Freshly minted Origin rookie Cody Walker is not alone in choosing not to sing the national anthem, although his reasons no doubt run deeper than those of most other people.
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A proud Indigenous man, he has plenty of reasons not to add his voice to Advance Australia Fair when Origin gets under way next Wednesday. It's a stance he's taken before, most notably as captain of the Indigenous All Stars when they played in February.
He says the decision reflects a long-held family view, one that's quite understandable when viewed from an Indigenous perspective.
The opening lines - "Australians all, let us rejoice, for we are young and free" - would be particularly galling for the oldest recorded culture on the planet, one that has suffered since the British arrived in 1788. Displaced, alienated, marginalised, massacred, violated sacred places, the Stolen Generations, the educational and health gaps: there's not that much to rejoice about.
But one thing we can be grateful for is that there isn't the same toxic reaction to taking a principled stance against the national anthem as there has been in the United States, where black footballers have been pilloried for taking a knee during the anthem. We are free to have an opinion on the anthem and for that we should rejoice.
Of course, Walker is not alone in not singing the anthem. Many don't add their voice to it. The decision not to sing, however, is probably not as principled as Walker's.
Not all find it particularly stirring. At countless community events across the land, where inevitably only two verses are ever sung, it can sound more like a Year 1 recorder class than a tune to rouse the patriotic heart. Many question the sincerity of its claims (..."For those who've come across the seas, we've boundless plains to share"...). Many also baulk at the notion that "...we are young and free," knowing First Australians feel anything but young and free. A national anthem ought to be inclusive; ours is not.
The anthem was adopted in 1984. Prior to that, God Save The Queen was our national song and it was just as divisive. In the late 1960s, it was played in cinemas before the feature. Some chose to stand; most sat through it.
Walker's stance is entirely understandable, as is the wider feeling the anthem doesn't really reflect who we are as an evolving nation.
