Thread: Australia no longer young and free

No longer "young and free" but "one and free".




Australia changes national anthem to reflect indigenous past

Australians will sing a different version of their national anthem from 1 January after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced a change to the words on Thursday.

The anthem will no longer refer to Australia as "young and free" in an attempt to reflect the country's long indigenous history.

Mr Morrison said he hopes the change will create a "spirit of unity".

People inhabited Australia for tens of thousands of years before it was colonised by mostly white English settlers in the 18th Century.

The line to be removed in the anthem, which is called Advance Australia Fair, is "For we are young and free". Instead people will sing "For we are one and free."

"Changing 'young and free' to 'one and free' takes nothing away, but I believe it adds much," Prime Minister Morrison, who is a conservative, said.

"It recognises the distance we have travelled as a nation. It recognises that our national story is drawn from more than 300 national ancestries and language groups and we are the most successful multicultural nation on earth."



Australia changes national anthem to reflect indigenous past - BBC News

The new edition works well.


Have there been some angry old white men up in arms about the change?

Originally Posted by Edmond

Have there been some angry old white men up in arms about the change?

I believe the Teakdoor Brexit thread has cornered that particular market.

I thought all anthems had a supremacist undertone

Originally Posted by Neverna

The line to be removed in the anthem, which is called Advance Australia Fair, is "For we are young and free". Instead people will sing "For we are one and free."

Humm, they might be "For we are one and free." ... but they will still be "girt by sea"

Simple enough change.

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

Simple enough change.

. . . and correct.

Originally Posted by David48atTD

"girt by sea"

cringe . . .

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

Simple enough change.

Like falling off a log, eh.

-‘I am someone who refuses to use the word “reconciliation”. To reconcile is to heal a broken relationship. Let’s be honest, we have never had a relationship.’ - Joe Williams

Changing one word in Australia's national anthem is mere tokenism and does little for actual inclusion | Indigenous Australians | The Guardian

If Australia exists, patriotic Australians should probably just sing The Star-Spangled Banner, since Australia, if it exists, is now an American corporation....

Did the Chinese sell us?

Yeh I get it. The trick is not to Be sorry, but rather to Act like you are.

Was skipping along by Bondi beach early 2000's when noticed 'Is sorry so hard to say, John' spray painted along a big wall in Font size 10,000.


Thought John was a cheating womanizing local that had been caught out until reading the newspaper and clicking that John was the rather unlikable prime minister and the graffiti artist was an aboriginal (alas no Banksy)

Originally Posted by sabang

Yeh I get it.

Actually, you clearly don't.

Originally Posted by Edmond

Was skipping along by Bondi beach

Don't the Aussies call it kerb crawling?

Abbreviated to ke'lo, I believe.

Edo be Ke'lo down Bondi tis arvo.

Originally Posted by Plan B

I suggest you also change the last line to: "Sit dooooown and have a beeeeeeeeeeeeer".

Or you could go with the Australian anthem that Eric Idle has kindly provided....

Originally Posted by sabang

Yeh I get it. The trick is not to Be sorry, but rather to Act like you are.

Indeed it is, but "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step"
So good for them, let's keep marching.

Originally Posted by Edmond

The new edition works well.


Have there been some angry old white men up in arms about the change?

Well I am a traditionalist.

Here in Canada , we almost changed the *our sons command* line to *our souls command* because you know , sons is male domination.

But *our souls command* sounds like *arse holes command* We almost had that.

Originally Posted by Backspin

But *our souls command* sounds like *arse holes command* We almost had that.

You say that as if it"s a bad thing. LOL

Originally Posted by Backspin

Well I am a traditionalist.

Here in Canada , we almost changed the *our sons command* line to *our souls command* because you know , sons is male domination.

But *our souls command* sounds like *arse holes command* We almost had that.

The original version of the Aussie one was also ‘sons’ we managed to change it in 1974The lyrics published in the second edition (1879) were as follows:^[21]Australia's sons, let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;

Bottom line is you could change the words to any fucking thing they want and they'll still not be happy till they're back to throwing sticks at one another, living in caves, and having a life expectancy of 23. And that'll all be the white mans fault too for not leaving them enough money before they were all deported

Originally Posted by bsnub

Would be good if Seattle lead the way.

For decades, the tribe’s leaders have fought for federal recognition and to regain some of the land that their ancestors inhabited along Puget Sound, once populated with more than 50 traditional village sites. But after Chief Si’ahl greeted early pioneers in 1851, the settlers adopted not only his name — Anglicized to Seattle — but also his tribe’s home.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...cre-city-land/