Composed: ‘Amicus’ (Peter Dodds McCormick) 1835-1916
Arranged: Squadron Leader M A Butcher, RAAF
Words: Keith Binns Nov 2014
We sing a four part version of Advance Australia Fair with lyrics amended to express our dismay at Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers.
Lyrics
Australians let us all rejoice
That we’re not refugees
Escaping violence, rape and war
Across our girting seas
We said you’d have a welcome here
In nineteen fifty four
But changed our minds in ninety two
Compassionate no more
[chorus]
It’s getting really hard to sing
Advance Australia Fair
Beneath our radiant southern cross
We’ll lock you up for sure
If you exercise your legal right
To knock upon our door
If in a boat you’ve crossed the seas
We’ve got no plains to share
Just Manus Island or Nauru
And bitter black despair
[chorus]
