I Still Call Australia Home

"I Still Call Australia Home" is a song written and performed by Peter Allen in 1980. In it, Allen sings of the expatriate's longing for home.

It has been used to suggest Australian patriotism and nostalgia: for example, in Qantas television commercials where it was sung by the National Boys Choir of Australia and Australian Girls Choir (sometimes the group is collectively called the Qantas Choir). And in 1984 Summer Olympics's "Opening Gala" TV special (in Los Angeles), Olivia Newton-John who sung Allen's most famous song "I Honestly Love You", performed this song from Sydney, Australia with the Choir as medley Waltzing Matilda. Later, both songs were also used in a musical "The Boy from Oz", about Allen's life, which starred Hugh Jackman. Although public performances of "I Still Call Australia Home" have increased in number over the years, Australians remain divided over the song. Many see it as a beautiful and moving song about love for their country; others are embarrassed by what they regard as an excessive sentimentality not traditionally part of Australian culture, but usually associated with the United States, where Allen lived for most of his career.

In the version of the song currently used by Qantas, "Rio" is replaced by "Rome". Qantas does not operate flights to Rio de Janeiro, but flew to the Italian capital at the time the video was made.

The song is also a popular inclusion in the repertoire of several Welsh male voice choirs, including the Morriston Orpheus Choir. The Welsh version replaces "London" in the line "from New York, to Rome, and old London town", with "Swansea". [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005LNVV "Wonderful Welsh Choirs"] (track 11)]

Australian comedy team The Chaser composed a parody of Qantas' version, called "I Still Call Australia 51 per cent Home," in response to Qantas outsourcing some of its engineering services to Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa.

References

* [http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/qantas-i-still-call-australia-home "I Still Call Australia Home" Qantas TV ad history at The Inspiration Room Daily]