http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advance_Australia_Fair
Advance Australia Fair - 'Additional unofficial stanza'
With Christ our head and cornerstone,
We'll build our nation's might.
Whose way and truth and light alone
Can guide our path aright.
Our lives a sacrifice of love
Reflect our Master's care.
With faces turned to heaven above,
Advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia Fair.
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson, a Baptist minister and cricket chaplain has pondered whether this stanza might ever become a popular addition to the national anthem.
M V Tronson says that it is a separate historical debate as to who wrote this additional unofficial stanza, whether Peter Dodds McCormick (who wrote Advance Australia Fair) did or didn't write it, or written under family pressure …... The 1901 Federation version was different from the original in any case.
In 1977 the Australian Electoral Office conducted a poll for the national anthem tune in conjunction with a referendum. The tune 'Advance Australia Fair' was the preferred option. In 1981 the National Australia Day Council recommended that the Australian National Anthem consist of two verses of 'Advance Australia Fair' with some modification.
http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/publications/symbols/factsheets/australian_national_anthem.pdf
M V Tronson puts forward these challenging ideas:
Were the advocates promoting Advance Australia Fair at the 1977 National Anthem referendum aware of this unofficial stanza?
http://www.australiaday.org.au/toolkit/page169.asp
In his view, it would have been highly unlikely that the advocates for Advance Australia Fair would not have been aware that this stanza existed. Their research would have been thorough. Some have asked since, was an official Christian subliminal message being proposed by those promoting Advance Australia Fair.
This leads to a second interesting issue, was the Nation aware of this stanza at the time of the referendum, a Christian hymn that prays for the Nation?
This raises another issue as to what constitutes a secular national anthem that clearly identifies the activities of the nation and its history. M V Tronson says that if this is the criteria, Australia's past with its penal settlement, the role of the police, the courts, and the need for regulators such as ASIC and ICAC, therefore, perhaps Waltzing Matilda would have been a more accurate reflection on the nation.
Clearly, anyone can sing any song at any time, and as evidenced above, Christian groups have sung this stanza, indeed 'World Youth Day' where it was sung, only two years ago was an international Government accredited occasion. Likewise, any Christian congregation can sing this stanza at any time they choose.
Who knows, M V Tronson says, it might become as popular as the Australian sporting chant "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi"!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aussie_Aussie_Aussie,_Oi_Oi_Oi