Australian National Anthem

Advance Australia Fair was one of many Australian national songs written in the late-nineteenth century as debates about the creation of the new nation were taking place in different colonies.

Although it is thought to have been first performed in 1878 by Mr Andrew Fairfax in Sydney, possibly the most significant early performance of Advance Australia Fair was at the inauguration of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901, where it was sung by a choir of 10,000. Advance Australia Fair was not considered the national anthem, however, with this role going to the British anthem God Save the Queen (or King) for most of the twentieth century.

A determined search for a truly Australian national anthem did not begin until the Melbourne Olympic Games in 1956. The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducted a national opinion poll of 60,000 people in 1974 and in 1977 the Australian Electoral Office ran a poll for a tune for a national song in conjunction with the referendum.

In the 1977 plebiscite, four songs were in contention for the official title:

- Advance Australia Fair

- God save the Queen (or King) (the British anthem)

- Waltzing Matilda (one of Australia's best-known national songs), and

- Song of Australia (a popular national song written in 1859)

The results of the plebiscite were conclusive with 43.2 per cent (or 2,940,854 votes) going to Advance Australia Fair. Next most popular was Waltzing Matilda with 28.3 per cent, despite its arguable status as the best-known, best-loved and most iconic national song.

In 1984 the government announced that the tune of Advance Australia Fair together with modifications to two verses of the lyrics would become the Australian National Anthem.

Australia's national gemstone

The opal is a rare and beautiful precious stone.

A very special series of geographical and climatic phenomena need to coincide for the opal to form. The great desert regions of central Australia provide such conditions and Australia produces over 90 per cent of the world's precious opal.

Australia 's precious opals include the black opal (produced in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales), white opal (majority of the world's production occurs in Coober Pedy, South Australia), crystal opal and boulder opal (mined in Central Queensland). The precious stone was proclaimed Australia's national gemstone on 28 July 1993.

According to the Aboriginal legend, the mesmerizing opal was a gift from the sky, from a rainbow that had touched the earth and created the colours of the opal.

TASKS

I.Read the text. Find the words that match the definitions below:

1) the main area of land that forms a country, as compared to islands near it that are also part of that country;

2) connected with the Middle Ages (=the period between about AD 1100 and 1500);

3) the study of the origins, history, and changing meanings of words;

4) a book or document written by hand before printing was invented;

5) someone who supports the activities of an organization, for example by giving money;

6) a note at the bottom of a page that gives extra information about something in the text on that page;

7) someone who enters another country to live there permanently;

8) people or things that have always been in the place where they are, rather than being brought there from somewhere else;

9) an expression or word used in informal conversation;

10) a large group of people who have the same national, racial, or cultural origins, or the state of belonging to such a group;

11) who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others;

12) someone who represents a particular sport, business etc because they behave in a way that people admire;

13) a quarter of an area;

14) a special shield or shield-shaped pattern that is the sign of a family, university, or city;

15) in the past, a large, flat object made of metal or leather that soldiers held in front of their bodies to protect themselves.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1094