Important to note, Chedders old boy, we don't have african-australians or asian-australians or italian-australians, or any other sort of something-australians. We just have AUSTRALIANS. That's what makes us strong.

"We share a dream, and speak with one voice..."

With apologies for the length, this might help to understand some of the history and culture expressed in the song. I've included the lyrics below and followed them with a brief explanation in brackets:
I came from the dream-time, (For the traditional owners, the first Australians - called Aboriginals by the British - The Dreamtime is the creation time of the world and the things that populate it, living and non-living.)
From the dusty red-soil plains. (Most of the interior of Australia, 'the Outback', is desert, composed of red soil formed from the weathering of the iron-rich rocks found there. Only the fringe of Australia is cities and green, which is why 85% of Australians live near the coast.)
I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame. (The keeper of the Aboriginal stories and traditions, passed along orally and also in dance around the flame of the corroboree [ceremony].)
I stood upon the rocky shores, I watched the tall ships come. (These are the rocky landforms of Botany Bay [a part of what is now Sydney in the state of New South Wales] close to the landing spot of the incoming First Fleet vessels bringing the first British colonisers – prisoners, soldier guards, and administrators.)
For forty thousand years I've been the first Australian. (It is now known to be closer to 65,000 years that First Nations’ peoples have been in Australia, the longest continuous civilisation in the world.)

I came upon the prison ship, bowed down by iron chains, (The First Fleet of British ships brought English and Irish convicts, many just sentenced because of the theft of items such as a loaf of bread to feed starving families, or Irish and English Catholics for practising their religion when this was outlawed by Protestant England.)
I fought the land, endured the lash, (The convicts were set to work to clear the inhospitable land for farming, build roads, bridges, dwellings, etc with only limited tools, and were whipped to keep them working, or for infringements, sometimes with a cruel weapon called a ‘cat o' nine tails’ a whip of nine thongs each tipped with a metal piece.)
And waited for the rains. (There were long periods of dry, often drought, and intense heat, with the heavy rainfall “the rains” providing welcome relief and a chance for crops to grow, and animals to be watered and fed.)
I'm a settler, I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run, (Settler was the name for freed convicts, or free people who chose to settle in Australia; a run is a cattle or sheep farm. The runs allocated to the freed convicts were the less desirable, the more arable land was given to the British administrators - governors, etc.)
A convict, then a free man, I became Australian. (Because convict sentences were seven or more years long, and return ship to England was too costly for most to afford, most convicts stayed once they had served their sentences. They were then released from bondage and became free men and women.)

I'm the daughter of a digger, who sought the mother lode. (A digger [later the name for Aussie soldiers] at that time was a prospector in the gold rush that began in 1852 in the goldfields of Bathurst, in the state of New South Wales, and Ballarat and Bendigo in the state of Victoria. Prospectors dreamed of finding that possibly mythical, incredibly rich vein of gold, the mother-lode, from which small nuggets and specks washed into streams, or smaller veins were found in rocks buried in the earth.)
The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road. (Families walked very long distances and in harsh conditions to reach the goldfields–girls becoming women, having to mature to survive the conditions.)
I'm a child of the Depression, (The Great Depression of 1930s followed the Wall Street Crash in the USA, and saw many families around the world lose all their savings, job retrenchments followed as businesses collapsed, many families became destitute.)
I saw the good times come, (The 1940s started off with an economic resurgence, and this continued through the 40s and 50s, especially with the cessation of war in 1945.)
I'm a bushie, (An Aussie who lives in the 'bush', the region between the cities and the Outback.)
I'm a battler, (What Aussies call ordinary people, ones who just get by making a living and a life.)
I am Australian.

We are one, but we are many,
And from all the lands on earth we come.
We'll share a dream and sing with one voice, "I am, you are, we are Australian" (Australia is an incredibly multicultural nation. Since the First Fleet dropped anchor in 1788, close to ten million settlers have moved from across the world to start a new life in Australia, eight million of them since the end of the Second World War. The early years were convicts, free settlers, Germans escaping religious persecution and Irish the Potato Famine, Chinese with the gold rushes, South Sea islanders working the sugar plantations, post-WW2 migration from Britain, Greece, Italy, Syria, Lebanon, etc, and Vietnamese after the Vietnam war, then more recently refugees from conflict in areas such as Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Ukraine.)

I'm a teller of stories, I'm a singer of songs,
I am Albert Namatjira and I paint the ghostly gums. (Albert Namatjira [1902-1959] was a famous Aboriginal artist who painted in non-traditional Aboriginal style. His paintings of Australian Ghost Gums [a smooth, white-barked eucalyptus tree] became famous and commanded huge prices.)
I'm Clancy on his horse, ('Clancy of the Overflow', a famous poem of an Australian drover [stockman, what Americans would call a cowboy] by A.B.Paterson, known as Banjo Paterson.)
I'm Ned Kelly on the run, (Ned Kelly was an infamous Australian bushranger [Australian outlaw] who led a gang - the Kelly Gang. He wore distinctive rough metal armour with a cylindrical helmet. He was caught and executed at 25 years of age.)
I'm the one who waltzed Matilda, ('Matilda', from the famous Australian song 'Waltzing Matilda', words by Banjo Paterson, was the gear of the drover/bushie wrapped in a bedroll, carried across the bushie's back. As the bushie walked, the bedroll would swing, or 'waltz'.)
I am Australian.

I'm the hot wind from the desert,
I'm the black soil of the plains,
I'm the mountains and the valleys,
I'm the drought and flooding rains. (Australia is the driest inhabited continent on Earth, only Antarctica with its water locked in ice form is considered to be drier. Most of the eastern edges of the land are mountainous, so the rains fall on the mountains and coastal regions and usually do not reach inland. The winds coming from the South Pole are not hot enough to carry water vapour, so they are dry as they swing across the huge state of Western Australia, and become heated as they travel inland to central Australia. The phrase ‘drought and flooding rains’ is from a famous Australian poem by Dorothea Mackellar called “My Country.”)
I am the rock, (Uluru is the famous huge red monolith in central Australia [called Ayer’s Rock in 1873 by the explorer William Gosse after Sir Henry Ayers, the Chief Secretary of South Australia at the time, then returned to its traditional owners in 1985, and returned to its traditional name])
I am the sky (The southern sky has quite different star patterns/constellations to the northern hemisphere, including the Southern Cross which appears on the Australian flag.),
The rivers when they run, (River beds are often dry because of Australia’s low rainfall, the rivers towards the centre of Australia only run after heavy rains.)
The spirit of this great land,
I am Australian.

We are one, but we are many,
And from all the lands on earth we come.
We share a dream and sing with one voice, "I am, you are, we are Australian." (The dream is one of inclusion and equality for all: First Nations’ people, descendants of the colonisers, and people who have come here in later years from all lands. We are not there yet, but we are actively working towards it.)
Cheers

When the Beatles were at their peak, this goup were the first group in the world to push them out of their No 1 spot.

Judith had a lung disease as a child, you would never know, her voice was so powerful.   It eventually led to her passing though.  Before this performance, she suffered a stroke.  Before this she always stood, but here she sat, and her hand was placed in her lap as she couldn't use it.   She got out of hospital to do this, what a trouper!  There is a rabbit hole going back to the 60's, so many good songs.

I’m 81 and came to Australia when I was 15 from a small south Asian country.  I married a man whose ancestor was on the first fleet.  I have three children and seven grandchildren.  It fills me with pride to see them as they carry what is best of this great land I love. I thank God that my father had the courage to leave his home and bring me here.

Whenever I hear this song, I cry.  I am a female immigrant since 1969 and am so proud I am Australian.

We Australians feel this song deeply

Fecking Onion Ninjas every fecking time. This is how Aussies feel about our country... no rah rah we're the best... just... this is us. We are Australian.

This song was released in 1995. I've been tearing up every time I hear it for 30 years now.

It still surprises me how this song makes non Australians feel. Also makes me proud.

RIP Judith thankfully we have videos of your performances.

This song always makes me teary, no matter how many times I hear it.
Proud to be an Aussie 🇦🇺 ❤.  
If you like folk/Bluegrass give Kasey Chambers a listen. In particular her Ain't no little girl - Bluegrass underground caverns version and her cover of Eminems Lose Yourself - amazing.  Kasey is predominantly a country singer who often crosses in to other genres. She's the youngest female to ever be inducted into the ARIA hall of fame.  One of her songs- The Captain, was featured on an episode of The Sopranos.

I’m struggling to write this because my eyes are still wet 😭. I challenge any real Aussie not to tear up to this song. The first two verses from the different perspectives and then diving into the chorus is so emotionally powerful. FYI, Judith, the female singer, passed away in 2022. 😢
While you are on a musical theme, you MUST listen to “Waltzing Matilda” at some point - it’s as Aussie as it gets. However there is a lot of slang, so you might have to listen to the song (I recommend Slim Dusty, another Aussie legend), then also a lyrics explainer video.
PS: I enjoyed your playing at the end!

This song sums up Australia perfectly as we are country of many people but we are one and should be our national anthem.

The Seekers outsold The Beatles for a time. If you like folky and the voice of an angel, check them out.

Not three part harmonies, but FOUR part. The camera simply didn't pick up on the fourth member of The Seekers, Athol Guy who plays double bass and also sings bass. That's why their harmonies are untouchable!

The Qantas commercial "I still call Australia home"  youll love it

Proud aussie here. I get so emotional everytime I hear this song. It should be our national anthem

I am a 77 Yo male Australian. I can’t help getting emotional when I hear this song by the Seeker. Judith had such an incredible voice.

The verse about the convicts always gets me, because myself and so many Australians can trace back to an ancestor aboard one of those ships,  and for some of the most innocuous of crimes.