National anthem: How one word change to Advance Australia Fair in ‘spirit of unity’ can make a difference

Australians will declare themselves ‘one and free’ from January 1 under a key change to the national anthem.

Scott Morrison says the update to the anthem’s second line was made for ‘all Australians’. Picture: Gary Ramage

Australians will declare themselves “one and free” from January 1 under a key change to the national anthem being made by Prime Minister Scott Morrison to better reflect the nation’s ancient roots and the experiences of its First Nations people.

The line will replace “young and free”, in a minimal change Mr Morrison said would better recognise the “timeless spirit of the ancient land we call home” and Australia’s place as the “most successful multicultural and immigration nation on Earth”.

Mr Morrison said the update to the anthem’s second line was being made for “all Australians” and came following a year in which Australians showed “grit, ingenuity and forbearance” in enduring the coronavirus pandemic.

“Most of all, in a period of unprecedented isolation, we found each other,” he said. “Over the past year, Australians have demonstrated through our actions that we are indeed ‘one and free’, as NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has suggested.

“So I believe the time has now come for us to proclaim in our national anthem what we have lived as a nation, especially during this past year.”

Advance Australia Fair was written by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick and first performed in 1878, but it did not replace God Save the Queen as the national anthem until 1984.

Writing in The Australian, Mr Morrison said the words “young and free” were aimed at capturing the “energetic spirit of liberty that drove Australia towards nationhood” but needed to better honour “the connection to this place of Indigenous peoples who have cared for our country for thousands of millennia”.

The proposal to modernise the national anthem was proposed by Ms Berejiklian in November and has been endorsed by state leaders, and also enjoys bipartisan support with federal Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese having argued the change to “one and free” was a “really practical suggestion”.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has also said she would have no problem with the lyric change if it brought more Australians together.

“When I called the party One Nation, I think we should be one nation as all Australians, regardless of race, colour or creed, whether you’re migrants who have come here to this nation,” she said. “I have no problem with changing the wording to ‘one’ if that will unite our nation.”

Governor-General David Hurley has signed off on the proposal after cabinet approved the overhaul, with state premiers and governors having been consulted as well as speaker of the House Tony Smith and Senate president Scott Ryan.

Mr Morrison said that while Australia was a relatively young nation the country’s story was “ancient”, as were 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,” he said.

“Changing ‘young and free’ to ‘one and free’ takes nothing away, but I believe it adds much. It recognises the distance we have travelled as a nation. It reaffirms our resolve as a liberal democratic people and as one of the world’s oldest democracies. It honours the foundations upon which our nation has been built and the aspirations we share for the future.

“So in recognition of the extraordinary united effort of Australians over the past year, the time is now right to make the change.”

The update to the national anthem was also framed by Mr Morrison as a counterweight to the divisive force of identity politics sweeping through the West in a year of tumultuous upheaval.

“During a time when communities around the world are splintering and identity politics concentrates on our differences, this change affirms our shared national story and shared destiny,” he said. “Our Australian identity is of one people, made from many. We are a commonwealth with a common future. ‘One and free’ is and must be the story of every Australian. It’s the way we truly Advance Australia Fair.”

The change was championed by Ms Berejiklian who argued it was time to recognise in the anthem the tens of thousands of years of Indigenous history before European settlement.

“We need to recognise our Aboriginal heritage and to say we’re ‘young and free’ – it ignores the fact that they’ve inhabited the continent,” she said. “I feel upset when others don’t feel the anthem reflects them.”

“We have a proud First Nations culture and continuing culture here in Australia, that one word might make a difference to some people. After the horrible year we’ve had, I just really appreciate as a leader how important it is to bring people together.”

Mr Albanese had described the proposal as a “really practical suggestion”. “We are a country that should be proud of the fact that we have the oldest, continuous civilisation on the planet right here with First Nations people,” he said.

Labor’s Northern Territory Indigenous senator Malarndirri McCarthy has backed the change, arguing it was an “opportunity for our country to recreate and walk together as First Nations people and non-Indigenous Australians”.

Opposition Indigenous Australians spokeswoman, Linda Burney, who is Indigenous, said that Australia had a “remarkable story of 65,000 years”. “Everyone should be proud of that, and that’s what anthems and that’s what flags help us do,” she said.

In 2017, the Recognition in Anthem project was established in which former Victorian Supreme Court judge Peter Vickery propose a change to the second line of the anthem to “And live as one, and free” as well as the addition of two new verses.