Thursday, August 02, 2007

Advance Australia Fair

I've been seriously thinking about applying for an Australian citizenship. Well, all Australian PRs are eligible to apply for it after a 2-year stint here. And since I quite like it here, I might as well go for it once I'm eligible.

So I figure it would be a good idea to start by learning the Australian national anthem. The first time I really heard it sung was at Joshua's first school assembly. Yes, parents are invited to join in the weekly assembly. Cool huh?

Anyway, I attended it a few times and kind of managed to get the anthem's tune in my head. But I still didn't know most of the lyrics. So last week, I did a search on the Australian national anthem and discovered quite a few interesting facts.

I found out that its title is Advance Australian Fair and that it only became the national anthem in 1984. Gee, our Negaraku is even older. You see, the Australians shared the Brits' God Save The Queen before that. That's hardly surprising. The Queen is, after all, still the head of state in Australia.

I also found out that the other contender for the national anthem was Waltzing Matilda. Interesting, no?

My friend Bala insisted that Men At Work's Land Down Under was considered at one point. I chose not to believe him. Waltzing Matilda maybe. But Land Down Under? As cool as it is, I seriously doubt it.

1 comment:

anfield devotee said...

Eh hello, I didn't say that! What I said that the tune SHOULD (& in many Aussie's minds, IS) the national anthem. But u still should know all the words to these songs as well as start listening to Aussie music like Nick Cave (& not Jason Donovan).