Ozitis

For those who still find it difficult to accept Advance Australia Fair as Australia’s national anthem, some other options…

I STILL CALL AUSTRALIA HOME

(Lyrics by Peter Allen)

I’ve been to cities that never close down

From New York to Rio and old London town

But no matter how far

Or how wide I roam

I still call Australia home.

I’m always travelin’

And I love bein’ free

So I keep leavin’ the sun and the sea

But my heart lies waiting over the foam

I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters spinning ’round the world

Away from their families and friends

Ah, but as the world gets older and colder

It’s good to know where your journey ends.

And someday we’ll all be together once more

When all the ships come back to the shore

Then I realise something I’ve always known

I still call Australia home.

No matter how far

Or how wide I roam

I still call Australia home.

I AM AUSTRALIAN

(By Bruce Woodley and Dobe Newton)

I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red soil plains

I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame

I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come

For forty thousand years I’ve been the first Australian

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 came upon the prison ship, bowed down by iron chains

I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains

I’m a settler, I’m a farmer’s wife on a dry and barren run

A convict then a free man, I became Australian

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’m the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode

The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road

I’m a child of the depression, I saw the good times come

I’m a bushy, I’m a battler, I am Australian

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’m a teller of stories, I’m a singer of songs

I am Albert Namatjira, I paint the ghostly gums

I am Clancy on his horse, I’m Ned Kelly on the run

I’m the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian

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’m the hot wind from the desert, I’m the black soil of the plains

I’m the mountains and the valleys, I’m the drought and flooding rains

I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run

The spirit of this great land, I am Australian

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