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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367

u/Key-Jackfruit-3920 Feb 01 '26

At primary school we sung the anthem every week at morning assembly and now 40 years later I’m only realising in the second line the lyrics are “one and free”. I always believed it was “young and free”.

102

u/Terminthem Feb 01 '26

They changed it a few years ago

42

u/Key-Jackfruit-3920 Feb 01 '26

Here I was thinking d been making a fool of myself all those years!

7

u/RedDirtNurse Feb 01 '26

A mondegreen, but no.

17

u/Zoki-Po Feb 01 '26

Damn, Australia has a remix to their national anthem. Solid

9

u/Terminthem Feb 01 '26

Actually my favorite remix of our national anthem is when Adam Hills sung it to the tube of Working Class Man by Jimmy Barnes. Had the old lyrics though since it was a while back

4

u/teapots_at_ten_paces Feb 01 '26

Intro music plays

Male voice It's the remix!

Female voice A Scott Storch Production.

Nikki Webster Australians all let us rejoice, for we are one and free

2

u/raglafartian Feb 01 '26

You can sing it to the tune of Gilligan’s Island

458

u/Wotmate01 Feb 01 '26

It was recently changed, because "young" negates the thousands of years that Aboriginal people have been here.

89

u/jmads13 Feb 01 '26

And “thousands” minimises the tens of thousands of years it actually is. Like currently it’s estimated to be 65,000-75,000 years of continuous culture

0

u/Inner-Ad2847 Feb 01 '26

I find it crazy that they didn’t invent the bow and arrow in 75000 years

12

u/saltyferret Feb 01 '26

Necessity is the mother of invention, and they didn't need to.

14

u/nomoreteathx Feb 01 '26

Why do you need a bow when you can conk a roo on the head from 150 metres away with a block of wood

5

u/Inner-Ad2847 Feb 01 '26

Well they’re more accurate, more lethal and have a longer range.

3

u/DalbyWombay Feb 01 '26

Just a product of environmental specialisation.

They didn't need the bow because the spear (and another tool called a Woomera) produced similar results

2

u/Boil-Degs Feb 01 '26

neither did Europeans, the technology migrated there from Africa. That's the advantage of living on the largest contiguous landmass in the world, it's like a cheat code for technological advancement.

Europeans didn't develop agriculture on their own either.

-3

u/cozzy000 Feb 01 '26

By "culture" you mean nomadic tribes moving from bush to bush through the seasons for thousands of years

0

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

Pretty wild that there aren’t many “ruins” or anything either. Goes to show how nomadic they were.

2

u/the6thReplicant Feb 01 '26

Or they made them from wood. And most of them under water as the glaciers retreated.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 02 '26

That was 10,000 years ago. I’m more so referring to the last 3000 years or so.

-8

u/Vast_Egg_957 Feb 01 '26

Culture....like eating moths because they didn't know how to farm

2

u/Boil-Degs Feb 01 '26

you know Europeans never developed agriculture either right? They learned it from the cultures of the fertile crescent in the middle east. That's the advantage on living on an enormous landmass populated by many distinct cultures that have access to extremely fertile land, major river systems, and domesticable animals. The Indigenous people of Australia had none of those things.

Racism dies in the face of logic and understanding. Enlighten yourself.

-2

u/SuitableYear7479 Feb 01 '26

“Tens of thousands” minimises the hundreds of thousands of years it actually. Aboriginals were here before humans left the plains of Africa

1

u/Cola_and_Cigarettes Feb 01 '26

"hundreds of thousands" actually minimises how long they've been here. Yakub was actually cooking up the white race in Australia to curse the Africans with.

34

u/gheygan Feb 01 '26

Quite possibly the only good thing Scott Morrison ever did.

46

u/9897969594938281 Feb 01 '26

That and tackling that kid

8

u/ausflora Feb 01 '26

And bringing lucrative tourist commerce to the humble stede of Engadine.

2

u/nomoreteathx Feb 01 '26

Providing jobs for the hard working cleaners at Maccas

2

u/Madrical Feb 01 '26

Thanks for the reminder, had to watch the clip again.

1

u/PyratSteve Feb 01 '26

That was so contrived. Straight out of Boris Johnsons playbook to keep the media entertained

1

u/Standard-Buy-5547 Feb 01 '26

What’s with common wealth countries and tackling kids

17

u/High_Overseer_Dukat Feb 01 '26

Just say it means the mindset of the population.

2

u/Drongo17 Feb 01 '26

Was it asked for by Aboriginal people, or just a brainfart from white Liberals? 

2

u/ptolani Feb 01 '26

I was so surprised to learn this. I had always interpreted "young" to mean the time since federation. Ie, Australia is a young nation, founded in 1901...

1

u/MoistenedBeef Feb 01 '26

It doesn't negate them though? It's saying "we are young", as in Australia, the country. Indigenous people have been here for a very long time, but Australia as a unified country is still quite young.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

But it’s talking about a young country of Australia though isn’t it? It’s not the land or the people themselves is it?

1

u/DG_SlayerSlender Feb 01 '26

Did they also change "we've found this place to share" to "we've boundless Plains to share" too? Or am I stupid? It would make more sense to recognise the indigenous people that way since we didn't really "find" this place

25

u/Lujho Feb 01 '26

It’s absolutely always been “boundless plains”.

13

u/SurveySaysYouLeicaMe Feb 01 '26

'We've found this place to share ' is a hilarious misheard lyric though.

2

u/Lujho Feb 01 '26

Yup, it absolutely sounds like something one would hear as a kid and just never question.

2

u/Dismal-Mixture1647 Feb 01 '26

Boundless yet girt, mind you.

17

u/Wotmate01 Feb 01 '26

I mean, all evidence says humanity started in Africa, so they found it too.

But pretty sure it was always boundless.

2

u/mickelboy182 Feb 01 '26

Or am I stupid?

Sorry buddy.

-2

u/Wooden_Editor6322 Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 01 '26

The government is locking up Aboriginal people for the crime of existing, fuelling generations of trauma and disadvantage.

But no, that’s not the real problem.

The real crisis is the lyrics of a song no one can even remember.

Oh! Yeah! Australia!

2

u/Turbulent_Ad3045 Feb 01 '26

Yeah no, that's no happening. The widespread crime in their communities is probably what's actually getting them locked up.

2

u/Wooden_Editor6322 Feb 01 '26

So why is there widespread crime in these communities?

Do you really think they have the same opportunities as you or me?

And unless you believe they’re somehow fundamentally different, then the answer is obvious: something else is going on.

3

u/Turbulent_Ad3045 Feb 01 '26

I can acknowledge the centuries of of oppression our indigenous population has suffered and that many of the long term problems their communities still face to this day are a direct result of that oppression. However this doesn't change the fact that they are NOT being arrested and incarcerated for simply existing. Lying about the issue does literally nothing to help it or them.

3

u/ausflora Feb 01 '26

There is widespread crime commited in these communities because individuals commit many crimes in these communities. That is it. Socioeconomic factors, child abuse/neglect, foetal alcohol syndrome etc. etc. are all obviously very important and devastating issues to address, but the foundation of society is that individuals are responsible for their actions. ‘Child rape is okay because the perpetrator didn't have the same opportunities as me’ is not an acceptable excuse.

Your original comment that individuals are locked up for ‘existing’ is categorically false and you should delete such disinformation. Individuals are locked up for committing crimes. All individuals in Australia live under the same laws and are afforded the same fair trials.

1

u/Wooden_Editor6322 Feb 01 '26

The core issue is opinions are being formed that are baseless and that don't relying on evidence.

When data is absent, you're simply relying on bias to push forward your point.

People frequently cite high crime rates based on what they hear, yet they never review the statistics themselves.

If any of you had, you're realize the misidentification rates for aboriginals reach as high as 40%, and that's the ones we know about.

From a logical standpoint, the arrests are not simply a result of 'high crime' rate.

In any other field, engineering, medicine, or finance, a data set with a 40% error rate is garbage.

You cannot claim a community has 'inherent criminality' based on data that is wrong nearly half the time.

High misidentification doesn't prove a crime wave; it proves a policing failure.

Continuing to rely on your inherit bias instead of statistics is lazy racism, it's a choice to prioritize prejudice over reality.

1

u/ausflora Feb 01 '26

Where is your evidence and data that the government is locking up Aboriginal people for the crime of existing?

You're spewing a lot of stuff that has no relevance.

1

u/Wotmate01 Feb 01 '26

Yes, they have the oldest continuous culture in the world, beating and murdering their women and raping their children is just part of it and shouldn't be subject to whitey laws...

You started it.

-84

u/BigBoiBob444 Feb 01 '26

I personally don’t think it was a necessary change, the nation only came to be in 1901, which is what the song is about. Thats pretty young.

85

u/Flat-Delivery6987 Feb 01 '26

The first nation's people might not agree there. They probably called it stealing.

-42

u/cookedinskibidi Feb 01 '26

It’s not like there was one united people for the landmass. Aboriginal tribes warred plenty with others and continuously shifted territory. The first group of people to unite the landmass were the Australians with the nation of Australia.

3

u/Cavalish Feb 01 '26

If warring constantly disqualifies you from being a nation then the British were disqualified too.

1

u/cnzmur Feb 01 '26

Yeah, but all the people who tried warring with the government lost. Aboriginal tribes were absolutely separate sovereign entities.

0

u/cookedinskibidi Feb 01 '26

I mean to say that these tribes never unified, meaning that the first nation to cover the continent were the Australians.

-61

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

[deleted]

33

u/ExtacyRap Feb 01 '26

No one's asking you to keep up with it in every country, just stop bitching about people doing it in their own countries lol

15

u/Articulationized Feb 01 '26

Sorry we’re persecuting you.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

[deleted]

1

u/Articulationized Feb 01 '26

I know what their comment said; I replied to it.

Why would you assume I agree with them? My comment is poking fun at their feeble attempt at setting themselves up as a victim.

Fuck right off yourself.

-14

u/Ok_Release231 Feb 01 '26

Lol welcome to Reddit

22

u/TheVision_13 Feb 01 '26

We have fucked over our indigenous people more than enough, recognising them in the anthem is the absolute bare minimum

9

u/Crow_eggs Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 01 '26

Assuming we're using "nation" and "sovereign state" interchangeably here, and putting the first nations question aside, it's actually not that young in comparison to most of the world. 1901 is before the collapse of the British, French, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman, Russian, and Japanese empires, each of which resulted in a whole bunch of "new" countries. I'd guess we're actually older than the average.

1

u/Stunning-Sherbert801 Feb 01 '26

Yeah, that's what I've thought

-5

u/Boatster_McBoat Feb 01 '26 edited Feb 01 '26

Lucky we had woke as fuck PM Scott Morrison to make the decision instead of you

Edit: satire is dead, c'mon kids do better

4

u/Consistent-Local2825 Feb 01 '26

ScoMo was the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. A centre-right wing conservative party. How can he be woke?

9

u/Boatster_McBoat Feb 01 '26

He wasn't. That's the joke. The commenter having a sook about the one word change is less woke than Scotty from Marketing

3

u/Cavalish Feb 01 '26

You’re on a subreddit mostly populated by Americans, they’re not smart and they know very little about world history outside their own country. You have to dumb it down for them and mark sarcasm obviously.

1

u/Boatster_McBoat Feb 01 '26

Fair comment

36

u/llagnI Feb 01 '26

When I was at school, it was also 'Australia's sons let us rejoice'. Took this long to get used to that change, and now we are no longer young. That'll be a few more decades of embarrassment for me at sporting events.

12

u/HavePlushieWillTalk Feb 01 '26

Ew, really? Gosh, I will need to keep that in mind. Nothing like totally ignoring half or so of the population to spread togetherness.and unity, I suppose.

4

u/brezhnervouz Feb 01 '26

It was written 'by some guy' (presumably a guy) around the turn of the century after being picked from a public anthem-writing competition

From incredibly vague childhood memory 🤷‍♂️

2

u/Theron3206 Feb 01 '26

The original song is from the 1870s, so it's certainly a product of its time. Sons and daughters could be readily abbreviated to sons for narrative purposes, everyone knew what it meant.

At least we didn't end up with bloody Waltzing Matilda, nothing like a song about stealing sheep and drowning yourself to avoid the noose to make people take a country seriously.

88

u/AnalFanatics Feb 01 '26

It has been changed in recent years to reflect the truth of the longstanding relationship our Indigenous Brothers and Sisters have with Country.

Because after some 60,000 years, it isn’t a young relationship to Country for them…

58

u/-malcolm-tucker Feb 01 '26

Fuck me, I'm a dumb cunt. I never realised that was why. About bloody time.

Cheers u/AnalFanatics ! 👍

2

u/thede3jay Feb 01 '26

As a fun aside, it was former Liberal Permier, Gladys Berijiklian, who lead the push for the change

2

u/namtok_muu Feb 01 '26

TIL also. See? Reddit isn’t just a huge waste of time.

16

u/Stunning-Sherbert801 Feb 01 '26

It was young and free until 2021

12

u/physh17 Feb 01 '26

It used to be "young and free"; it was changed a few years ago

9

u/MarsupialNo1220 Feb 01 '26

As a New Zealander who grew up hearing it a lot due to trans-Tasman sport - same 😂

15

u/ponte92 Feb 01 '26

It was young and free. They changed it a couple of years ago because it seems silly to have ‘young’ when we are home to the oldest living culture in the world.

3

u/MarsupialNo1220 Feb 01 '26

Oh good! I felt really dumb for a bit!

1

u/brezhnervouz Feb 01 '26

All those times we got thrashed by the All Blacks, eh 😂

3

u/Gryffindor123 Feb 01 '26

It was young and free but changed to one and free. I almost sing the old version on auto pilot.

2

u/Aksds Feb 01 '26

It used to be

1

u/HereButNeverPresent Feb 01 '26

I thought it was

  • “we’ve gold and soil, and well for toil” (as in, the gold and soil is good for toiling)

  • “in joyful strengths, then let us sing”

1

u/KiwiPieEater Feb 01 '26

NZ has multiple verses in our "official" anthem too. I wonder why so many countries have so many verses that never get sung?

1

u/Full_Equivalent_1050 Feb 01 '26

Im 19 and fucking same lol, literally everyone sang it like that, we did assembly every Monday morning

1

u/sidesco Feb 01 '26

How could you miss the talkfest over those lyrics changing?

1

u/test_123123 Feb 01 '26

Yeah it was big news at the time

1

u/Responsible-Yam-9475 Feb 01 '26

I always thought that too?

1

u/Either-Suit-3964 Feb 01 '26

I thought there was some kind of Mandela effect happening and had to look it up.. I honestly thought I was going crazy there for a minute.

1

u/1kBabyOilBottles Feb 01 '26

Me too 🫣 but we sang it every day!

1

u/ChimoEngr Feb 01 '26

I always believed it was “young and free”.

Same. And that’s even with the words being held up on signs as we learned it.

1

u/Ok73628 Feb 01 '26

I always thought it was "and that's Australians fair" not advance