"Australia's Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, beamed with smugness…".

At last! someone else actually notices the AdMan's smug mug. As for his "how good is Australia" smirk: well, not much good at all as long as we spend so much time and money on a tiny minority of activists who will never be happy.

The anthem "reflects" nothing either. Australia badly needs good government by people who actually care about the country, not silly songs and pathetic symbolism. As for NSW Gladys's recognition of "tens of thousands of years", bulldust! What we need to recognise is the dog's breakfast she and her kind are making of handling the present. 60,000 years, or whatever, is totally irrelevant.

While the anthem "reflects" nothing - at least nothing practical or important - the waffle about changing a word to "include" people who are already included clearly shows what a bunch of amateurish, self-serving wackjobs are in charge, particularly at the top.

ttbn,

60,000 years ago the first peoples were collectively African-Australians.

It has been estimated that it took them just over 300 years to wander into Australia after crossing the Arabian peninsula from East Africa.

They didn't become Aboriginal-Australians until we got multiculturalism so that they could be pigeon-holed along with Australian-Australians, Chinese-Australian, Argentinian-Australians, Norwegian-Australians, etc.

Planta's SUPERIOR DE-GIRT-IFICATION OF OUR ANTHEM

Here's "ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR" currently http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Australia_Fair#Lyrics .

It takes in "one" in the 2nd line

I think its improved if the Archaic/Germanic god-awful "girt" is removed from the 4th line - done. So here tis:

Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are one and free;
We've golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home, SURROUNDED BY OUR sea;
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then 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 then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair."

Whadayareckon fellow OLOsters?
_____________________________________

MOpy

Well may you speak of Hyphenated Australians, but we OLO-Australians RULE OK?!

plantagenet,

But then we can break even that down into groups of Australian-OLO-Australians, non-Australian-Chinese-OLO-Australians, New Zealand-OLO-Australians, etc.

It's a multicultural dilemma.

Makes poor old Mr Opinion wish he was Chinese.

I for one, just do not have a problem with this timely change!
Alan B.

Mr Opinion says,

"60,000 years ago the first peoples were collectively African-Australians.
It has been estimated that it took them just over 300 years to wander into Australia after crossing the Arabian peninsula from East Africa."

WTF is he talking about? It commonly acknowledged that aboriginals are descended from the same Eurasian peoples that just about everybody outside of Africa is. We know this because different tribes of Aboriginals have some Neanderthal DNA (like today's white Europeans do) in their genomes which it is theorised came from interbreding of Neanderthals and the Homo-sapiens that originally migrated out of Africa.

However, the story doesn't end there, because there is also Denisovian DNA there has well (quite a bit actually) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denisovan . And how it got there is a contested mystery because it can cause a contradiction of dates for the some of the major migration theories of the people who became the Australian Aboriginals and New Guineans.

But lastly, there is even more uncertainty in the mix. Because other DNA research has led to the speculation that there is even a third hominoid species that interbred with the ancestors of Aboriginals. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-10-26/dna-of-extinct-human-species-pacific-islanders-analysis-suggests/7968950 .

So all up the question of when and how Aboriginals/New Guinean migrated here is still actively debated and not a settled question.

How much time has been wasted on this to achieve what?? Give the fake media something to carry on about for a few days.

thinkabit,

You are incorrect.

The first group to reach what we now call Australia walked out of East Africa and followed basically an unimpeded coastal route between Arabia and Indonesia then managed to make it across the waters separating Sundha and Sahul.

Where did you find the neanderthal link mentioned? I think you have misinterpreted something you read.

Yes, Pete, girt does mean surrounded by!

Thank heavens it is the ocean and not hostiles from our north? Incidentally, we can turn seawater into endlessly sustainable fuel using old science. Just need cheap clean energy!

The process involves vacuum towers and extracting the CO2 content from the flow stream. Then subjecting the CO2 to a number of compressions. Which convert it into a liquid. Then while it is the liquid, combining it with liquid hydrogen. To make alternative diesel, jet fuel and a petrol substitute. Plus plastics and fertilisers.

Interestingly, as CO2 is removed from ocean water in volume, it draws down a similar quality directly from the atmosphere. We could conceivably if intelligently led by pollies, not in the pockets of foreign fuel companies? Become totally self-sufficient in all the above and forever at prices that could send the fossil full robber barons bankrupt?

And You guessed it we'd need a source oF ultra-cheap energy and that ain't coal! Give you three guess what that energy source is? Suggest you look at thorium in five minutes to discover what energy source (around 1 cent PKWH) could make this nation an energy-exporting superpower forever! And address climate change as a direct and first consequence!

And make Oz a place where millions of medical tourists come annually to get treatment with the MSR thorium byproduct, miracle cancer cure, copious bismuth 213!

This would be turbocharged recovery on steroids! But we or rather our hopelessly conflicted pollies don't want that? After all, they'd never ever get permission from their political masters!? Wadda ya reckon?

How one does that actually make us? Or should we redo it as we are, them and us? Girt by carpetbagging foreign nationals all wanting a piece of us and ours!?
Alan B.

National symbols represent traditions, history, and
beliefs of a nation and its people. They help evoke
feelings of patriotism among the country's citizens,
reminds them of their nation's glory, beauty and
rich heritage.

The National Anthem does not need to be perfect.
Few are, and changing a few words is not a disaster
if it makes the Anthem more inclusive. Whether it's
"One and free" or "In peace and harmony" - surely a
consensus can be found ?

Foxy,

A national anthem is just a piece of nation-building propaganda to create an image of unity or oneness irrespective of the ethnic diversity of the nation-state.

Actually the whole idea of nation-building after WW2 including Australia is problematic because there really is no such thing as an intrinsic unity of the peoples within the nation-state.

I don't think anybody in their right mind actually gives two hoots about having a national identity anymore. I like my wife's idea: think about yourself and forget the rest because it is only the dishonest and untrustworthy politicians, bureaucrats and business people who stand to profit from a nation-building agenda.

Thinkabit,

I've never seen any reference to the ancestors of Aboriginal people here taking only three hundred years to migrate from Africa, eventually, perhaps via East Asia (hence Denisovan ancestry), down through the Malayan bottle-neck, the Javanese bottleneck, and the PNG coastal bottle-neck, to Australia. Ten to thirty thousand years seems a more sensible estimate.

After all (and this may come as a surprise to Misop), those ancestors didn't have any World Atlas or Gregory's Road Map: they had no fore-knowledge or awareness about where, generation by generation, they were heading. So of course, they were heading in every direction, perhaps also back towards Africa.

So movement from A to B would have been more a consequence of group population growth in Arabia and India and southern China and Malaya, etc., than human curiosity about what might be over the next hill.

Consequently, thirty thousand years sounds about right. Of course, the Cornish Aboriginal Professor Bruce Pascoe asserts that Aboriginal people have been here for at least 127,000 years and, being a Professor, he should know. Pity about the lack of any evidence, but belief trumps evidence, doesn't it ?

Joe

Dear Mr O,

If any one of us were to look at the histories behind
some National Anthems - we might be very surprised.
From the "Star-Spangled Banner", to
Finland, Estonia, and the African States. Emotions
often run high with National Symbols, at least for
some. But as I stated in my earlier post - to aim
for a consensus is a good thing. Unification not division.

Who cares if they change all the words, the Dirge will still be a dirge.

I heard an opinion on this earlier today, suggesting that there would be outrage in say, America, if anyone dared touch their anthem; but, here in Australia, nobody really cares that much about such things. Could be.

Hi Foxy

A good tip. We don't even need to mention "sea"

Instead I've added "in peace and harmony" to the 4th line:

Here's "ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR" currently http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Australia_Fair#Lyrics .

So here tis:

Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are one and free;
We've golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home in peace and harmony;
Our land abounds in nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then 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 then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair."

Better? Whadayareckon fellow OLOsters?
_____________________________________

Centrist OLO-Australians (Foxy, Joe, Paul1405, planta, SteeleRedux, Alan B. & Mr Opinion, RULE OK?!

Dear Pete,

I like your arrangement.
However, I would still prefer the following:

" Australian all let us rejoice
In peace and harmony
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 history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia Fair".

But that's just me.

Mr Opinion: "Where did you find the neanderthal link mentioned? I think you have misinterpreted something you read."

It is common knowledge that when homo-sapiens first left Africa they interbred with Neanderthals. If you examined the DNA of someone who isn't solely of African descent, such as anyone with European or Asian heritage, then you will almost certainly find some remants of Neanderthal DNA. This also applies to Aboriginals/New Guineans. Here is an article at the general public popular science level from a well regarded publisher that mentions it: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110922/full/news.2011.551.html
And here's a research article at a deeper scientific level: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/328/5979/710

Anyway, this talk of aboriginal migration and neanderthal DNA has very little to do with the thread's topic of the National Anthem so I won't be saying much more about it.

Hi Thinkabit,

I found "A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived" (2017) by Adam Rutherford very useful and entertaining in all of the discussion about Out-Of-Africa.

Joe

God save the queen! Since 1745.

God save our gracious Queen!
Long live our noble Queen!
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us,
God save the Queen.

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour,
Long may she reign.
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen.

Dan