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Advance Australia Fair

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The National Anthem booth at the 2005 Floriade, Canberra - on the J. Verbeeck fairground organ.

Advance Australia Fair is the official national anthem of Australia. Composed by Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, but did not gain its status as the official anthem until 1984. Until then, the song was sung in Australia as a patriotic song and to announce the news from the Australian Broadcasting Commission. In order for the song to become the anthem, it had to face a vote between the Royal anthem God Save the Queen and the "unofficial anthem" Waltzing Matilda. Other songs and marches have been influenced from Advance Australia Fair, such as the Australian Vice-Regal salute.

History

Advance Australia Fair was composed by Peter Dodds McCormick, originally under the pen-name 'Amicus'(which means 'friend' in Latin), in the late 19th century, and first performed by Andrew Fairfax at a Highland Society function in Sydney on 30 November, 1878. The song quickly gained popularity and an amended version was sung by a choir of 10,000 at the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 January, 1901. In 1907, the Australian Government awarded McCormick £100 for his composition.

Before its adoption as Australia's national anthem, Advance Australia Fair saw considerable use elsewhere. For instance, during World War II, Australia's national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Commission, used it to announce its news bulletins. It was also frequently played at the start or end of official functions.

In 1973, the Whitlam government decided that the country needed an anthem that could represent Australia with "distinction", and started a competition to find one. The Australia Council for the Arts organized the contest, which was dubbed as the Australian National Anthem Quest. The contest was held in two stages; the first seeking lyrics and the second music, each having a $5,000 AUD prize for the winning entry. On the recommendation of the Council for the Arts, none of the new entries were felt worthy enough, so the contest ended with the suggestions for Advance Australia Fair, Waltzing Matilda and Song of Australia. [1]

Advance Australia Fair emerged as the most popular choice for the national anthem after an opinion poll in 1974 (the Australian Bureau of Statistics polled 60,000 nationally).

At the same time as the 1977 referendum, a national plebiscite was held to choose the National Song. Advance Australia Fair received 43.6% of the vote, defeating the three alternatives: Waltzing Matilda (28.5%), Song of Australia (9.7%), and the then-current national anthem God Save the Queen (18.7%).

Advance Australia Fair was adopted as the national anthem on 19 April, 1984 by a decision of the Labor government of Bob Hawke, and a proclamation by the Governor-General Sir Ninian Stephen.

Lyrics

The lyrics of Advance Australia Fair express reasonably uncontroversial Australian self-beliefs and aspirations.

For its adoption as the national anthem, the second, fourth, and fifth verses were dropped from the "official" version, as they emphasised the British aspects of Australia's heritage, along with the virtues of Britain, and three lines were changed, in order to promote non-sexist language and to reflect the fact that Australia is no longer a 'youthful Commonwealth'. For example:

  • the first line of the first verse: "Australia's sons let us rejoice" to "Australians all let us rejoice".
  • verse 3 (verse 2 of official version), line 3 : "To make this youthful Commonwealth" to "To make this Commonwealth of ours".
  • verse 3 (verse 2 of official version), line 5 : "For loyal sons beyond the seas" to "For those who've come across the seas".

'Missing' verse?

Despite McCormick's original composition only having five verses, there is a claim that a missing sixth verse has been discovered. The sixth verse, unlike the others, had an overtly Christian overtone. While it has been performed in public before, the first performance in recent memory of this verse was during the Global March for Jesus in 1998. [2] The verse went as follows:

With Christ our head and cornerstone,
We'll build our Nation's might.
Whose way and truth and light alone
Can guide our path aright.
Our lives, a sacrifice of love, reflect our Master's care.
With faces turned to heaven above, Advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing, Advance Australia fair.

Some people think this was the original version, but it was not McCormick's own (see above). The explicitly Christian verse has been misattributed to McCormick, despite its absence from the original composition. It is not known who the true author of the verse is, nor when it was first penned and used. The most recent known performance of the verse was at a special service at St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, on July 10, 2005 with Prime Minister John Howard present.

Even though any copyright of Peter Dodds McCormick' original lyrics has expired as he died in 1916, the Commonwealth of Australia does copyright the officially proclaimed lyrics and particular arrangements of music. Non-commercial use of the anthem is permitted without case-by-case permission, but commercial use does require permission. [3]

Criticisms

The anthem attracts occasional discussion in Australia, with allegations that both the tune and lyrics are mediocre, lacklustre or uninspiring. Another complaint is that it is not as popular or well known as other national songs, particularly Waltzing Matilda. In particular the word "girt" (the passive form of the verb "to gird") meaning 'encircled' or 'surrounded' is criticised as obscure.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Opening Ceremony highlighted the fact that most of the large audience was unfamiliar with the second verse of the anthem, sung by Julie Anthony (the first verse was sung by Human Nature).

The song has a very wide melodic range which presents difficulties for untrained singers.

Media

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