Canberra, 18 April 1974
No. 229—Australia’s National Anthem
‘Advance Australia Fair’ will be played as the Australian National Anthem at this year’s official Anzac Day ceremony in Canberra. The Prime Minister announced this in Canberra today.
Mr Whitlam said he had asked the Minister for Defence to instruct the Armed Services to play ‘Advance Australia Fair’ on all appropriate occasions. He had also written to other Ministers asking them to give similar instructions to all departments and Government bodies for which they were responsible.
These arrangements were being made following the National Anthem poll conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The result of the poll, which he announced in Parliament on 8 April, clearly indicated that a majority of Australians wanted ‘Advance Australia Fair’ as the National Anthem.
Mr Whitlam said the poll result accurately reflected the will of the people. Opinion polls had shown for many years that an increasing majority of Australians—as many as 80 per cent—wanted a distinctive Australian anthem to replace ‘God Save The Queen’. He had promised such an anthem during the last election campaign. The survey by the Bureau of Statistics was the most thorough and exhaustive ever conducted. The sample was 30 times as large as the average private opinion poll. Mr Whitlam said the enormous response to last year’s national anthem competition, for which more 1,200 entries were received, showed the depth of public feeling on this issue. Australia now had a distinctive and familiar anthem with strong traditional associations.
He stressed that the survey related only to the music of ‘Advance Australia Fair’ Words for the tune existed but they were not regarded as part of the official anthem. The Government had always taken the view that it was the music that mattered.
Mr Whitlam said he hoped that at all Anzac Day ceremonies, the opportunity would be taken throughout Australia to play ‘Advance Australia Fair’ in recognition of the people’s wishes.
He added that on occasions when The Queen was present, or when it was especially important to acknowledge our links with The Queen as Queen of Australia and Head of the Commonwealth, ‘God Save The Queen’ would be played as well as the National Anthem.
1 See Document 442. Besides ‘Advance Australia Fair’, other songs under consideration were ‘Song of Australia’, ‘Waltzing Matilda’ and ‘God Bless Australia’. Whitlam was asked in Parliament in November 1973 why ‘God Save the Queen’ had been excluded. The Prime Minister replied that on his recent visits to Japan and China, when anthems were played, the former used ‘God Save the Queen’ and the latter ‘Advance Australia Fair’. Of other songs played in China, ‘Waltzing Matilda’ was received more rapturously (NAA: A463, 1973/4441, statement to House of Representatives, 7 November 1973). In London in December 1973, Whitlam was questioned about the anthem during a BBC radio interview. Asked why he wanted to replace ‘God Save the Queen’ he replied, ‘Public opinion of all the polls shows we are the only country which has as its National Anthem the National Anthem of another country. And this is made the subject of a great deal of ridicule on occasions like the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, where when Australia wins events, which is not infrequent, their victory is signalised by playing God Save the Queen, the British National Anthem.’ Lord Chalfont, who interviewed him, said that the Queen was also Queen of Australia. Whitlam replied: ‘Oh yes, I know, but she is also Queen of Canada but you don’t play God Save the Queen as the Canadian National Anthem’ (NAA: A1838, 67/1/3 part 11, inward cablegram 19499 from Australian High Commission, London, 12 December 1973). For correspondence from The Australian about the anthem, see NAA: AA 1975/370, Records of the Australian National Anthem and Flag Quests Committee.
[NAA: A1209, 1978/1103 PART 1]