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https://theconversation.com/50-years-on-advance-australia-fair-no-longer-reflects-the-values-of-many-what-could-replace-it-226737>
"On April 8 1974, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam announced to parliament the
nation’s new national anthem:
Advance Australia Fair.
Australia was growing up. We could stop saving “our gracious Queen” and rejoice
in being “young” and “girt”.
Finding a new anthem hadn’t been easy. There were unsuccessful songwriting
competitions and an unconvincing opinion poll. Finally, we landed on rebooting
an Australian favourite from 1878.
After Whitlam’s announcement, Australians argued, state officials declined the
change and the next government reinstated the British anthem in part. It took
another ten years, another poll and an official proclamation in 1984 to adopt
the new anthem uniformly and get on with looking grown-up.
Advance Australia Fair was never the ideal answer to “what shall we sing?”.
The original lyrics ignored First Nations people and overlooked women. Like a
grunting teenager, it both answered the question and left a lot out.
On its 50th anniversary, it’s time to consider whether we got it right.
Advance Australia Fair may have helped Australia transition through the
1970s, but in 2024, has it outstayed its welcome?"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
