Australia Fair", has been tweaked to recognise the country's Indigenous history and communities.
The first line of the anthem, "Australians all let us rejoice, for we are young and free," will now end with "one and free".
In an opinion piece published in the Sydney Morning Herald, Morrison wrote: "Australia as a modern nation may be relatively young, but our country's story is ancient, as are the stories of the many First Nations peoples whose stewardship we rightly acknowledge and respect.
"In the spirit of unity, it is only right that we also now acknowledge this and ensure our national anthem reflects this truth and shared appreciation. Changing 'young and free' to 'one and free' takes nothing away, but I believe it adds much."
The minimalist change was approved by the governor general, David Hurley, on the recommendation of the Morrison government.
The Australian government has a history of changing the song to be more inclusive. The original 1878 composition by Peter Dodds McCormick was declared the national anthem in 1984, replacing "God Save the Queen", after switching "sons" with gender-neutral phrasing.
In recent years, the anthem became controversial amid growing conversation about Indigenous representation, systemic inequality and racial justice. In particular, many pushed back against the phrase "for we are young and free" - a nod to when Britain's First Fleet landed in Australia in 1788.
Australia is home to one of the world's oldest known civilisations.
