'No worries!’ – could there be a more Aussie phrase?

Believed to have originated in the 1960s, it was also adopted by the British in the 1980s and has since gained popularity in the United States, partly due to Australian media personalities like Paul Hogan and Steve Irwin. The expression is also prevalent in other English-speaking regions, including Singapore and Malaysia.

While there’s no record of ‘No worries’ being common before the mid-1960s, it was referred to as ‘the national motto’ by 1978, replacing phrases like ‘Bob's your uncle’ and ‘She’ll be right’.

But where did it come from? This 1967 advert for the State Savings Bank of Victoria might be the first-ever example of its use in media.

Directed by Fred Schepisi (before he became the internationally acclaimed director of the feature films The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, Evil Angels and Six Degrees of Separation), the ad is shot in and around Melbourne, and shows State Savings Bank customers going about their daily business – dealing with mortgages, cheque and savings accounts, traveller's cheques – to show that the bank offers a ‘No worries’ way of handling their finances. This ad likely contributed to the phrase's popularity in Victoria during the late 1960s.