Lyrics: This is Australia

High School Students Sydney

The prompt given to students was to write song lyrics/a poem modelled on This is America by Childish Gambino. The sample below is from students who participated in writing workshops in Western and North West Sydney. The workshops were conducted at schools and a local library in Western Sydney.

Nate, 17, male, Hills district/North West Sydney, Anglo Australian, no religion

This is Australia
A land of the flannies and thongs
We’re getting too many ‘chongs’
But that’s not racist because- ‘Asian friends’
Sinking tinnies every day
Keeping refugees away
This is Australia
white dude looks after Indigenous affairs
As if he fucking cares.

Raul, 17, male, Woodcroft, Filipino Australian, Roman Catholic

We just want a house
A cheap home for you
Someone pass the beer
And the ciggie too
All the wogs are here
They gon’ trash the loo
This is Australia
We’re multicultural
And we’re so sociable
Lockout laws all ‘atrociable’
This is Australia
Politics are bloody mess
10 Years, 5 PMs, no less
Western Sydney, we here, FINESSE

Mark, 17, male, Blacktown, Anglo Australian, Catholic

This is Australia,
Don’t be persuaded by our national song.
History is a ‘funny’ thing it must go on.
Yet the dispossessed are many
Or the privileged, white plenty
Have a different story to tell.
Is it white Australia? Or our Australia?
Was it Watson or Reid now?
Or was it Mabo or Wik now?
Look what we’re feeling now?

Aisha, 17, female, Greenacre, Afghan Australian, Muslims

This is Australia
People think all Muslims are the same
That we’re all terrorists or girls in scarves without a brain
They hear it all in the news
I was born on 11 September 2002
First anniversary of 9/11
No one in my family forgets my birthday
because no one in my family forgets 9/11

Marcel, 17, male, Merrylands, Lebanese Australian, Catholic

This is Australia,
home of the lucky ones.
Grew up in Parramatta,
Bogans be scared. Yeah.
This is Australia,
land of the red rock.
Trying not to be knocked
or the boys will stop you having fun
in my area, which way to Cabramatta? (Yeah, yeah.)
I’m gonna get this car. (Yeah, yeah.)
Just got a job
Parra Maccas
Got my accent
Know my place.

Carlton, 17, female, Dural, Anglo Australian, Catholic

This is Australia.
Keep all inmates around
Don’t let your neighbour down
Barnaby’s going down
We love a chocky milk
Sports is our religion
Prime ministers always changing
Only word I can think that rhymes is pigeon

Luke, 17, male, Wentworthville, Indian/French/Australian, Catholic

This is Australia
Come get your Bunnings snag
Show that Aussie spirit
Do not go quitting now
This is Australia
Cherish that strong mateship
Diversity all around
Don’t be so racist now
This is Australia
Multicultural hysteria

Nick, 17, male, West Penant Hills, Anglo Australian, Anglican

This is Australia.
We’re not really nice to Aboriginals
The Queen is our God
We really enjoy alcohol.
Unjustifiably patriotic
Tony Abbott ate a raw onion

Harry, 17, male, West Pennant Hills, Anglo Australian, Agnostic

This is Australia.
Pack, piss, Winnie Blues
I’m in love with Alex
I’m scared of microwaves
I’m not talking to Mrs Robertson
I’m not a white supremacist
We don’t call it shrimp. It’s just a prawn.
We don’t really have culture just snakes and the barbie.
Cash rate 1.5%
Bunnings is a monopoloy.

Jactina, 16, female, Quakers Hill, Anglo Australian, Christian

This is Australia.
A good time, g’day mate
Sticky fingers, racist banter, Pauline Hanson
Shannon Noll was robbed in Australian Idol.
Maccas, Woolies Mud cakes, abbreviate everything
Thongs, The Wiggles, The Irwins, White Australia, not easily offended
Slang. Pay gap. Good gun control.
Nobody really cares about anything.

Sara, 16, female, Castle Hill, Anglo Australian, Christian

This is Australia.
Low key racist.
Should be a republic.
Political memes
Great Barrier Reef is basically dead.
Good living standards.
Excellent place to live.
Low cash rate, good education, good hospitals
Abbott ate an onion
Racist banter.

Lisa, 17, female, Hills District/North West Sydney, African Australian, Christian

This is Australia.
We come from a land down under
Can you hear, can you hear the thunder?
Refugees on islands
An apology that came so many years later

John, 17, male, Cherrybrook, Anglo Australian, atheist

This is Australia
This is where we live
All we want is to have fun
We don’t care about anything
The only thing is about having fun

Natalie, 17, female, Ashfield, Anglo Australian, agnostic

This is Australia.
VBs, we’re chugging down.
Meat pies were giving out.
Akubras. A-K-U-B-R-A-S we wearing out.
This is Australia.
Gay people married now.
Lots of cultures we seeing around
but need water for the dry ground.

Rita, 17, female, Parramatta, Italian Australian, Catholic

This is Australia.
We do not focus on the issues in our nation
but on the issues in other countries.
This is Australia.
Littered with Murdoch media
Of news from America and never Australia.
This is Australia.
I’m lucky to live right here
But others live differently.

Bec, 17, female, West Penant Hills, Anglo Australian, Christian

This is Australia.
Bogan and proud.
Isolated and ignorant.
People overly loud.
Yet something about us radiates all things good.
I’m happy to be here.
Safe, understood.
What I want to change.
Nothing much except for one thing.
We need to show more love to those in danger to those in fear.
Come on Australia. 2018.
This is our year.

Rob, 16, male, Blacktown, Filipino Australian, Catholic

This is Australia
Multicultural hysteria
This is Australia
Panic in my area
A little bit of drugs for you
A little cocaine for you (and you)
Train station we dealin’
In Kmart we stealin’ (and skkkrt)
Don’t catch you trippin’ high
When you’re caught jiggin’ in a lie
The parents they be askin’ why
So high that we start to fly

Jordan, 17, male, Castle Hill, Chinese Australian, Buddhist

This is Australia.
A place of suffering and loneliness.
A place of different cultures.
One ring to bind them all.
I try to fit in but I can’t change.
I have to talk to myself or who will hear me?
This is Australia.
But will Australia see me?

Mostafa, 16, male, Auburn, Turkish Australian, Muslim

This is Australia.
It is a home for some
A dream for others
Impossible to reach
Impossible to appreciate.

Ahmad, 17, male, Lakemba, Lebanese Australian, Muslim

This is Australia
Like all, there’s good and bad, no in between
Just like every other place
Snakes, spiders, vicious animals
Every stereotype certainly exists
The seas that divide us from the rest of the world
Are the seas that divide us from communism
The seas that separate us from guns and violence
These seas, also, are places that people die trying to pursue freedom.
A luxury that Australians can afford.
As we watch on television
As the horror proceeds on the screen
We can turn off the television
Forget what’s happened
And move on.
Because this is Australia.

Stephen, 17, male, Mount Druitt, South Sudanese/Australian, Christian

This is Australia.
Racism that’s gone out.
Multiculturalism in the house.
It’s here, just look around,
This is Australia,
It’s almost summer
But the weather’s weird
Because climate change action is so feared
This is Australia
Land of the Commonwealth,
Medicare for your health
Can’t buy a house in Sydney with all your wealth.

Mark, 17, male, Guildford, Lebanese Australian, Agnostic

This is Australia.
Lots of guns in my area.
I love it, snags.
Our politicians put us in tags.
It forms a part of my identity,
But in today’s age no one connects with me.
We call it the land under the heavens,
But we didn’t give Aboriginals their rights to 1967.
This is Australia,
Don’t catch you slipping up,
Don’t catch you slipping up.
See the lies they’re whipping up.
This is Australia.
No love in my area.
Inequality is now our strap.

Warda, 17, female, Bankstown, Palestinian Australian, Muslim

This is Australia
Literally prison blackout
But plastic bags we be pissed about
Don’t like actual change just let people shout
This is Australia
If you don’t like Vegemite
You become an Aussie-lite
People think we ride kangaroos
Our national culture’s based on booze

Hiba, 16, female, Hills District/North West Sydney, Indian Australian, Hindu

This is Australia
an isolated country
across the Pacific Sea
mistreated refugees.
This is Australia.

Naz, 17, female, Hills District/North West Sydney, Bengali Australian/New Zealand, Muslim

This is Australia
a chance to be
a chance to make it up.
This is Australia.
Nobody knows what’s going on
Politicians going wrong.
This is Australia.
Indigenous left unloved
Rich places above.
This is Australia
A place of opportunity
Riches by immunity
White men stealing the land
White men leaving the rest to band
This is Australia
Missing New Zealand now.
Wanna go home now.

#Tia, 16, Hills District/North West Sydney, Anglo Australian, Christian

This is Australia
Cities are heating up
Then they are cooling down
Rainfall for weeks on end
Then droughts follow them
This is Australia
Refugees are pushed away
Or locked up and hidden away
This is Australia
Indigenous: who are they?

Sahar, 17, female, Fairfield, Australian Pakistani, Muslim

This is Australia.
“For those across the sea, with boundless plains to share”
BAN THE BOATS: Australian government.

Ghassan, 17, male, Merrylands, Syrian/Australian, Christian Orthodox

This is Australia.
Why racism if we’re all the same?
Why persecution and conflict today?
Why not stay together and be united as one?
This is Australia,
Can’t get the job done.
Refugees, migrants, they’re not allowed,
but this is Australia meant to be united and proud.
Minorities segregated, they’re stuck in a trap,
Isn’t it time that we just close the gap?

Fatma, 17, female, Lakemba, Lebanese Australian, Muslim

This is Australia.
Bunnings snags and meat pies.
Ice addicts and druggies.
Homelessness is there, but no one really cares.
Just stereotypes at the perfect Aussie.
Domestic violence is high.
Women die.
What are we doing about it?
Another hotline.
This is Australia.
Natives invaded. Yeah.
People clear the streets as the unprivileged start to sleep. Yeah.
Gang violence is high. Yeah
Everyone is in disguise.
This is Australia.
Healthy Harold’s abandoned.
Taxes are high. Where does it fly?
30 million cut from NDIS funding to go to corporate companies.
Farmers are struggling.
Coles is rumbling. Plastic bag ban.
Save our turtles or die trying.
This is Australia.
Coward punches are tearing us.
Yeah.

Ray, 17, male, Winston Hills, Irish/Israeli/Australian, Jewish

This is Australia
home of the rich and the poor
Tourist come and go to see the various shows
Collection of people from all over the globe
They give me hope.
This is Australia.
Police in my area
They don’t like what I do
I don’t have a choice
‘cause I’ve lost my job
Australia, where is my chance?

Dan, 16, male, Cherrybrook, Anglo/Australian, atheist

This is Australia.
The local park is where we go.
Heavy drinking is what we know.
Cooking the snag is how we show.
But giving a shit is what we don’t.