I Still Call Australia Home

The start

In 1987, the first version of Qantas’ I Still Call Australia Home advertisement debuted with vocals sung by ad executive and jingle writer Allan Johnston. Working with business partner Alan Morris at advertising agency Mojo, the pair showcased destinations around the world, including Disneyland in California and the Acropolis in Athens. The global campaign ran for five years, with viewer feedback showing that the iconic song tapped into deep emotions for Australians and international visitors alike.

Mid-1990s

Following this success, Qantas officially adopted I Still Call Australia Home as its signature tune, using it in a 1994 refresh of the campaign and reviving it again in 1997. The three-minute ad featured the distinctive vocals of Aboriginal group Yothu Yindi and showed jazz musician James Morrison atop one of Victoria’s Twelve Apostles, singer Kate Ceberano serenading a glittering New York skyline and the voice of country music star James Blundell layered over images of a tree-framed Eiffel Tower.

1998

This reimagining of the 1997 video featured the campaign’s first use of youth choirs, which would define the ads for years to come. Members of the National Boys Choir of Australia and the Australian Girls Choir were filmed performing in spectacular locations around the world, from New York’s Brooklyn Bridge to the Great Wall of China.

Following its first showing during the Australian broadcast of the 1998 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – and a Super Bowl screening in 1999 – the ad reached an estimated 31.7 million viewers worldwide.

Network Ten Documentary

The I Still Call Australia Home documentary aired on Network Ten, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the original ad. Focusing on two members of the featured choirs, the documentary followed the young performers as they took the world by storm, with performances in Jakarta, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Los Angeles. The Qantas Choir went on to be nominated for an ARIA Award after recording a highly successful festive album, Australia’s Christmas Spirit.

2000

The 2000 version of the ad was bigger and bolder than ever, combining new and far-off destinations with the beautiful voices of the young choir members. It took six months to film, during which the choir travelled to a Massai village in Tanzania, India’s Taj Mahal and England’s Stonehenge. The ad reached an enormous global audience and was shown during both the Australian and United States broadcasts of the Sydney Olympic Games.

2004

The campaign now turned its focus to Australia and filmed in every state and territory, as well as new international locations, including the towering Temple of Poseidon in Greece, Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain, the Ninnaji Temple in Kyoto, Jabiru in the Northern Territory and the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. To finish, five hundred children from local schools formed the shape of a kangaroo on the shimmering shores of Queensland’s Whitehaven Beach.

2009

The original lyrics of the opening verse were reinterpreted and sung by a First Nations member of the Qantas Choir in Kala Lagaw Ya, a language of the Torres Strait Islands.