"Down Under" (also known as "Land Down Under") is a pop song recorded by Men at Work for their debut album Business as Usual(1981). The song went to #1 on American, British, and Australian charts. It was reissued in 1982 and is the only Men at Work song that went to #1 in the UK. It has become a popular and patriotic song in Australia.

The lyrics are about an Australian traveller circling the globe, proud of his nationality and about his interactions with people he meets on his travels who are interested in his home country. One of the verses refers to Vegemite sandwiches, among other things, and this particular lyric has become a well-known phrase.

Colin Hay told Songfacts: "The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the over-development of the country. It was a song about the loss of spirit in that country. It's really about the plundering of the country by greedy people. It is ultimately about celebrating the country, but not in a nationalistic way and not in a flag-waving sense. It's really more than that."

The flute part in the song was based around the tune of "Kookaburra", a well-known Australian children's rhyme. Originally, "Down Under" was released as the B-side to "Keypunch Operator", a rare custom-pressed single by Men at Work - some of the guitar melodies from that version were further developed into flute parts on the later release. The video also features several litre-size cans of what appear to be Foster's Lager (although the brand is removed), a beer drunk mainly outside Australia while being marketed as Australian.

The song is a perennial favourite on Australian radio and television, and topped the charts in the U.S. and U.K. simultaneously in early 1983. It was later used as a theme song by the crew of Australia IIin their successful bid to win the America's Cup in 1983. Men at Work played this song in the closing ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, alongside other Australian artists. The song was played extensively during the September 2009 One-Day International cricket series between England and Australia, which Australia took by six matches to one.

In May 2001, Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) celebrated its 75th anniversary by naming the Best Australian Songs of all time, as decided by a 100 strong industry panel, "Down Under" was ranked as the fourth song on the list.

In October 2006, Triple M had the Essential 2006 Countdown of the most popular songs of all time, voted by the listeners. "Down Under" was the number 3 voted/ranked song.

The song was voted #96 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80s

A variation of the song is currently used as part of Qantas' new advertisement.

The song was also used in the video game Saints Row 2.

Professional Australian darts player Simon Whitlock uses the song for his entrance music

Professional Australian cruiserweight boxer Danny Green used this song for his entrance for his fight against Roy Jones, Jr. on 2009-12-02.

The music video was filmed in a number of places, including Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island.

Another version of the song was released in 1999 by the punk rock band Pennywise, as a bonus track on the album Straight Ahead. While Pennywise is an American band, they frequently tour Australia, and often play the song at live shows as a tribute to their many Australian fans.

British ska punk band spunge also covered the song on their 2004 covers album That Should Cover It!and regularly perform the song at live shows.

A version of this song is on the Kangaroo Jacksoundtrack. The song was also used in advertisements for the Disney/Pixar movie Finding Nemo, though it never appears in the film itself.

The punk rock band Funeral Dress also had a version of the song on its album A Way of Life.

In the Scrubsepisode "My Hard Labor", John Dorian daydreams that his pregnant girlfriend gives birth to Colin Hay, who subsequently sings "Down Under". Also, in the episode "My Porcelain God", when Dr. Kelso questions J.D. and Dr. Kevin Casey about strange noises the patients have been hearing, J.D. suggests they may be hearing the song. He sings a small portion of the song and asserts that if that is what the patients were hearing, it wasn't him.

Colin Hay had his version as well as an acoustic version on his album Man @ Work.

During the 1980s Yossi and Avi Piamenta recorded traditional Jewish wedding lyrics to the tune of the song. The name of this song is Asher Bara Sasson ve'Simcha. It is often played at Orthodox Jewish weddings and celebrations. Whilst the composition remains unaffected none of the lyrics relate to the original song.

In 1985 Lithuanian rock band Antis made a cover of the song, which became one of their most well known hits. It was called "Zombiai" (the Lithuanian word for zombies). This Lithuanian version had unique lyrics which represented ironic attitude towards Soviet regime (Lithuania was occupied by Soviet Union at the time), but some parts remains very similar.

The Northern Vermont folk rock outfit, Flatlander is known to cover "Down Under."

In 2008, Australia's national airline Qantas, rolled out an ad campaign as "The World's Most Experienced Airline" with a prominent instrumental composition of "Down Under" as the background music.

A Finnish cover version titled "Tervetuloa Länteen, Andrej" ( Welcome to west, Andrej) of the song was released by Vilperin Perikunta in 1992. The original story of the song was changed to tell a tale of Andrej, a Russian proletarian who travels to Finland to search for a job and better life in a welfare state. In the chorus Finland is described as "road to the top of heaven" and "road to freedom" for a Russian. In this cover version the flute parts were played with violin and a banjo lick was added to the background.

In 2001, a performance of the song by the Red Army Choir was released on the CD Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge. The song was performed in the manner of a Russian folk song and featured clapping, and accordion. The song is also featured in the 2008 game Saints Row 2.

This song was partly sung by Peter Griffin from the television show Family Guyin the episode "Long John Peter".

On the television show Yes DearJimmy and his friend Billy are annoyed when Greg sings "vegemite sandwich," believing the line to be "dynamite son-bitch."

In 2009 the song resurfaced on the TV show Australia's Got Talentwhere Jay Parrino aka 'JP the one man band' used a looping pedal to create a unique rendition of the song, which even Colin Hay himself heralded as the 'best version of the song he'd ever heard'.

This song is played during the end credits of the Paul Hogan movie Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. The song is also partially played in the documentary television series, The Adventure of English, to help illustrate Australia's newfound confidence in its linguistic identity in the late 20th Century.

This song can also be heard in the episode of "The Topaz Connection" in the Knight RiderTV series from 1982, while Michel is driving to Las Vegas.

The flute part of the song is allegedly based on the children's rhyme "Kookaburra." While the song Kookaburra is still under copyright according to Australian copyright law, Marion Sinclair died in 1988, and so the publishing rights are held by Larrikin Music. In the United States, the rights are administered by Music Sales Corporation in New York City.

In June 2009, Larrikin Music sued Men At Work for copyright infringement, alleging that part of the flute riff of "Down Under" was copied from "Kookaburra". The counsel for the band's record label and publishing company (Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Songs Australia) claimed that, based on the agreement under which the song was written, the copyright was actually held by the Girl Guides Association. On July 30, Justice Peter Jacobson of the Federal Court of Australia made a preliminary ruling that Larrikin did own copyright on the song, but the issue of whether or not Hay and Strykert had plagiarised the riff would be determined at a later date.

On February 4, 2010, Justice Jacobson ruled that Larrikin's copyright had been infringed because "Down Under" reproduced "a substantial part of Kookaburra". A decision on the percentage of royalties that Larrikin is entitled to receive was not made. Larrikin's lawyer Adam Simpson said EMI and the band may be forced to hand over as much as 60 per cent of their earnings from the international hit record. When asked how much Larrikin would be looking for, he replied: "Obviously, the more the better but it depends - anything from what we've claimed, which is between 40% and 60%, and what they've suggested which is considerably less."

Until this high-profile case, Kookaburra's standing as a traditional song combined with the lack of visible policing of the song's rights by its composer had led to the general public perception that the song was within the public domain.

The revelation of Kookaburra's copyright status, and more-so the pursuit of royalties from it, has generated a negative response among sections of the Australian public. This has added fuel to claims that only the songs lyrics are copyrighted, because the tune is taken from a much older Welsh folk song. However, the reverse is considered more probable by musicologists, with lyrics to a much older Welsh song having been adapted to fit the tune of the more popular Kookaburra song, some time after the folk revival of the 1960s.