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I Still Call Australia Home: A cultural essay (#500)

  • Rick LeCouteur
  • 2 days ago
  • 7 min read

On the 20th of June 1980, Australian singer/songwriter Peter Allen debuted his new song, I Still Call Australia Home, at the opening of the Sydney Entertainment Centre.



Allen then went on to perform it again at the 1980 Victorian Football League Grand Final with more than 100,000 people in the Melbourne Cricket Ground as well as being broadcasted live across Australia.


I Still Call Australia Home would go on to become the unofficial national anthem of Australia.


The song was so well received that Peter Allen insisted it be included on this compilation album; The Very Best of Peter Allen released two years later.


Since its release in 1980, I Still Call Australia Home has permeated various elements of Australian culture.


Its use in Qantas advertisements, Television shows, and Musical Theatre productions, as well as being performed by many Australian singers at both large and small events, I Still Call Australia Home was entered into The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia in 2013 and is more popular today than it has ever been earning its place as a significant song in the Australian music and cultural landscapes.


I Still Call Australia Home has been performed by many artists; other than its writer and original performer Peter Allen, since its initial release in 1980.


In 1984 I Still Call Australia Home was performed by Olivia Newton John at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics Opening Gala TV special accompanied by a choir.



It was performed by Chris Lloyds and Andrew Oh at Australia Day celebrations in Darling Harbour ten years later in 1994 in front of the then Prince of Wales King Charles.



In 2009 it was performed by Kylie Minogue at the Sound Relief concert for victims of the Australia Bushfires, as well as being featured as part of the AFL Grand Final pre-game entertainment. Both events had large crowds and even larger television audiences both in Australia and internationally.



Another global performance of I Still Call Australia Home was when the song was performed by Australian celebrities Nicole Kidman, Keith Urban, Hugh Jackman, Olivia Newton-John, and Russell Crowe on the final episode of Oprah Winfey’s Australian Adventure.



While these examples may be large-scale events, I Still Call Australia Home is performed regularly throughout Australia and the world by various artists and choirs including the Australian Welsh Male Choir, the Morriston Orpheus Choir, and The Ten Tenors.



 


Given the number of times I Still Call Australia Home has been performed and the various artists that have covered this song, it isn’t surprising that Australians of all ages are not only familiar with it but regard it with reverence as an important piece of Australia’s cultural identity both nationally and on a global scale.


While we have seen that many artists have sung I Still Call Australia Home over the past four decades, many people also know the song from other avenues of entertainment.


If you have lived or spent time in Tasmania, you may recognize the song from its use in the closing sequence of Tasmanian Television stations TNT and TVT.


I Still Call Australia Home was also featured in the 1995 documentary Peter Allen: The Boy From Oz, and the award-winning miniseries Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door.


I Still Call Australia Home was also a fan favorite song from the popular The Boy From Oz Musical. The musical initially opened in Sydney before making its way to Broadway where its award-winning production helped launch the career of Hugh Jackman. The Boy From Oz Musical was so popular that it returned to Australia in 2006 for an arena tour, before new productions were launched in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and even Lima Peru.



I Still Call Australia Home was becoming more and more popular nationally and globally and with popularity comes parody and in 2007 Australian comedy group The Chasers released a parody titled I Still Call Australia 51 per cent Home, this was followed a decade later in 2017 when Tim Minchin released a parody called I Still Call Australia Homophobic cementing I Still Call Australia Home as culturally significant.


 


One of the most well-known cultural examples of I Still Call Australia Home is the song’s collaboration with the globally recognized brand Qantas. I Still Call Australia Home has been used in Qantas’s Spirit of Australia advertising campaigns both in Australia and globally since 1987. The Advertisements were played on television and radio, as well as video clips that were shown on the internet, leading to ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ becoming synonymous with Qantas. The Spirit of Australia campaigns were so successful they were remade multiple times. Each new campaign featured I Still Call Australia Home and was usually created and released to coincide with large-scale global events such as the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympic Games, and the 2004 Rugby World Cup.


 

 


Since Peter Allen wrote and first performed I Still Call Australia Home in 1980, the song has found its way into the hearts and minds of Australians, as well as being synonymous with Australia on an international level.


Whether you grew up hearing it as part of Qantas’s Spirit of Australia campaigns or you saw it performed on stage or television, I Still Call Australia Home is an iconic song in Australia.


The fact that it is a part of The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia with the description of the song stating it has become firmly cemented in the national consciousness.


Why It Still Matters in 2025

 

In an increasingly digital and nomadic world, the concept of home can feel fleeting.

 

Yet, Allen’s tribute remains a grounding force. It reminds us that home isn't just a geographic coordinate. It’s the someday we all carry with us.

 

Whether you're listening to the original piano-driven track or watching a live performance, the message remains unchanged: no matter how high we fly, the red soil always calls us back.

 

I still call Australia home.

 

It’s more than a lyric.

 

It’s a promise.

 

Rick’s Commentary

 

While Peter Allen’s anthem is perhaps the most iconic, several other Australian artists have captured that same bittersweet longing for home through their music.

 

To follow are a few of my favorites:

 

  • The Anthems of Belonging


    •  The Seekers - I Am Australian

 

 

  • Christine Anu - My Island Home

 

  • A cover of the Warumpi Band’s original, this track expresses a profound spiritual connection to one's birthplace, specifically pining for the saltwater and sand of Elcho Island.

  • Christine Anu My Island Home - YouTube

 

  • John Farnham - You're the Voice

 

 

  • Men At Work - I come from a Land Down Under

 

  • The song playfully asks if someone is from Australia, nicknamed Down Under due to its location in the Southern Hemisphere below other major continents. The song is about Australians meeting other cultures and encountering fellow Aussies abroad, often with humorous or slightly sarcastic takes on Australian identity, though many see it as a patriotic anthem.

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfR9iY5y94s

 

  • Nostalgic Storytelling

 

  • Cold Chisel - Flame Trees

 

 

  • GANGgajang - Sounds of Then (This Is Australia)

 

 

  • The Go-Betweens - Cattle and Cane


 

  • Modern Reflections

 

  • Eliott – Home

 

  • A contemporary take on the theme, this song was written by the Victorian singer-songwriter after months of international touring, reflecting on how reuniting with family finally grounds her.

  • Eliott - Home (Official Video) - YouTube

 

  • King Stingray - Down Under

 

 

Other Notable Performances of I Still Call Australia Home


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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