SYDNEY – Australia has changed its national anthem to remove the reference to the country being “young and free” amid calls to recognize that its indigenous peoples are the oldest continuing civilization in the world.
The change to “because we are one and free” took effect on Friday.
“We live in a timeless land of ancient peoples of the First Nations and have gathered the stories of more than 300 national ancestors and language groups,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
“And our hymn should reflect that. The changes we made and announced today, I think, achieve that goal.”
Australia has struggled for decades to come to terms with the Aborigines, who arrived on the continent some 50,000 years before British colonists.
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Every year, Australians have a national holiday on 26 January, marking the date when the “First Fleet” sailed to Sydney harbor in 1788, transporting mainly British convicts and soldiers. Some indigenous peoples refer to Australia Day as “Invasion Day”.
There is now a renewed focus on indigenous empowerment amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
The idea of changing the text was launched in 2020 by New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian, who said the current text ignored Australia’s “proud First Nations culture”.
The proposal was well received by several lawmakers, including the federal minister for indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, as well as the leader of the right-wing One Nation party, Pauline Hanson.
When asked if he would like to be the first person to sing the new national anthem, Morisson said: “I think singing for prime ministers is the same as the public exercise of prime ministers – it is best done in private.”