Girt by Apathy...

I have spent the weekend pondering our values as a nation. It would be easy to sit back and think that we’re a bunch of xenophobic red necks in utes proudly displaying our ignorance for the world to see, but I refuse to believe that is the case.

I love Australia, I am proud to say I am Australian… but I am not really sure what I am saying I am proud of. What is it we stand for? What are our national values?

So, beginning my search into what our national values are, I started at the federal government “Values Australia” webpage (http://valuesaustralia.com/) and was confronted with the most shocking content I have ever seen on a webpage (with the possible exception of 2 girls 1 cup)…

“In short, Australia has built an entire culture on being a nation of losers.” 

Harsh…but fair? Let’s look at it:

(1 )    Our national song is about a sheep thief who commits suicide rather than be arrested. FAIL

(2 )    Our most coveted sporting trophy is a burnt set of cricket stumps. FAIL

(3 )    Our most celebrated military campaign was a dead set slaughter… of our troops. FAIL

(4 )    Our national hero was a bushranger with little or no understanding on how to make efficient body        armour. FAIL

The list goes on…but what stares you in the face is that we are a nation more willing to celebrate our failures than our victories.  Even our national anthem sounds more like a funeral march than an inspiring paean.

So, by saying I am proud to be Australian, am I saying that I am proud of my predisposition to and inherent love of failure? Again, I refuse to believe that is the case.

So, next step.  Lets look at the National Anthem…that is surely a good source for national values:

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 history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"Advance Australia fair!"

(Ok, yes, there are two other verses, but as it seems to be too much for many people to learn the first verse let alone 3, so for the purposes of this exercise I am only going to use the first…)

So, the values set out in our anthem are that we’re a youthful nation that is proud of our natural resources, is surrounded by ocean and hoping that history notices us… Does this not remind you of the Kazakhstan National Anthem out of Borat?

“Kazakhstan greatest country in the world.
All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium.
Other countries have inferior potassium.”

At least they exclaim that they believe they are the best....we don’t even have the tenacity to acknowledge our own self-worth! 

It also doesn’t help that Advance Australia Fair comes with the most limp wristed chord progression known to man. If the song went for more than 2 minutes it would lull you to sleep! Unlike the great national anthems of “Star Spangled Banner” and the like, that get blood pumping with patriotic pride at merely the opening bars, our anthem screams from the start “awww ...we’re ok, don’t hurt us”.

Adam Hills has remedied the music side of the issue with his version of Advance Australia Fair to the tune of Working Class Man:

Now, I can get behind that… It is amazing what updating a tune can do… and I honestly don’t think Jimmy Barnes would mind his home country using his tune as their anthem… I would think it would be a huge honour… Are you listening Governor General?!?

But we need to go further… A national anthem needs to describe who we are, where we have been and where we want to go. The populist version of Advance Australia Fair does nothing of the sort. If someone asked you personally who you are and what you stood for would your answer be “I live in Brisbane and have spuds growing in the garden”? Our Anthem does just that… “We live in the middle of the ocean and love to farm and mine shit”. I want the world to know a little more about us than just that! 

To be fair: Advance Australia Fair was first performed in 1878; we had no actual national identity to fall back on at that stage; we were still under British colonial rule. Why then in 1974 did an opinion poll pick “Advance Australia Fair” over “Waltzing Matilda” (I say again…FAIL) and “Song of Australia” (again saying we’re a country of rich dirt and blistering heat)… I dare say there was no better alternative… 

But not anymore.

In 1987, Bruce Woodley (of The Seekers) and Dobe Newton wrote “I am Australian”.   Once set to music it was used as advertising campaigns both for profit and not for profit entities… and it worked...why? 

Because as a nation we fricking love this song!

In 1997 it was released as a single performed by Judith Durham of The Seekers, Russel Hitchcock From Air Supply and Mandaway Yunupingu From Yothu Yindi and it reached number 17 on the ARIA charts… 

Again, we fricking love this song.

It is often taught at schools for an alternative national anthem because it better describes our values than Advance Australia Fair… 

Do I need to say again, we fricking love this song!

It has everything: reference to Indigenous Australians first and foremost acknowledging their 40 000 years of history prior to white settlement, the establishment of the first penal colony, becoming a nation and, of course, reference to the saucepan hat wearing bushranger…

Have a think about it.  Doesn’t the line “We are one, but we are many” represent us better than telling everyone we are “girt” by water?

I know I can sing Advance Australia Fair with absolutely no emotion and feel nothing for the music or lyrics… I dare any Australian to get up and belt out the following chorus without getting a lump in their throat… 

"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 bet you can’t!

I am aware that changing a national anthem does not constitute a set of values that as a nation we can live by, and at the end of the day, the gesture may seem empty. However if we start by saying “No, we are more than an island surrounded by water that has pretty good dirt: we are a nation of people” then maybe we can begin building a nation that ackowledges it's failures while being proud of our heritage and relishing in the growing tapestry or our flourishing society.  Maybe then we can start showing the world that we are more than (and mostly are not) beer drinking, ute driving, xenophobic bigots and stand with our heads held high proclaiming:

I Am Australian