NATIONAL SYMBOLS – NATIONAL ANTHEM The Australian National Anthem Origins of the National Anthem The writer and composer of Australia’s national anthem was Peter Dodds McCormick. He was born the son of a seaman at Port Glasgow, Scotland around 1834. An apprentice joiner, he arrived in Sydney in 1855, where he pursued his trade and became involved in various musical societies. Peter Dodds McCormick In 1863 he was appointed teacher-in charge of at St Mary’s National School in 1863 and went on to teach at the Presbyterian denominational school at Woolloomooloo in 1867 and at Dowling Plunkett Street Public School in 1878 where he remained until 1885. McCormick had strongly held Scottish values and beliefs and was active in the Presbyterian Church and a number of community and benevolent organisations. He began his involvement with Sydney’s St Stephen’s Church as a stonemason, working on the now demolished Phillip Street Church (where Martin Place now stands). The Reverend Hugh Darling ...
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