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Sunday Night: Aug 28

John Williamson says he's turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars from advertisers wanting to use "True Blue."

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This weekend Sunday Night talks to singer songwriter John Williamson who says he’s turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars from advertisers wanting to use “True Blue.”

Sunday Night even reckons the song is our unofficial National Anthem. Hmm it’s certainly up there, but Banjo Patterson might also have something to say about that. Or The Seekers. Or Men at Work, or even that kookaburra.

Do we have any other contenders please?

Hero Warriors.
In the week the country mourns the loss of another Aussie digger in Afghanistan, Sunday Night presents the most powerful story you will see on our involvement in the War on Terror. Twenty-nine Australian soldiers have died in Afghanistan and hundreds more injured by bomb blasts and mortar fire. Yet these injured heroes are rarely seen, and generally suffer in silence. Now reporter Rahni Sadler joins 20 serving diggers on an extraordinary emotional journey as they take leave to complete their most important mission yet; to walk the Kokoda Track in memory of their mates who didn’t make it home. With no government minders or spin doctors in sight, what these brave men achieve at Kokoda will move you to tears, what they say will make you question everything you thought you knew about Australia’s involvement in Afghanistan. This is the raw and rarely told truth from the men who’ve served on the devastating front line.

The mega-ships invasion.
They’re floating super cities – three times larger than The Titanic, the biggest man-made moving objects in the world, and they’re heading our way. This week Sunday Night looks at the staggering mega-liners revolutionising the way the grey nomads go cruising. Life aboard the ‘Voyager of the Seas’ – soon to call Australia home – will take your breath away. It boasts a nine-hole golf course, four-storey promenade, 900 seat arena, an ice skating rink, 2000-seat dining room and an Australian executive chef who oversees eight kitchens. And, as reporter Alex Cullen discovers, there is a production line of even bigger ships on the way – staggering, billion-dollar luxury liners so large that four A380 Airbus planes would fit inside.

Hey True Blue.
It began life as a theme song for a TV program that never went to air. Then it became jingle for an ad campaign. Today John Williamson’s bush ballad ‘True Blue’ is Australia’s unofficial national anthem, and he’s so protective of it he’s turned down hundreds of thousands of dollars from advertisers to use it again. It gets sung by the Australian cricket team, played when Danny Green wins a fight and features at memorial services for the likes of Steve Irwin. Twenty-five years after the ‘Australian Made’ ad campaign launched ‘True Blue’ Sunday Night’s guest reporter Peter FitzSimons reveals the true story behind this iconic song.

Sunday August 28 at 6.30pm on Channel 7.

11 Responses

  1. Two of Australia’s most boring and overexposed cliche-peddlers – Fitzsimons and Williamson – conversing. More talent please! There is more real talent in my block. Agree with Dr Rudi that “Song Of Australia” beats AAF, and with almost everyone else that just the name John Williamson makes me want to puke.

  2. @ David – I’m surprised none of your South Australian correspondents have nominated Song Of Australia. Now *that’s* a national anthem.

    navy.gov.au/w/images/Song_of_australia.mp3

    However, I can live with AAF – it’s a shame we don’t sing the second verse. Quite a few people could be reminded that:

    For those who’ve come across the seas
    We’ve boundless plains to share;

    That said, Waltzing Matilda is a good sing-a-long – and what’s not to like about a suicidal sheep-stealer – how Australian can you get?

  4. I wouldn’t give him two bob for it. It’s a jingoistic dirge best consigned to the dustbin of history, like the White Australia policy. It makes me cringe. A national anthem should reflect the aspirations of all Australians, not just a bunch of brain-dead rednecks.

    Our real anthem is Waltzing Matilda, with one caveat. Tina Arena be banned, by official decree. Her murderous assault on Advance Australia Fair – a really crook song, anyway – at the end of the Tour De France even made Cadell wince! Jeez, it was painful.

  5. Ugh! Just the mention of that man’s name makes me shudder! Alongside him, Slim Dusty looks talented! “True Blue” would have to be one of the most painful songs ever recorded.

  6. Hey True Blue. There are many words used to rhyme, Cockatoo, me and you etc. Fairly elementary. 2nd Anthem, really? This song was written by a bloke for blokes. There is no mention of sheilas in this ditty so for me it does not rate.

  8. @newtaste – I beg to differ. Vegemite is owned by Kraft, an American company, and has no place in an “unoffical anthem”. He should’ve changed it to Mighty-Mite by Three Threes as it is wholly Australian.

    Anyway, I agree with d³ – it’s an awful song. Waltzing Matilda is already our unofficial anthem, with Men-at-Work’s hit a well-deserved close second. Icehouse’s Great Southern Land and Midnight Oil’s Bed’s are Burning are also both worthy contenders.

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