"Advance Australia Fair" is the official national anthem of Australia. Created by the Scottish-born composer, Peter Dodds McCormick, the song was first performed in 1878, but did not gain its status as the official anthem until 1984. Until then, the song was sung in Australia as a patriotic song. In order for the song to become the anthem, it had to face a vote between the Royal anthem God Save the Queen, the "unofficial anthem" Waltzing Matilda and Song of Australia. Other songs and marches have been influenced by Advance Australia Fair, such as the Australian Vice-Regal salute.
The earliest known sound recording of Advance Australia Fair appears in "The Landing of the Australian Troops in Egypt", circa 1916, a short commercial recording dramatising arrival of the Australian troops in Egypt en route to Gallipoli.
Read more about Advance Australia Fair: Lyrics, Copyright, Orchestral Version, Development of Lyrics, Alternative Christian Verse
Famous quotes containing the words advance, australia and/or fair:
“Let that which stood in front go behind,
Let that which was behind advance to the front,
Let bigots, fools, unclean persons, offer new propositions,
Let the old propositions be postponed.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“I like Australia less and less. The hateful newness, the democratic conceit, every man a little pope of perfection.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“We hold on to hopes for next year every year in western Dakota: hoping that droughts will end; hoping that our crops won’t be hailed out in the few rainstorms that come; hoping that it won’t be too windy on the day we harvest, blowing away five bushels an acre; hoping ... that if we get a fair crop, we’ll be able to get a fair price for it. Sometimes survival is the only blessing that the terrifying angel of the Plains bestows.”
—Kathleen Norris (b. 1947)