SO MANY moments in a lifetime are marked with music and song.
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Birthdays have a dedicated number, weddings and funerals usually have more nuanced numbers.
But national days have anthems.
Tuesday was Australian Citizenship Day, it probably wasn't a red letter day on your calendar, but the occasion demanded two verses of Advance Australia Fair.
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Thirty new Australians were sworn-in at a citizenship ceremony at Tamworth town hall and were treated to a version of our very own titular tune courtesy of Dungowan Public School.
However, it was the rare rendition of the second verse which sparked some thought.
"For those who've come across the seas, we've boundless plains to share," the song went.
A perfectly apt line for an event dedicated to migration and multicultural diversity.
Perhaps it is buried in a verse which should get some more airplay.
It stands in stark opposition to the Prime Minister's self-awarded trophy for stopping boats.
The anthem has been receiving more criticism in recent years namely when people who feel unacknowledged in the lyrics refuse to sing them.
It might be hard to balance the recent actions with the archaic words, but having attended a number of these ceremonies, they're events genuinely girt by a special feeling.
There is a sense of relief and happiness among the people at citizenship ceremonies, perhaps it is akin to a second birth where a new world of possibility exploded and expanded before them.
One of the region's new Australians, Daina Flores said she cried after passing her citizenship test.
All the effort had been worth it.
Nights of study balanced on top of two jobs, worth it.
All of that effort poured into just becoming a citizen, a right many naturally-born citizens take for granted. If they put this much effort into their first step, imagine the boundless plains of possibility that lie ahead for us to share.