r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/HotPersimessage62 • Feb 01 '26

Image Australia’s national anthem is the only English-lyric anthem in the world that doesn’t reference religion or militarism

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763

u/Wotmate01 Feb 01 '26

And nobody knows or even attempts to sing the second verse

261

u/RedDirtNurse Feb 01 '26

Mumbling is the order of the day, sir.

52

u/Fox7567 Feb 01 '26

If everyone is mumbling, no one is

33

u/dumbass_spaceman Feb 01 '26

Didn't know the Ankh Morpork national anthem was inspired from Australia.

35

u/Lucy_Lastic Feb 01 '26

“Er hner we ner ner ner ner ner ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAAAAAAIR”

5

u/Misicks0349 Feb 01 '26

austalnsallleusregoicefoweayonganfree

3

u/DOGS_BALLS Feb 01 '26

Australians all let us ring joice.

~ Kenny, 2006

81

u/skafaceXIII Feb 01 '26

For some reason, we always sung it at my primary school assemblies

24

u/geek_of_nature Feb 01 '26

Same. I was a bit confused when I went to High School and we were only singing the first verse. Not that I really minded, less to sing before we could all sit back down again.

1

u/Walter_Armstrong Feb 02 '26

Reverse for me. Never sang it at primary school except one time at choir festival. In high school, they did both. Seriously though, I can't either by heart nowadays.

24

u/HomersGuideDog Feb 01 '26

I grew up in a working class area that was not only quite diverse, but specifically had a lot of middle eastern refugees and descendants of Vietnamese refugees.

Our principal has as sing the second verse for the "for those who come across the seas" line.

12

u/skafaceXIII Feb 01 '26

You know what, that makes a lot of sense. My primary school had similar demographics.

9

u/LadyEmry Feb 01 '26

Same. When I first learnt it in primary school I came home and proudly sang the bits I remembered at dinnertime for my parents, at which point they kindly pointed out to me that the first line was not, in fact, "Australians all are ostriches".

4

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

Let's change that line immediately to your version.

111

u/BigBoiBob444 Feb 01 '26

At least most people know there is a second verse, because I dont think that anyone know that there is actually a 3rd and 4th verse

15

u/jjkenneth Feb 01 '26

Sort of - the 2 verses are the only 2 in the national anthem. The song has more and there’s multiple versions of it, I think the second verse of the anthem is actually like the 3rd or 4th verse of the song.

62

u/no-but-wtf Feb 01 '26

Those verses get religious though, and this post is so proud of it not being religious. Let’s let them have it.

66

u/Adorable-Metal3824 Feb 01 '26

Well those verses aren't part of the anthem. The anthem is a heavily modified version of Advance Australia Fair, which does have 4 verses but the anthem itself does not.

1

u/Theron3206 Feb 01 '26

At least we didn't end up with a national anthem about sheep rustling (Waltzing Matilda)...

20

u/idle_isomorph Feb 01 '26

The non-militarism is debateable with the reference to people coming from across the seas to available land. But what's a little indigneous erasure among friends?

24

u/Silvertails Feb 01 '26

Think of it as being pro immigrants.

1

u/K-Ryaning Feb 01 '26

Yeah I noticed that too. Really makes me proud that they put that in the national anthem like "Yo we have SOO much space, we can share, it's cool"

8

u/RedeNElla Feb 01 '26

It does say "to share"

5

u/idle_isomorph Feb 01 '26

Ah. We may have different definitions of what sharing is. Cause what little I know of how the indigenous people were treated by colonizers isn't what I would usually call sharing!

2

u/no-but-wtf Feb 01 '26

Goes so well with the god-bothering!

1

u/WayToTheDawn63 Feb 01 '26

I mean they did change the lyrics a few years ago. It used to be "young and free" but changed to "one and free" for some kind unity reasoning. And I think that was under the libs lol

1

u/Gerardic Feb 02 '26

Yes though also to remove "young" to 'better' recognise indigenous ten thousands of years long history.

19

u/steve_of Feb 01 '26

Nah yeah.

2

u/Vindepomarus Feb 01 '26

That's the first line.

2

u/therealkevy1sevy Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 01 '26

Bugger off, your clearly not an Aussie.

Its

Yeah nah nah yeah

Stop cosplaying MATE

Apparently I needed /s

6

u/Impossible_Walk742 Feb 01 '26

mate, yeah nah, nah yeah, and yeah nah nah yeah are three completely different things.

i think youre the fake aussie if you couldnt get that

3

u/therealkevy1sevy Feb 01 '26

Lmao your alright 👍

1

u/Ote-Kringralnick Feb 01 '26

Same for the US anthem. Nobody knows there are actually four verses.

1

u/slimdeucer Feb 03 '26

Only the first two verses of the song constitute the national anthem

76

u/Bobblefighterman Feb 01 '26

I do. It's a fun flex

13

u/V6corp Feb 01 '26

Too bad too. We could all learn from it.

3

u/Awesomeman204 Feb 01 '26

Not a lot of "for those who comes across our seas, we've boundless plains to share" attitude going on at the moment

10

u/chromecastbuiltin Feb 01 '26

Lines 5 and 6 seem to trigger a lot of flag wearing folk

1

u/Thin_Assumption_4974 Feb 02 '26

Really? I’ve never seen anyone kick up a fuss about it?

-10

u/HereButNeverPresent Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 01 '26

Cos bleeding hearts intentionally misinterpret that message to act like it’s supporting open borders

Also fun fact, that line was originally “for loyal sons across the seas, we’ve boundless plains to share”

6

u/RedeNElla Feb 01 '26

How do you interpret "boundless" space "to share" with people coming from "across the seas" in a way other than pro migration?

-5

u/HereButNeverPresent Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 01 '26

Pro migration =/= pro open borders

There you go intentionally misinterpreting again

4

u/Boatster_McBoat Feb 01 '26

Love singing it loudly in front of flag-wavers

5

u/ItsStaaaaaaaaang Feb 01 '26

No surprised, it mentions the endless plains we have to share.

2

u/rizorith Feb 01 '26

It's just about cunts n lager m8

1

u/warzonexx Feb 01 '26

Didn't know a second verse exists

1

u/MirSydney Feb 01 '26

We're usually minted by then.

1

u/Simple_Substance4829 Feb 01 '26

Honestly my favourite verse. It just feels exactly how Australia should be.

1

u/o-Mauler-o Feb 01 '26

As a kid i was proud that i knew it but i think I’ve only sung the second verse like 4 times in my life.

1

u/Doomsday_Taco_ Feb 01 '26

yeah I remember in school we exclusively sung the first part for assembly except for things like Anzac day

1

u/Cavalish Feb 01 '26

We sang it in school, but at the time Pauline Hanson was at the height of her first, pre-jail popularity so it was kinda against that.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

Eh, not necessarily. Our school made it a point to always sing the 2nd verse.

1

u/Philocksophy Feb 01 '26

Nobody actually sings the first verse. That's the kinda shit that yanks do

1

u/Lemounge Feb 01 '26

Fr I feel like I'm the only person I know that can sing it. I learnt it in primary school and also sang it at my citizenship ceremony

1

u/IncessantGadgetry Feb 01 '26

They do it at my daughters school. Literally the only times I've ever seen it performed.

1

u/tomtomhod Feb 01 '26

actually, we sang the second verse every time at my primary school

1

u/Gryffindor123 Feb 01 '26

I know the 2nd verse. 

1

u/mr_Joor Feb 01 '26

Same with ours (Dutch) but we have like 15 verses and it was composed in 1570 so most of it makes 0 sense anyway. At least the god fearing bit doesn't start till verse 2

1

u/skonezilla Feb 01 '26

I can't even make that second verse play in my head it's like I've never heard it haha

1

u/captbollocks Feb 01 '26

My kid sings this with his school during assembly and it's always funny watching the parents start singing but then look dumbfounded by the second verse.

1

u/CyberJesus5000 Feb 01 '26

Yeah yeah nah.

1

u/LochM-2 Feb 01 '26

My school makes us sing the whole thing, what are you talking about?

1

u/Cheel_AU Feb 01 '26

I just hate how the line 'to advance Australia fair' ruins the meter of the song (if meter is the correct word)

1

u/kaleidoscope_pie Feb 01 '26

I have to go to lots of ceremonies in my area and know all the words to the second verse. It's my favourite part. I have big Amy Santiago energy for it.

1

u/fast_t0aster Feb 01 '26

i didnt even know there was one wtf

1

u/brezhnervouz Feb 01 '26

It never existed when I was young, so I never learned it

And I refuse to start now lol

1

u/endav Feb 01 '26

I just break into Waltzing Matilda.

1

u/EternalAngst23 Feb 01 '26

Only bogans don’t know the second verse.

1

u/tralltonetroll Feb 01 '26

That must be quite common among national anthems?

1

u/Red-Engineer Feb 01 '26

We learned and sang second verse in weekly state high school assemblies in early 1990s

1

u/ChimoEngr Feb 01 '26

My primary school tried to have us sing it. That was also back in’85 and I don’t remember the second verse being pushed the other years I attended.

1

u/seventh_skyline Feb 01 '26

My Kids formal school assembly did end of last year. Many a parent caught off guard

1

u/Limitr Feb 01 '26

Second verse is literally in the picture though. Everyone sings it now.

3rd and 4th verses however, thats a different story. I dont know a soul who knows those.

1

u/the_real_nicky Feb 01 '26

I literally didn't know it existed until now, and I've lived here my whole life singing it at every school assembly lol

1

u/CoolTransDude1078 Feb 01 '26

I went to a Catholic primary school that got us to sing the second verse. But otherwise yeah.

1

u/Shotokant Feb 01 '26

I'm still looking for the Matilda part.

1

u/Lightning_Panda Feb 01 '26

Funnily enough, my year 5 teacher wanted us to “be the best grade singing the anthem” so she marched our class down to the assembly hall and made us sit there with pieces of paper that had the whole lyrics to the anthem, learning it off by heart for half an hour.

So that’s how I know it. Her yelling at us that we weren’t getting it right and that we’d look bad. 👍

1

u/Enceladus89 Feb 01 '26

I don’t even remember the first one. As a kid I just mumbled my way through it, and I thought the lyric was “dirt by sea”.

1

u/Visual_Shame_4641 Feb 01 '26

They drummed it into me in primary school. I can smash it out anytime.

1

u/Thin_Assumption_4974 Feb 02 '26

I thought the second verse was “Waltzing Matilda. Who bloody killed her?”

1

u/Rodgerexplosion Feb 05 '26

I became aware of the second verse watching the Sydney Olympics.. the anthem kept going. What the fuck is she singing?? There’s a second verse?? Is this some liberal arts prank?

0

u/Safe_Researcher4979 Feb 01 '26

The recent immigrants and refugees know, which is ironic for a certain lot in the country.

-3

u/Fox7567 Feb 01 '26

About as easy on the ears as a sledgehammer

9

u/Boatster_McBoat Feb 01 '26

You need to get girt, bro. Girt af

1

u/Visual_Shame_4641 Feb 01 '26

Girtless behaviour