mccormick was born in port glasgow, scotland. in 1855, he moved to sydney, new south wales. he spent most of his life working for the nsw education department. he was also part of scottish presbyterian church activities in sydney. he published around 30 patriotic and scottish songs, some of which became very popular. "advance australia fair" was first performed in public by andrew fairfax at the st andrew's day concert of the highland society in 1878. the song quickly became popular. it was sung by a choir of 10,000 at the inauguration of the commonwealth of australia on 1 january 1901. in 1907, the new south wales government awarded mccormick £100 for composing the song.