Australia changed a word in its national anthem to reflect what the prime minister called the “spirit of unity” and the country’s indigenous population. On New Year’s Eve, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that the second line of the anthem, Advance Australia Fair, had been changed from “Because we are young and free” to “Because we are one and free.”
The change took effect on Friday.
“It is time to make sure that this great unity is more fully reflected in our national anthem,” Morrison said, adding that Australia was “the most successful multicultural nation on Earth.”
“While Australia, as a modern nation, may be relatively young, the history of our country is old, as are the stories of many First Nations peoples whose administration we rightly recognize and respect,” Morrison said.
“In the spirit of unity, it is right to make sure that our national anthem reflects this truth and a common appreciation.”
Indigenous Australian Minister Ken Wyatt said in a statement that he had been asked about the change and supported it.
Wyatt, the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the lower house of the federal parliament, said the one-word change was “small in nature but significant in purpose”.
“It is a recognition that Aboriginal cultures and the Torres Strait Islands date back 65,000 years,” he said.
The change comes less than two months after New South Wales Prime Minister Gladys Berejiklian voiced support for Indigenous Australians, who said the national anthem did not reflect their history.
University of New South Wales law professor Megan Davis, a Cobble Cobble woman from the Barrungam nation in southwest Queensland, criticized the lack of consultation with Indians on the change.
“This is a disappointing way to end 2020 and start 2021. It’s all about us, without us,” she wrote on social media.
Last month, Australia’s national rugby team, the Wallabies, became the first sports team to sing the anthem in an indigenous language before their match with Argentina.
Advance Australia Fair was composed by Peter Dodds McCormick and was first sung in 1878. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1984.
Lee Jin-man / AP