Patriotism

I came from the dream time, from the dusty red soil plains,
I am the ancient heart – the keeper of the flame,
I stood upon the rocky shore, I watched the tall ships come,
For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.

I came upon the prison ship bound down by iron chains
I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.
I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run
A convict then a free man, I became Australian.

I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road
I'm a child of the depression, I saw the good times come
I'm a bushy, I'm a battler, I am Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.

I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs
I am Albert Namatjira, and I paint the ghostly gums
I am Clancy on his horse, I'm Ned Kelly on the run
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, I am Australian.

I'm the hot wind from the desert, I'm the black soil of the plains
I'm the mountains and the valleys, I'm the drought and flooding rains
I am the rock, I am the sky, the rivers when they run
The spirit of this great land, I am Australian.

We are one but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come,
we share a dream,
And sing with one voice,
I am, you are, we are Australian.





The lyrics, and then the song, of what I consider to be -the- australian song. I love it, I honestly think it should be our national anthem, rather than what is, look it up if you want to, it has something like five stanza's and each one is as boring as the one before, if not more so. I'm as patriotic as they come, but seriously, our anthem sucks. 'Advance Australia Fair' ugh, waaay too british. No offence to any Brits that read my blog, I don't recall if there are any though...

Anyways, I've been meaning to make this post for a long time now, ever since my graduation night actually (17th October) as it was one of the songs sung there, everytime I hear it, I get a tingle in my skin and I sigh. I think, -yes- this is Australia, not whatever image the rest of the world has of us. We're not convicts, we're not tail-end extentions of the British Empire, and no matter how much our (old) PM was kissing Bush's arse, we're not bloody yanks! We are AUSTRALIAN and the rest of the world can go get stood on, we're here, and we're here to stay.

I mean, yeah, sure, we can take a joke as well as anyone, as far as I'm concerned, its fair game if I complain about something about Australia, it's my right as I live here, it's my country. Sure, we've got a population density that is virtually non-existent, sure we've got only 20 million people or so living here, London Town alone has more than that, but we're mostly desert, so if any more people come here we're gonna start dying of DEHYDRATION. No offence Xin, I love you dearly, but sometimes the Asian idea that we've got all this useless space and we're just being mean by preventing immigrants -really- annoys me. Seriously, I want to get some of those boat people and dump them in the unpopulated middle of Australia to show them why the bloody hell we can't fit any more in! Deserts aren't really prime living areas y'know.

Back on track, you Americans'll know what I mean really when I talk about patriotism, its something that's kinda lacking, in the majority, here. A friend of mine decided to be funny one night, he was american, and started crapping on about my country, saying that we didn't have proper 'music' but listened to digeredoo's and stuff like that. Sure, the first five minutes I could laugh along with him and all, but after an hour I was starting to get -seriously- annoyed. So much so that I ended up saying 'if you say one more thing to degrade my country, you are going to be limping home, -if- I decide to let you walk. I don't crap on your country, you don't crap on mine. You feel me?' And considering that I can pull out this awesome glare and intimidation trick (he was about half a foot taller than me) he backed off rather swiftly. After I'd calmed down I explained it in short, simple sentences that he'd understand. You mock my country and I feel about the same amount of rage that America felt when the Twin Towers went down.

He apologised and we moved on. Let that be a warning to you, -all- of you, do NOT degrade Australia, don't insult it, don't call it a pile of shit, a prison, anything like that because you're liable to get a few broken teeth, if you're lucky. Now, I'm not a violent person, I'm not actively agressive, but push the right buttons...

So yeah. I love Australia, complete with the poxy weather, the deserts, the scrub, the lack of people, the isolation, the friendly nature, and I am proud to stand up tall, strut and say I am AUSTRALIAN and the rest of you just -wish- you were.