Alternative Christian Verse
A Christian movement, Awakening, in the 1990s substituted an alternative second verse naming Christ and promoting Christian values An archived claim that the verse was sung in the 1930s at Smithton, Tasmania, is unsubstantiated and has been withdrawn from the original website. It was sung during the Global March for Jesus in 1998 and again at World Youth Day 2008 with the qualification 'This is not the official verse, but a Catholic adaptation of the Australian National Anthem'.
The version was later controversially adopted by some Christian private schools for singing as a hymn at internal assemblies. The substituted verse did not appear in the 1879 publication of Peter Dodds McCormick’s original work. The office of Prime Minister Julia Gillard said that, under national protocols, the anthem should not be modified and alternative words should not be used.
- Substituted verse
- With Christ our head and cornerstone,
- We'll build our Nation's might.
- Whose way and truth and light alone
- Can guide our path aright.
- Our lives, a sacrifice of love
- Reflect our Master's care.
- With faces turned to heaven above
- Advance Australia fair.
- In joyful strains then let us sing
- Advance Australia fair!
Read more about this topic: Advance Australia Fair
Famous quotes containing the words alternative, christian and/or verse:
“If the alternative is to keep all just men in prison, or give up war and slavery, the State will not hesitate which to choose.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In externals we advance with lightening express speed, in modes of thought and sympathy we lumber on in stage-coach fashion.”
—Frances E. Willard 1839–1898, U.S. president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union 1879-1891, author, activist. The Woman’s Magazine, pp. 137-40 (January 1887)
“Wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.”
—Bible: New Testament Jude, verse 13.
Recalling the Book of Enoch, in which fallen angels were condemned to be stars.