A new Australian national anthem.

W

wy yung

Guest
If this ever happens, I believe the Drones should get the nod.

One Sunday morning
While I was out walking
By the Brisbane's waters
I chanced to stray
There I found a prisoner
Layed half in the water
He'd seen me coming
And he began to say

"I was a native of Erin's Ireland
And before I was brought
To this terrible place
They dragged me away
From my wife and newborn
And my ailing parents
I've been a prisoner at Port Macquarie
Norfolk Island and Emu Plains
At Castle Hill and cursed Toongabbie
At all of these settlements
I've worked in chains
But of all the places of condemnation
At each penal station of New South Wales
To Moreton Bay I've found no equal
The tyranny there makes all the rest pale

There I met O'Brien
The defender from Ulster
He'd left Ireland burning
Came here for the wake
He was a schemer
A Jacobite nightmare
He could not be broken
But he became displaced
The Jew had one hand
He was a violent man
He'd worn the 20 pound irons
Since before time began
Just before the dawn broke
His starvation awoke
He'd pick the corn from the filth
He'd find laying around
There ain't no walls at all
So remote is the North
The Commandant Logan
Was the devil for sure
His chief flogger was mad
I heard a prison guard say
He'd wash his lash in a bucket
Then drinks the remains

Well I heard a rumour
In the barracks one night
The Jew and O'Brien had fashioned a knife
They meant to kill Logan
But my will was broke
My brain reeled with this secret
And the next day I spoke
They put me back on the gang
With no word of my actions
O'Brien and the Jew
Got 300 lashes
O'Brien came off his triangle
With exposed shoulder blades
His skin never healed
He turned morbid and strange

We was out on the road gang
Just digging a hole
I was struggling with conscience
My nerves had dissolved
To 15 pairs of eyes
O'Brien proposed,
'Shall we go to the gallows
Be done with our woes?
You know the game
Fair play's all I'm asking
We'll draw 16 straws then nothing is wanting
Why should we grasp at the
straws of our lives
When we're only condemned by our will to survive?'

16 straws we did then draw
I picked the long one
The Jew picked the short
He said 'pray God forgives you
At least make it quick'
14 pairs of eyes watched me
Pounding a a shiv through his heart
And for a few moments there was no
stopping the blood
Then O'Brien said 'friends!
On a scaffold this ends
But it's a long was to Brisbane
And we are dangerous men'

Well Logan was wild
We filled him with bile
He'd seen the Catholic dodge
Plain suicide
We'd ascended his powers
But not that of the King's
Or the judge down the river's
But we was happy to swing
We were marched through the scrub
Off to Brisbane for trial
Chained into a whaler
Set off at low tide
With 6 nervous marines
And 6 Enfield rifles
The arse end of the world
And indifferent blue sky

Well I turned to torpor
At the stern in the sun
But I gathered the others must have come undone
I woke breathing smoke in a chaos of limbs
A red coat squirting blood
Through a hole in his chin
And a volley of fire in my general direction
There was panic and shot
And the smell of powder burning
I threw a rifle up over the side
It was dark by the water
But I could see the shore lights
Crouched down in the back
The wrong side of the guns
Getting scorched by the powder
I thought surely I'm done
I seen ghoulish things
Men shot limb from limb
O'Brien was dead
There were pieces of him
I tore off my shirt
I was quite badly burnt
My eyes poured like well springs
They were swollen and hurt
I'm not sure who survived
My whole trunk was on fire
But they borke the chains off me
And I bailed over the side."

Well I was amazed by this poor wretch's tale
I'd heard not of the friends
He had left in the whaler
But I'd just seen the paper
and I had to explain
How his Commander Logan
had died just this day
"He'd set out behind you
He was out hunting game
When he startled some natives
Took a spear through his brain"
Then the prisoner said "good"
I heard someone in boots
I turned around and that's when
The Royal Marines came
 
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Have you ever thought of taking (no offense) the Union Jack out of your flag?
 
A new national athem...? the average Australian doesn't even know the second the verse of the existing one...?

...but some story anyhow, unfortunately the effect is lost without a discernable tune...

Awwww come on Hercules, surely we're not that hated?
Not so much hated (hate is a strong word), but (s)lightily un-liked...

...not exactly the people, but what Britain represents.

Have you ever thought of taking (no offense) the Union Jack out of your flag?

That kind of thing has been considered, there was the referendum about the formation of an Australian republic said no and we still remain with the old flag and the old anthem...

...yes, I would rather have the Union flag taken out of the flag...

...rid of this symbol of imperialism!
 
Surely, if you ever change your national anthem it will be changed to Waltzing Matilda? As it is, it evokes more Aussie patriotism and lumps in everyone's throats than the actual anthem ever did.

All together now!

Once a jolly swag man
Sat beside the billabong...


I only lived in Australia for a couple of years, and even I get a bit choked up when I hear this (probably more because I liked the country so much than a sense of patriotism, but still...) :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu5byI6pZY0
 
Awwww come on Hercules, surely we're not that hated?

No, me old mate......not by all of us at any rate.

Me? I'd much rather have a PM with some semblance of a spine than concern myself with alternate flags. However, it would appear a vast number of my countrymen have different priorities.


DISCLAIMER: Comments not directed toward or intended to offend anyone. I've just gotten news of the rumoured leadership challenge and am finding it hard to contain my excitement!!
 
and we still remain with the old flag and the old anthem...

Yes.....and.....no. When I was a boy BD (and it really wasn't THAT long ago....I'm only 37...ok, pushing 38), our national anthem was indeed God Save the Queen. Our national SONG was Advance Australia Fair.

At least I THINK I'm right here...Pol....Wy...care to wade in?


Surely, if you ever change your national anthem it will be changed to Waltzing Matilda?

Funny that Naige.....that our most reverred tune is a tribute to a sheep stealing suicide victim.......what does THAT say about us as a nation?
 
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Yep, PFOG. When I was at school there were pictures of Queen Elizabeth in the classroom and we had to stand to attention when singing God Save the Queen. Haha, it seems like a lifetime ago!

I don't care about the national anthem since we usually only hear it before football games (even local ones!). Nor do I care about the flag. What does any of it mean if we increasingly adopt American values, customs and language?

Wy, as for the anthem ... it reminds us of what savage times we lived in not so long ago. But waaay too many words ... when people sing our current anthem it tends to go like this:
Orstrayans let us all rejoice
For we are young and free
From da da dum da golden soil
Da da da girt by sea.

La da dada
Da da dada
Our beauty rich and rare
La da dada da da dada
Advance Orstraya Fair!
You really need "girt" in there somewhere too ... dead cool word.
 
You really need "girt" in there somewhere too ... dead cool word.

Ha!!!

Reminds me of the Billy Connelly routine:

(In thick Scottish accent)....."Girt by sea? You are girt by sea? What the f%$@ing hell is girt by sea??.....Have you EVER heard anyone say.....I'm sorry I was late for the meetin'.....but I was GIRT by traffic"

.....brilliant!!


And for the record, I also remember Monday morning assembly in front of "Lizzie's" pic, singing god save OUR gracious Queen.

We really are a weird mob, Pol.....little wonder the Poms taunt us with "God save YOUR queen"...... or who could forget...... "You all live in a convict colony....a convict colony.....a convict colony"!!
 
Forget it? I'd not heard it before ... it's pretty funny, though :)

Obviously, robustly sung to the tune of "Yellow Submarine"....and it's dragged out whenever they regain the Ashes, whenever they whip us at rugby or whenever I get caught at the bar with a bunch of lively, proud Englishmen....all too willing to remind me of our dubious heritage.
 
Obviously, robustly sung to the tune of "Yellow Submarine"....and it's dragged out whenever they regain the Ashes, whenever they whip us at rugby or whenever I get caught at the bar with a bunch of lively, proud Englishmen....all too willing to remind me of our dubious heritage.

Ha, it all went past me. I'm guessing that they don't to sing it all that often so it would seem churlish to deny them that rare, precious moment in the sun :)

I'm trying to think of a country that doesn't have a dubious history. Are there any??

Ironic that a country founded on crooks is now one of the most peaceful in the world. Being distant is a pain when we have to spend twice as much on our music gear as the Yanks so - and have less quality and range. But it's good when it comes to reducing the potential for neighbourly tension ...
 
Ha, it all went past me. I'm guessing that they don't to sing it all that often so it would seem churlish to deny them that rare, precious moment in the sun :)

I'm trying to think of a country that doesn't have a dubious history. Are there any??

Ironic that a country founded on crooks is now one of the most peaceful in the world. Being distant is a pain when we have to spend twice as much on our music gear as the Yanks so - and have less quality and range. But it's good when it comes to reducing the potential for neighbourly tension ...

Yeah.......success on the sporting field tends to remain elusive as a general rule. Really looking forward to the Ashes at the end of the year. Might be time to get cocky and start looking to our Pommy forum mates for a few friendly wagers.....I could do with some cold, hard Sterling at current exchange rates!!

Peaceful? It's a war out there Pol.....the streets of Melbourne are being overrun by 16 year old thugs with bottles and knives and gangster wannabe's armed to the teeth. The recent "drug wars" seem to have them breeding in droves. Shame....beautiful city but less and less safe at night. Definitely NOT the city I grew up in.

As for "neighbourly tension".....well, there's always the Kiwi's!! :)
 
Yeah.......success on the sporting field tends to remain elusive as a general rule. Really looking forward to the Ashes at the end of the year. Might be time to get cocky and start looking to our Pommy forum mates for a few friendly wagers.....I could do with some cold, hard Sterling at current exchange rates!!

Peaceful? It's a war out there Pol.....the streets of Melbourne are being overrun by 16 year old thugs with bottles and knives and gangster wannabe's armed to the teeth. The recent "drug wars" seem to have them breeding in droves. Shame....beautiful city but less and less safe at night. Definitely NOT the city I grew up in.

As for "neighbourly tension".....well, there's always the Kiwi's!! :)

Can't say I care who wins the cricket. If we win then it's "Go team!" and if the Poms win we get to laugh at their little triumphal nonsense ... you know, flashbacks to the glory days of the empire with Britannia Rules blah blah ... it's kind of cute, like an ageing bunny rabbit trying to beat its chest and roar.

PFOG, remember ... I said "relatively peaceful", not "peaceful". Such is the state of things that the young hoods here still don't make us anywhere near as violent as most countries. More people = more tensions = less individual accountability = more fighting. Almost all places will continue to be increasingly violent.

So ya reckon we should declare war on the Kiwis? It's a bit of a leap from cheering fpr them in the WC :)
 
So ya reckon we should declare war on the Kiwis? It's a bit of a leap from cheering fpr them in the WC :)

Nah....it wouldn't be fair Pol......their defense force consisting of two row boats, a neatly folded paper plane and a couple of angry men with spud guns just wouldn't hold up.

As for the WC....no choice but to cheer them home now. What with our feeble efforts causing an early withdrawal!
 
Nah....it wouldn't be fair Pol......their defense force consisting of two row boats, a neatly folded paper plane and a couple of angry men with spud guns just wouldn't hold up.

As for the WC....no choice but to cheer them home now. What with our feeble efforts causing an early withdrawal!

FOG, you're so hardcore ... NZ have a lot of sheep too and our team was less feeble than the ref who kept sending us off for soft offences.
 
FOG, you're so hardcore ... NZ have a lot of sheep too and our team was less feeble than the ref who kept sending us off for soft offences.

The ref's were ordinary, no doubt....but the ref didn't let 4 goals get kicked against him either. There was still a side on the paddock that got whipped 4-nil (sorry GD!!), some accountability still has to be taken by those playing the game I think.....the ref's and the coaches are easy whipping boys in any loss. That said....I reckon that's the last we'll see of Pim though.
 
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