• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture

Heritage, history, and heroes; literature, legends, and larrikins

  • Home
  • Articles
  • Biographies
  • Books
  • Ephemera
  • Poetry & songs
    • Recommended poetry
    • Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
    • Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
    • Rock music and pop music [videos]
    • Early music [videos]
  • Slang
  • Timeline
    • Timeline of Australian history and culture
    • Calendar of Australian history and culture
    • Significant events and commemorative dates
  • Topics

Advance, Australia [song by Walker and McBurney, circa 1883]

21 February 2013 · Leave a Comment

[Editor: A patriotic song; words written by J. Eccleston Walker, music composed by Samuel D. McBurney. Published in The Empire Songster (1900).]

Advance, Australia.

(By permission of Dr. McBurney, Melbourne)

J. Eccleston Walker
S.D. McBurney, Mus. D.

Rise, Australians, mark your day,
Seize the Standard, bear the sway;
Drive the clouds of sloth away,
And advance, still advance!

Know, your fathers left their home
Far beyond the ocean’s foam,
Know they trod your native strand,
Led the way, and left command

To advance, still advance!
Advance, Australia!
Still, still advance!

Calm and steady, still and strong;
Pass the watch-word right along,
Inspiration move the throng
To advance, still advance!

Yes, in ev’ry phase of life,
Thro’ each trouble, care, and strife,
Keep the motto still in view,
Only to our cause be true

And advance, still advance!
Advance, Australia!
Still, still advance!

Sense of duty must prevail;
When did British courage fail?
Wave the Cross o’er hill and dale,
And advance, still advance!

By each honest heart’s appeal,
By the patriot’s burning zeal,
By that never dying love,
By that star of hope above

We advance, still advance!
Advance, Australia!
Still, still advance!



Source:
William H. Smith (editor), The Empire Songster, Montreal: Renouf Publishing Co., [1900], pp. 40-41 (song 34)

Editor’s notes:
Publishing details for the The Empire Songster were sourced from the University of Alberta library catalogue

This song was mentioned in several newspapers, including:

1) An advertisement in The Mercury of 22 June 1883, “Concert and sight-singing demonstration, by certificated solfaists, at Mechanics’ Institute, this evening”, notes that song 14 of the programme will be “National Song — “Advance Australia”; S. McBurney, G.T.S.C. L., President Victorian T.S.F. Association” (McBurney was the president of the Victorian Tonic Sol-fa Association)
See: “Amusements, soirees, lectures, etc.” (advertising), The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), 22 June 1883, p. 1 (col. 4)
Robin S. Stevens, “McBurney, Samuel (1847–1909)”, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University (accessed 21 February 2013)

2) A report in The Mercury of 23 June 1883, “Tonic sol-fa singing”, regarding the concert of 22 June 1833, noted that “a song by Mr. S. McBurney, entitled “Advance Australia,” with a lively air and appropriate words, was sung for the first time in Tasmania”.
See: “Tonic sol-fa singing”, The Mercury (Hobart, Tas.), 23 June 1883, p. 2 (col. 7)

J. Eccleston Walker and S.D. McBurney also collaborated on a song called “The Flag of Union: A Federation Song” (words by J. Eccleston Walker, music by S. McBurney).

ev’ry = (vernacular) every

Mus. D. = Doctor of Music

o’er = (archaic) over (pronounced the same as “oar”, “or”, and “ore”)

thro’ = (vernacular) through

Filed Under: songs Tagged With: song, songs patriotic, SourceArchiveOrg, year1883

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

The Institute of Australian Culture
Heritage, history, and heroes. Writers, workers, and wages. Literature, legends, and larrikins. Stories, songs, and sages.

Search this site

Featured books

The Man from Snowy River and Other Verses, by Banjo Paterson A Book for Kids, by C. J. Dennis  The Bulletin Reciter: A Collection of Verses for Recitation from The Bulletin The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke, by C. J. Dennis The Complete Inner History of the Kelly Gang and Their Pursuers, by J. J. Kenneally The Foundations of Culture in Australia, by P. R. Stephensen The Australian Crisis, by C. H. Kirmess Such Is Life, by Joseph Furphy
More books (full text)

Featured lists

Timeline of Australian history and culture
Significant events and commemorative dates
A list of significant Australiana
Australian slang
Books (full text)
Australian explorers
Australian literature
Recommended poetry
Poetry and songs, 1786-1900
Poetry and songs, 1901-1954
Rock music and pop music (videos)
Folk music and bush music (videos)
Early music (videos)
Topics
Links

Featured posts

Advance Australia Fair: How the song became the Australian national anthem
Brian Cadd [music videos and biography]
Ned Kelly: Australian bushranger
Under the Southern Cross I Stand [the Australian cricket team’s victory song]

Some Australian authors

Barcroft Boake
E. J. Brady
John Le Gay Brereton
C. J. Dennis
Mary Hannay Foott
Joseph Furphy
Mary Gilmore
Charles Harpur
Grant Hervey
Lucy Everett Homfray
Rex Ingamells
Henry Kendall
“Kookaburra”
Henry Lawson
Jack Moses
“Dryblower” Murphy
John Shaw Neilson
John O’Brien (Patrick Joseph Hartigan)
“Banjo” Paterson
Marie E. J. Pitt
A. G. Stephens
P. R. Stephensen
Agnes L. Storrie (Agnes L. Kettlewell)

Recent Posts

  • Died on Active Service / Heroes of the Empire [Australian military personnel (WW1, WW2), 24 April 1943]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Fossicker’s claim, Daylesford [postcard, circa 1905-1912]
  • The Bathing Beach Flinders [postcard, early 20th Century]
  • The Lass of Yackandandah [poem, 11 June 1857]

Top Posts & Pages

  • Australian slang, words, and phrases
  • The Man from Snowy River [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • Drop Bears

Archives

Categories

Posts of note

The Bastard from the Bush [poem, circa 1900]
A Book for Kids [by C. J. Dennis, 1921]
Click Go the Shears [traditional Australian song, 1890s]
Core of My Heart [“My Country”, poem by Dorothea Mackellar, 24 October 1908]
Freedom on the Wallaby [poem by Henry Lawson, 16 May 1891]
The Man from Ironbark [poem by Banjo Paterson]
Nationality [poem by Mary Gilmore, 12 May 1942]
The Newcastle song [music video, sung by Bob Hudson]
No Foe Shall Gather Our Harvest [poem by Mary Gilmore, 29 June 1940]
Our pipes [short story by Henry Lawson]
Rommel’s comments on Australian soldiers [1941-1942]
Shooting the moon [short story by Henry Lawson]

Recent Comments

  • Keith Street on Flooded house on Villiers Street, Grafton (NSW) [postcard, circa 1950]
  • IAC on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Paul on Those Names [poem by Banjo Paterson]
  • Floyd Black on Eurunderee [poem by Henry Lawson]
  • Warren fahey on The Institute of Australian Culture: An introduction

For Australia

Copyright © 2025 · Log in