I AM

I was born on the 9th of July 1900, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins because I offered Freedom to the oppressed. I am many things and many people. I am from Australia.

I am millions of living souls and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me. I am Edward Hargraves and Charles Cowper. I stood at the Eureka Stockade and fired the first shot, which was heard worldwide. I am John King, Burke & Wills. I am Dennison Miller, Breaker Morant, Private John Simpson, Lance-Corporal Albert Jacka and the Anzac Boys. I am John Flynn, Charles Kingsford-Smith, Harold Lasseter, King O’Malley and Jack Lang.

I am the Sydney Harbour Bridge, the wheat fields of the west, and the Snowy Mountains of the south. I am the coalfields of Queensland, the timber in Tasmania, the Overland Railway, Ayers Rock and the Barrier Reef. I am the dog that sat on the tucker box and the black stump.

I remember the Burma Railroad, the Kokoda Trail and Tobruk. When Freedom called, I answered and stayed until it was over, over there. I left my heroic dead at Flanders Field, on the rocks of Gallipoli, in the desert of Palestine, on the beaches of World War II, on the slopes of Korea and in the jungles of Vietnam.

I sprawl from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, three million square miles. In past years I throbbed with industry and had one million farms. I am forest, field, mountain and desert. I am quiet in towns and cities where I never sleep.

Yes, I am the Nation, and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in Freedom, and God willing, in Freedom, I will spend the rest of my days.

May I always possess the integrity, courage, and strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of Freedom and a beacon of hope to the world? I am

AUSTRALIA

I Am First Nations Old

The oldest race on Earth

We live as One Nation

I am the Truth – The Peace of this Great Nation of many Colours