Happy Australia Day

Where did that mp3 come from? Was it one you already had on file, or was it illegally downloaded?

And is my downloading of it considered criminal?

I never thought the anthem would be such a legal minefield.

It’s one I have on file, the federal government released it a while back but have since revamped a bunch of pages and I can’t find the exact download site any more. At the time I seem to recall it being permitted for use for virtually any use, although as far as I can tell that has now changed to non-commercial use (I make a loss from this site…I think I’ll be elderly by the time I get anything from the Google Ads). Mind you, the AFL and NRL get away with playing it.

Currently it is available from John Howard’s Prime Ministerial website ^[4]

Excellent presentation Samuel !

Now, if only I can remember the words to “Advance Australia
Fair” …… ummmmm …. something about ‘girt by sea’ , or is that ‘girthed by sea’ ?

Anyway, have a really, really, really enjoyable Australia Day everyone.

Mr. Pappadappadopolis

Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in Nature’s gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage
Advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing,
“Advance Australia fair!”

I’m a tad confused as to why the official lyrics claim “Nature” is a proper noun, but so be it.

“Our home is girt by sea” …. Hmmmm, girt, what a funny word.
Reminds me of Gert Frobe, a la “Goldfinger”.

I must include that word in my 2008 book – “Assorted narratives behind the Green Door”.

Mr.Pappadappadopolis.

The way it us used in the anthem effectively means “surrounded” or “encircled”

I think ‘nature’ was traditionally used as a euphemism (or politically correct) version of ‘God’ and hence its capitalisation.

Bear in mind the third verse of the anthem was about England and Capt Cook and the fourth verse was a religious one, so perhaps it was a broad allusion to the original final verse of the song.

That would make sense davky.

Incidentally, while I’m a tad suspicious of any encyclopedia’s account of things which have about fifteen different versions of events floating around, the ^[5] on Wikipedia is an interesting read.

I’ll keep an eye out for your book in 2008 Mr. Pappadappadopolis.
By the way, what’s your first name ?

David Harold Eastwood.

Samuel,
have your read the full Austral day page on Wiki? ( ^[3]) I have posted comments there to this effect but it seems that most of the page is devoted to bashing Australia Day. Just wondering if you have an opinion on this one?? That being said, the section you quoted was from the historical section and most helpful to overseas visitors of your page. Well Done.

My first name ? It’s actually ‘Skeleton’, but I usually call myself
‘Skelly’.
Mister Pappadappadopolis

Skeleton ?
Hellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllppp ! !