Capturing the ‘Spirit of Australia’ for Qantas for 10 years

The latest instalment of the hugely successful Qantas ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ advertising series was launched during the Bledisloe Cup in August. In the months leading up to the launch, 100 members of the Australian Girls Choir were involved in the filming and recording of this spectacular commercial.

The commercial opens with Tyus, a young Indigenous boy, singing in his native language in a spectacular and remote Australian location. As Tyus sings out, his voice travels to the far corners of the globe, where other choristers hear his call. Responding to his voice, they begin their journey home, eventually uniting as one fully assembled choir to sing the final stirring chorus of ‘I Still Call Australia Home’.

The filming took place over 21 days and took members of the Australian Girls Choir, as well as the National Boys Choir of Australia and the Gondwana National Indigenous Children’s Choir, to every corner of the country. 

The final shot of the commercial was filmed at one of Australia’s most spectacular landmarks, Purnululu National Park in Western Australia, and features a stunning backdrop of black and orange domes, vivid in the setting sun. Over 180 children were involved in the filming of this end shot, as well as nearly 80 staff members and production crew. During filming, over 99,200 kilometres were travelled by road in 56 buses, and a remote camp and catering for 300 people was purpose built for the final shot.

The filming locations included:
Broome, Western Australia – Gantheaume Point
Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia – Cape Leveque
Diggers Rest Station, Western Australia – El Questro
Purnululu National Park, Western Australia – Cathedral Gorge and Piccaninny Gorge
Uluru, Northern Territory – Curtin Springs Salt Lakes
Daintree National Park, Queensland – Cape Tribulation
Kiama, New South Wales – Seven Mile Beach

The Australian Girls Choir are proud to have been part of the ‘Spirit of Australia’ with Qantas for over 10 years now, since the first advertisement was released in 1998, capturing the hearts of the nation. Follow up commercials were released in 2000 and 2004, as a result of the overwhelming success of this advertising campaign.

The new advertising campaign also featured two special documentary programs ‘Coming Home’ and the ‘I Still Call Australia Home – Anniversary Special’ which aired nationally on Channel 7. Our girls were also involved in a number of media appearances including an Interview and Performance on Ch 7 ‘Sunrise’ and an Interview on Ch 7 ‘The Morning Show’.

Over the years, we have been thrilled to involve many thousands of our girls in the filming of the Qantas advertisements and in high profile performance in Australia and around the world. We look forward to continuing this wonderful relationship for many years to come.

Check out the new Qantas ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ website for more information and photos!