Possibly stung by the recent controversy over whether the national anthem should be changed, the Government is planning to release a double compact disc set featuring 17 interpretations of Advance Australia Fair.
Australia's top rock, pop, country, jazz and classical artists have been invited by Prime Minister John Howard to contribute versions of the tune that has been criticised as 'dirge-like'.
Scheduled for release on Australia Day next year (January 26), the CD set will also include songs on an Australian theme. According to letters sent out to artists, its purpose is to promote 'appreciation of the National Anthem'.
A spokesman for the Awards and National Symbols Office, which is producing the recordings, declined to name which artists had been approached, but confirmed they were all 'prominent'.
Australians have long had mixed feelings about Advance Australia Fair, written 118 years ago by Scottish migrant Peter Dodds. It is commonly joked that no one knows the words of the second verse.
Between 1974 and 1988, the national anthem alternated between Advance Australia Fair and God Save the Queen, as successive governments attempted to proclaim their loyalty to or distance from, the British monarchy.
