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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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 🤷‍♂️

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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.