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I happen to love I am Australian and think it's a wonderful national song. It's one of the few expressions of multi-culturalism I've ever found myself agreeing with because it's main point is that people from different cultures need to come together genuinely as one nation if it's going to mean anything. And I'm not a huge fan of Advance Australia Fair. I like it and I think it does decent service but it's always seemed a bit less than awe-inspiring to me. But I can't support a change - a National Anthem needs time to become a tradition, I think. Give it time and it will grow into it's role. Advance Australia Fair has only had twenty five years as a national anthem (though the song itself is older). It needs some time.

I thought I'd share the lyrics though of three 'potential' anthems here as a sign of different expressions of my nations patriotism. And for any comment from patriots of a different nation that is very similar to my own in a lot of ways and a bit different in others. The three - I am Australian, Advance Australia Fair, and God Bless Australia

I am Australian

I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red soil plains
I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame.
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come.
For forty thousand years I was the first Australian.

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I came across in prison ship, bowed down by iron chains.
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I'm a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler, I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian

I'm the hot wind from the desert, I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys, I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian

We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice:
I am, you are, we are Australian
I am, you are, we are Australian.

Advance Australia Fair

I'm going to put in all four verses of Advance Australia Fair here, even though only two verses (the two that will appear in bold) are the official National Anthem. I agree with that - the other verses are an important part of Australia's history but are more about Britain than Australia. (Somewhat anachronistically, I will change the Anthem verses to their modern form as I do not wish to render the Anthem inaccurately).

Australians all, let us rejoice.
For we are young and free.
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea.
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In hist'ry's page, let evry stage
Advance Australia Fair
In joyful strains let us sing
Advance Australia Fair.

When gallant Cook from Albion sailed.
To trace wide oceans o'er.
True British courage bore him on.
Til he landed on our shore
Then here he raised Old England's flag.
The standard of the brave.
"With all her faults we love her still."
"Britannia rules the wave."
In joyful strains let us sing
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross.
We'll toil with hearts and hands,
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share,
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains let us sing
Advance Australia Fair.

Should foreign for e'er sight our coast.
Or dare a foot to land,
We'll rouse to arms like sires of yore
To guard our native strand;
Britannia then shall surely know,
Beyond wide oceans roll
Her sons in fair Australia's land
Still keep a British soul.
In joyful strains let us sing
Advance Australia Fair.

God Bless Australia

Finally God Bless Australia which would have been my choice for the anthem, for one important reason. It has the same tune as Waltzing Matilda which is by far the most recognisably Australian tune, all over the world.

Here in this God given land of ours, Australia
This proud possession, our own piece of earth
That was built by our fathers, who pioneered our heritage,
Here is Australia, the land of our birth.

God bless Australia, Our land Australia,
Home of the Anzac, the strong and the free
It's our homeland, our own land,
To cherish for eternity,
God bless Australia, The land of the free.

Here in Australia, we treasure love and liberty,
Our way of life, all for one, one for all
We're a peace loving race, but should danger ever threaten us,
Let the world know we will answer the call

This may be off topic, and I may be in the minority here, but I always preferred God Bless America over the Star Spangled Banner and would rather have it as our national anthem.

Doesn’t really matter what’s official. Waltzing Matilda is the de facto national anthem.

Naturalman, my choice would have been The Road to Gundagai, which is by far the most catchy tune. But “Advance Australia Fair” is fine.

Naturalman, my apologies. I posted that comment before editing, so the irony tags were missing. The reason the Road to Gundagai is perfect lies in the lyrics, which record how a bunch of shearers head off for Sydney loaded with cash and then blow the lot against the tin walls of outback pubs.

Oh we started out from Roto, when the sheds had all cut out
We'd whips and whips of money as we meant to push about;
So we humped our blueys serenely and made for Sydney town,
With a three-spot check between us as wanted knocking down.

It all ends badly, of course:

In a week the spree was over, and our check was all knocked down,
So we shouldered our Matildas and we turned our backs on town.
And the girls stood us a nobblers as we sadly said goodbye,
And we tramped from Lazy Harry's on the road to Gundagai.

Kind of brings to mind how Krudd& Co., have blown and wasted the Howard legacy and why we will all shortly be returning, hungover and frail, to the misery of hard yakka.