A very good list of ANZAC Day songs for kids and adults alike!
ANZAC Day Songs For Primary School Students!
The marches, the Dawn Services and other similar events are often silent, reflective affairs. We all like to take the time to nod our heads, remove our hats and fill our hearts with gratitude for the sacrifices made by the fallen. There is a time, though, when it becomes appropriate for music and song to become part of our commemorative gatherings.
Here are some excellent ANZAC Day songs (and their history!) that primary school aged kids might like to sing during these special times.
Why do we celebrate ANZAC Day?
ANZAC Day is not a celebration or a glorification of war. It is an expression of remembrance, a time to give thanks and show of respect for those who gave their lives that we may live ours.
Primary schools, in particular, like to become involved in ANZAC Day marches. You will often see cohorts from local primary schools and junior sporting teams marching side by side with those who have served. Students might even be reciting special ANZAC Day poems like these ones!
Given this age group’s consistent involvement in ANZAC Day, we thought it only appropriate to round up a few songs that students could sing on special assemblies to commemorate this special day and what it means for all Australians.
Waltzing Matilda
This is one of the best-known bush ballads (and indeed, songs) that Australia has ever produced. The lyrics come from the pen of Banjo Patterson, our most famous poet, and it was written all the way back in 1895. It’s a song that tells the story of a bushman traveling with his matilda (swag or bag) on his back.
He boils a peaceful cup of tea nearby a waterhole when he comes upon a stray sheep and has the sheep for dinner. He then runs away from the owner of the sheep (as well as some policeman) and dies in the billabong. After his death, the ghost of the bushman haunts the area where he died.
Although that overview sounds rather grim, this is one of the most widely recognised and loved songs that Australia has ever produced. It’s almost our unofficial national anthem! You’ll find the lyrics here.
We are Australian
“I am… you are… we are Australian.”
This is one of those ANZAC Day songs that is regularly taught in primary school (and in kindy!) classrooms. It celebrates everything great about our country – Indigenous history, colonial history, modern pop culture – it’s all there! This is a song that’s often used in different campaigns or at sporting events because it makes us feel very patriotic and reminds us of all the great things that we have to be proud of.
The best part about this song is the chorus…
“We are one, but we are many
And from all the lands on earth we come
We share a dream and sing with one voice
I am, you are, we are Australian.”
That sounds like a message that the diggers would proudly get behind. The ANZAC spirit is all about looking after your mates and giving what you have to help others.
Spirit of the ANZACs
This is an ANZAC Day song by Lee Kernaghan, a very well-known country music performer. It also features a lot of pop artists who you might know like Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy and even Sheppard. This is a charity single that was intended to raise money for the families of soldiers.
The song’s intention is to demonstrate the very human, everyday qualities that heroes like the ANZACs possessed. It teaches us that we all have the strength and capacity to be heroes and that we owe so much to those brave men and women who fought against their own fears to protect us.
Some of the great lyrics from this song are –
He’s a pilot on a midnight bombing raid,
He’s an Able Seaman on the Armidale
She’s a nurse in Vietnam,
They’re on patrol in Uruzgan,
Sons and daughters rising to the call.
To My Fellow Man
“To My Fellow Man” is an ANZAC Day song by Lugh Damen. He has written quite a number of songs about the ANZACs and he lives off the land in true Aussie spirit.
This song was dedicated to a real soldier – Corporal Mark Donaldson, VC. He intentionally drew enemy fire to make sure that his unit could find a safe spot. He crossed over battlefields under heavy fire and returned with a wounded comrade in his arms.
Advance Australia Fair
Of course! An ANZAC Day song you’re bound to hear is our national anthem. We’ll post the lyrics to it just below here. This is a song that’s always sung on any day of national importance and it proudly stands as a symbol of our values as a country.
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.
Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We’ll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing
Advance Australia Fair.
On Every ANZAC Day
The song, ‘On Every Anzac Day’, was launched at the Australian War Memorial during a performance by the song’s creator (John Schumann OAM) who wrote the renowned military tribute I was only 19. ‘On Every Anzac Day’ is available on iTunes as part of an Expanded Edition of John’s acclaimed album ‘Behind The Lines’.
Lest We Forget
This is another song from Lee Kernaghan to chronicle the lives of the soldiers during World War One.
The Lyrics of Let We Forget by Lee Kernaghan:
On Flanders Field were battles rain
Our sons have gone
The young and brave
And best of mates
Their side by side
Together faught together died
We’ll not foget the promise made
You’ll live forever eternal flame
And so we all remember them
Lest we forget
Les we forget
It’s silent now the guns have seized
The crosses mark brave souls at piece
The bugle plays a sad reframe
We rise as one on this proud day
We’ll not forget the promise made
You’ll live forever eternal flame
And so we all remember them
Lest we forget
Lest we forget
(The ode of rememberence)
And so all remember them
Lest we forget
Lest we forget
We’ll not forget the promise made
You’ll live forever eternal flame
And so we all remember them
Lest we forget
Lest we forget
Lest we forget
Lest we forget
ANZAC Day music resources
- Download & print these ANZAC Day kids activities – word search, colouring-in and fill in the blanks.
- ANZAC Portal – Speeches for commemorations – Here you will find sample speeches as a starting point to develop a script for Anzac Day.
- Bugle Calls – Download both the Last Post, Rouse and Reveille. Available from multiple sources in .wav and .mp3 formats. Includes other material which may also be useful.
- Military Bugle Calls – Download both the Last Post and Reveille. Other calls are also available. MP3 format.
- Outline of ANZAC Day Commemoration Service
Suitable for high schools and communities. You can find a suitable service outline for Primary Schools here. - The Last Post – Information on the Last Post, a recording
Have you got a favourite ANZAC Day song that we haven’t included? Please feel free to let us know and we can share it with our other readers!
Hi, I came to this thread while helping my son find the song he was suppose to practice. I cannot find the title but the lyrics you quoted is the one he is after. Do you have a title?
David Vinson, second verse –
They left their homes, they gave their all,
Their youth, their life, to duty’s call,
Our soldiers who were staunch and true,
Oh, may we sweve our country too.
(Chorus).
That’s all I remember. It should be recorded so it is not lost. I’ve been hunting for years trying to find someone who remembers the song. Thankfully, I’ve found you.
Yes, I feel the same way, or maybe because they were so potent at the time. I remember singing the song in East Brisbane State School. I attended there 1956 – 1961.
Can someone please write and post a song with the chords that primary school children sang in 1962 and before in Australia.. It’s called, ” ‘Tis Anzac Day.
I remember singing Waltzing Matilda in primary school.
My son sings a song called Lest We Forget but, I can’t remember which version
David I sang this song each Anzac Day at Currumbin State School on Qld’s Gold Coast in the 1950s. Have you had any replies with more versus.
You left your home you gzve your your youth your strength at duties call forever by the quiet se in far away in Gallipoli . Then the refrain again, Tis Anzac Day etc.
I remember that song too there are more verses, i have tried for years to find someone who might remember that Anzac Day song.
I rememeber learning this in FNQl”d back in the 60’s. I think there was another verse, but don’t remember it either.
Way back in the early fifties I remember being taught an Anzac day song which went something like-
This day of days again we keep
In memory of those who sleep
Forever by the quiet sea away in far Gallipoli
Chorus
’tis Anzac day, ’tis Anzac day
Oh soldier comrades far away
You died in war
May we in peace
So live and love that war may cease
I don’t recall any more verses but thought someone with a better memory may know more. I always thought this particular piece to be every bit as appropriate as many of the more modern songs we hear today.