Olympian Cathy Freeman calls for change to Australian national anthem
<p>Olympic sportswoman Cathy Freeman has broken her long-held silence on the Australian national anthem debate by voicing her agreement with campaigners to change “disrespectful” lyrics.</p>
<p>Freeman is part of a growing number of Australian sports stars who are rallying behind a movement to change a lyrics in Advance Australia Fair, out of respect to Indigenous people.</p>
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<p>The song contains the words “we are young and free”.</p>
<p>Indigenous Australians are objecting to the word “young” because they have been on the land for thousands of years. </p>
<p>Campaigners are calling for the words to be changed to “one and free”.</p>
<p>Victorian Supreme Court judge Peter Vickery QC founded the Recognition in Anthem Project to change the words.</p>
<p>And on Tuesday Freeman publicly announced her support behind the project, telling<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/cathy-freeman-backs-move-to-alter-national-anthems-lyrics/news-story/c08e8bae6a6f37c073470aabd243409a" target="_blank">The Australian:</a><span> </span></em>“I agree with Peter Vickery that the national anthem doesn't acknowledge indigenous existence in Australia.”</p>
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<p>Several indigenous NRL players, including Cody Walker, Josh Addo-Carr and Will Chambers, refused to sing the anthem before State of Origin last year in an act of protest.</p>
<p>Advance Australia Fair was chosen in a 1977 plebiscite by just over 8.4 million voters who chose the song over God Save the Queen, Waltzing Matilda and Song of Australia. </p>
<p>The song was composed by Scottish-born Peter Dodds McCormick who first performed it in 1878 and was sung in Australia as a patriotic song.</p>
<p>Later it was used at the start of official functions and the ABC used the melody to announce its news bulletins until 1952.</p>
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<p>Cathy Freeman first made her mark on a national scale when she became the first Indigenous Australian person to become a Commonwealth Games champion at just 16-years-old in 1990.</p>
<p>Ten years later she won gold in the 400m at the Sydney Olympics. <span> </span> <span> </span></p>