I've been reading a book by Bob Ellis and it's a mixture of breathtaking prose, contrived verse and a generous dollop of the type of stirring against the establishment which has made his reputation. There were pages of anecdotes about people I've never heard of and never want to meet as well, so I won't reach the last page.
However, one little rant amused me. In talking about our glorious national anthem, he is not very complimentary calling the tune as banal as Happy Birthday.
Our national anthem, he says ..... 'makes us feel, however slightly, like dickheads. Though 'I Am, You Are, We Are Australians' brings us to tears of pride, especially when sung by children, 'Advance Australia Fair' makes us cringe. And when we stand up for it, we are usually, inwardly, lying.
Every one of the first six lines rings false. We are not young. We are not free. Our soil is not golden. Wealth does not come from toil here, but from birth or short-selling or real estate. And though we are 'girt by sea' so are all islands, and we are an island, and this is scarcely worth noting. And our land does not 'abound with precious gifts', it is two-thirds desert. Unless you count uranium I suppose, and the immensity of coal that is currently choking the planet, it does not abound, it is a desert waste.'
He goes on to recommend a change, maybe not in time for the Rio Olympics, but certainly sooner rather than later.
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