During the Australian flag debate back in the 1990s, in which the Australian Labor Party proposed the flag's possible change, I was a university student and a wannabe academic and thus was quite interested in the academic debates taking place on campus at the time regarding this subject.
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I remember having a foot in each camp.
On the one hand (or foot), I thought changing the Australian flag was an attempt by the Labor party to deflect media attention from the government's poor performance; on the other, I could see the attraction in removing the Union Jack from our flag's canton.
In the end, the argument that converted me in this debate was far from academic.
I went out to the pub one night with some mates and the band that was playing that night called themselves "Keep the Aussie Flag".
The band had put up a large Australian flag behind the drummer as a backdrop and for the next few hours, they played covers of Australian bands' hits.
The sum total of their argument that night was that after every three or four songs, the lead singer would shout out, "Keep the Aussie flag! Yeah!".
Well, they convinced me. The Union Jack on the canton of the Australian flag clearly did not mean British oppression to them and I doubt they thought of it as the British flag any more than Brits loving the Union Jack think about their flag being the combining of the cross of St George for England, with the cross of St Andrew for Scotland with the cross of St Patrick for Ireland.
The Australian flag represented to them Australia and the Australian way of life that they clearly loved.
I find myself thinking about that Australian flag debate as I muse on the change in that one word of our national anthem that was promulgated by Prime Minister Scott Morrison on New Year's Day.
But this is different, right? I mean, it's only one word.
The hope is that this will bring us all closer together.
So why do I feel like I still have a foot in each camp?
On the one hand, I can see the pursuit of unity is good for all Australians. On this same hand, I know it is important to acknowledge the ancient peoples that lived in this land for thousands of years and then had it stolen from them.
I have written about this before.
It's been almost 20 years since I wrote my first newspaper column in support of changing the date of Australia Day to a date other than January 26 - an opinion I still hold.
So, why am I struggling to accept this new change in our national anthem?
Perhaps it was the way it was done.
"God Save the Queen" was replaced by "Advance Australia Fair" as our national anthem only after a national plebiscite in 1977. However, a minority of footballers, boxers and school children refuse to stand for our national anthem, and the anthem changes for the entire nation.
What about us who have been singing our national anthem lovingly and even emotionally throughout our entire lives, dating right back to our childhood? Were we wrong to sing such offensive lyrics?
What about us who have been singing our national anthem lovingly and even emotionally throughout our entire lives, dating right back to our childhood? Were we wrong to sing such offensive lyrics?
Indigenous Australian boxer Anthony Mundine, a loud voice in this debate, has already called the change "tokenistic" and wants the whole song rewritten to incorporate Indigenous Australian heritage.
Indigenous Australian lawyer Noel Pearson aired comparable contempt for the change.
Writing in The Australian earlier this week, Pearson stated: "The problem is that any individual with a Twitter account can come up with the next symbolic change agenda item, and start prosecuting it as if it's the most important priority in Indigenous and national affairs".
I will sing the national anthem from here on using the new word of course, as I want to be one and free, but perhaps for a little while, not without skeptical musings like, "what will they change next?"
In history's page, let every stage? What does that even mean?
Joyful strains? Can a strain be joyful? I think girt's days are definitely numbered!
Twitter: @frbrendanelee