Australia changes the national anthem To reflect the indigenous past. The change was announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday (31).
The hymn will no longer refer to Australia as “young and independent” in an attempt to reflect the country’s long indigenous history.
The announcement was a surprise, but was welcomed by the entire government.
According to Morrison, he hopes the change will create a “sense of unity”.
People lived in Australia for thousands of years before being colonized by white British in the 18th century.
The phrase removed in the hymn was: “Because we are young and free”. Instead, now people are going to sing “Because we are one and are free”.
Australia changes the national anthem
Earlier this year, Premier Gladys Berejikalian, leader of the state of New South Wales, suggested the change. He said the current text ignored Australia’s “glorious culture of the First Nation”.
Changing from “young and free” to “one more free” does nothing. But I believe it adds a lot, ”Prime Minister Morrison said.
Thus, “recognizes the distance traveled by us as a nation. It acknowledges that our national history is derived from more than 300 ancestors. Also we are the most successful multicultural nation on the planet ”.
In addition, he also said that the move celebrates the unity that Australia created during the coronovirus epidemic.
Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albnis commented that the country should be “proud of the fact that we have the oldest continuous civilization on the planet with the people of the First Nation”.
Thus, in recent years, Australia has made more and more efforts to recognize Indigenous history in cultural and political events.
In December, national team rugby players sang the national anthem in the indigenous language for the first time. The team sang in the language of the nation of Angora – a group of people from the Sydney region – before playing the anthem in English.
