As part of my Australian Culture course here at Sogang University (in which I now teach approximately 40 students), we spent some time learning the basics about Australia: the capital city, the system of government, what the flag and coat of arms mean and, naturally, the national anthem. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I sang the first verse of "Advance Australia Fair" a capella and pointed out that the original version of the song in fact contains six verses only two are printed on John Howard's website). I used this as an example of the way in which history in Australia seems to be "buried" deep in obscurity; a little like the phrase 'the tip of the iceberg'. I then sang both versions of "Waltzing Matilda", and related to my students that for some people, this is their preferred national anthem. This song, too, contains layers of meaning - while the song is called "Waltzing Matilda", the swagman within the song is also s...
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