SYDNEY – Australia has amended its national anthem to remove the reference to the country ‘young and free’, amid calls to recognize that the indigenous people are the oldest continuing civilization in the world.
The change to “because we are one and free” took effect Friday.
“We live in a timeless land of ancient First Nations peoples, and we bring together the stories of more than 300 national and linguistic groups,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
“And our national anthem should reflect that. I think the changes we have made and announced today are achieving that goal.”
Australia struggled for decades to reconcile with Aborigines, who arrived on the continent about 50,000 years before British colonists.
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Australians hold an annual national holiday on 26 January, marking the date on which the “First Fleet” enters Sydney Harbor in 1788, with mainly prisoners and troops from Britain. Some indigenous people refer to Australia Day as ‘Invasion Day’.
There is now a renewed focus on indigenous empowerment amid the Black Lives Matter movement.
The idea to change the wording was coined in 2020 by Prime Minister New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian, who said the current wording ignores Australia’s ‘proud First Nations culture’.
The proposal has been welcomed by several legislators, including the Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt, as well as Pauline Hanson, the leader of the one-nation party of the one-nation judge.
Asked if he wanted to be the first person to sing the new national anthem, Morisson said: “I think singing by prime ministers is the same as public practice by prime ministers – it’s best to do it privately.”