It's over 140 years old, but national anthem Advance Australia Fair has been rewritten by a group seeking recognition of Indigenous peoples in the Australian constitution.

Key points: The lyrics to Advance Australia Fair have been tweaked by Recognition in Anthem, a committee of Australians who hope the changes to the national anthem will become official

The lyrics to Advance Australia Fair have been tweaked by Recognition in Anthem, a committee of Australians who hope the changes to the national anthem will become official They want it to be more representative of all citizens, especially Indigenous Australians

They want it to be more representative of all citizens, especially Indigenous Australians The current anthem was signed off by former prime minister Bob Hawke in 1984, and voted on by referendum — prior to that, it was God Save the Queen

For the first time, the new lyrics were performed in front of a live audience on the opening night of the annual Desert Song Festival in Alice Springs on Friday.

The lyrics have been tweaked by Recognition in Anthem, a committee of Australians who hope the changes to the national anthem will become official.

Committee member Martin Haskett was in Alice Springs for the premiere, and said the re-write was designed to facilitate reconciliation.

"Our current anthem doesn't recognize Indigenous people of this country — the ambition was to create something that spoke to everyone in Australia," Mr Haskett said.

"We don't want anyone to not sing the anthem because it doesn't adequately represent them."

Advocates hope the rewritten Australian anthem will become official. ( ABC News: Samantha Jonscher )

'For we are one and free'

The song, "Advance Australia Fair II — a Patriotic Song of Australia", includes completely rewritten verses and single word changes to the current anthem.

"For we are young and free" has been re-written as "for we are one and free" to reference 60,000 years of human occupation on the continent.

There have been countless drafts of the new lyrics, and Mr Haskett said it was now time to launch it.

"We want to see if it does resonate with people, and think it will," he said.

The new anthem was performed by local and international choirs, including the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir, who performed one verse in Pitjantjara.

"It's great to be included," said one of those performers, Western Arrernte woman Marion Swift.

"I think the new version covers all different stuff — to include Aboriginals; it's lovely."

Marion Swift performed the new lyrics with the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir. ( Supplied: Desert Song Festival )

Mr Haskett said representation was very important.

"That acceptance in the Aboriginal community shows that it has a future," he said.

"We are launching an anthem about the whole of Australia, from the centre of Australia."

Celebrating Indigenous music

Morris Stuart is the Desert Song festival director and leads the Central Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir.

He said it was an honour to host the rewritten anthem's first live performance.

"It's recognising Indigenous people, and our festival has grown out of the hearts of Central Australian language," he said.

"All the stars have lined up — this is the most appropriate place to premiere this anthem.

"I think it's a rare and wonderful privilege … Australia is up for looking at this national song and improving on it."

Morris Stuart from the Centralia Australian Aboriginal Women's Choir. ( ABC News: Oliver Gordon )

The Guyanan-born Mr Stuart said his background made him uniquely qualified to help facilitate this performance.

"For me, as a new Australian, and somebody who has a passion about this country and its history and the people who've created it — this is an honour," he said.

"It may be that only somebody like a new Australian could run with a project like this.

"I think this is going to feed into the story of what it means to be Australia."

Mr Stuart also re-arranged the song's choral arrangement for the performance in the hopes that it would help keep the new song sounding fresh and contemporary.

"If we begin the conversation by reflecting that we aren't young, as human occupation we are very old and we have incredible wisdom in that antiquity," he said.

"And also the third verse reflects the multicultural nature of Australia, as well as some of those values of mutual support and community.

"I actually think that it's very evocative of who we are and I hope that it starts a conversation."

Anthem should reflect the nation we've become

Recognition in Anthem committee member Martin Haskett. ( ABC News: Samantha Jonscher )

The current Australian national anthem was signed off by former prime minister Bob Hawke in 1984, and voted on by referendum.

Prior to that, Australia's national anthem was God Save the Queen.

"It's not something that has been there for hundreds of years, this demonstrates that there is no reason that it can't change again," said Mr Haskett.