Anakstore.com
» Waltzing Matilda

Waltzing Matilda

words by A.B.(Banjo) Patterson




The ballad "Waltzing Matilda" is called by many, as Australia's unofficial national anthem. There are are many
Australians who would love for it to be made the official national anthem.

Millions of people are familiar with the song, world wide.  A good number of them know little or nothing of what the song is about.  To add to the confusion,  there are three different melodies that accompany the lyrics, which have gone through a slight change from the original version.

There is also another song by the same name by Tom Traubert.

"The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", was written by Eric Bogle.  It is a very good anti-war song.


























"Researchers... now agree that A.B.(Banjo) Patterson wrote original song lyrics in 1895 – a "new bush song" – while he was staying with the Macpherson family on the property, Dagworth Station, approximately 100 kilometres north-west of the town of Winton in Queensland".

"The origins of the melody are more complex and have been subject to much debate. The existence of an original musical manuscript by Christina Macpherson came to public notice in 1971, together with an undated letter by Christina to Thomas Wood recalling the events surrounding the creation of the song. This led to Christina being accredited as the first ‘creator’ of the music. Two versions of this manuscript are now held in the National Library of Australia: MS9065 and MS10086. Yet, as Christina openly acknowledged, she adapted the tune from an existing folk song which she had heard played as a march by a brass band. This website summarises the origins of the song and the multiple musical versions that exist in unpublished, published and oral forms". - National Library of Australia.

"There are three main streams of the ‘Waltzing Matilda’ song, each with its own history, related versions and status. These may be loosely described as:
(1) the Macpherson/Paterson version, based on the 1895 song passed down orally and in manuscript format;
(2) the mainstream, popular version of the song, derived from the edition that first appeared in print in an arrangement by Marie Cowan (c.1903). This varies from both the original Macpherson/Paterson tune and words. It also has a strong melodic relationship to manuscript versions patented by Harry Nathan (1900-1905);
(3) a third, oral tradition, loosely referred to as the Queensland version. This uses a different tune with, essentially, the Paterson lyrics, and exists in two main variants, the Conclurry and the Buderim tunes."  - National Library of Australia.








































Elderly swagman 1901.



Waltzing Matilda

words by A.B.(Banjo) Patterson

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of the Coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Then down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Then down came the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred
Down came the troopers, one two three
Where's that jolly jumbuck that you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

So up jumped the swagman and he sprang into that billabong
You'll never take me alive said he
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.


The song was first recorded in 1926 as performed by John Collinson and Russell Callow. This recording of "Waltzing Matilda" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia Registry in 2008.



























"Waltzing Matilda" is a song about an Australian swagman (or hobo), one of the men who used to wander throughout the country areas of Australia.

They often kept their meagre belongings wrapped up in an old blanket, tied up with a piece of string, and carried it across their shoulders; this was called a swag. That is where they got the name "swagman".

These swagmen would refer to their swag as "Matilda", which was often their only companion as they wandered through the bush. That is how the term "Waltzing Matilda" came about. It hass nothing to do with dancing: it refers to carrying the swag (which swings back and forth) on your back through the long lonely stretches of the Australian bush.

A "billabong" is a pool of deep water, or a lagoon

A "billy" is a little tin to boil water for tea.

A jumbuck is a sheep

A "tucker bag" is a bag for carrying "tucker"; tucker is food, so it could just as easily be called a food bag. It served the same purpose as a knapsack.

A squatter (in this context) is a land owner, who usually had a large amount of land. He was called a squatter because most of them had originally just taken the land, without paying for it or without permission from the government.



André Rieu - Waltzing Mathilda


In the song,  the hero of "Waltzing Matilda" is a migrant farm laborer ("swagman")  who is cornered under a eucalyptus tree ("coolibah")  beside a waterhole ("billabong")  by a landowner ("squatter")  and his hired policemen.  After stealing a sheep ("jumbuck," from the Aboriginal word jimbuc)  for his dinner ("tucker").

He escapes arrest -- and certain hanging -- by leaping into the billabong,  where his ghost may be heard by all who may pass by.


The Real Story is very much different.

For many years, the swagmen had roamed the sheep stations of Queensland, where they hired ot for the shearing of the sheep for the wool. Out of the shearing season, there was much starving and begging. These shearers, believed (rightfully so) that they were bring cheated and exploited by the ranch owners, (many were wealthy, absentee, and British). In 1894, The shearers declared a strike that quickly turned violent.

On a station that was named Dagworth, the striking shearers fired off their rifles and pistols. They put a lot of holes in in the barns, but there were no casualties. They then set fire to the barns, in which many sheep died. A man named Samuel "French" Hoffmeister was one of the ringleaders of the uprising.  The troopers searched the surrounding countryside for the shearers.  The next day, the troopers found Samuel Hoffmeister,  still in his swag, beside a billabong.  He had shot himself in the head.



Slim Dusty - Waltzing Matilda



Here is a completely different song with the same title of "Waltzing Matilda" by Tom Traubert.



The song has imagery of the devastation at the Battle of Gallipoli.  It also vividly portrays the aging veterans and younger generations who have become apathetic to the veterans and to their cause.

Eric Bogle avoided denigrating the servicemen who'd suffered and died, while he produced a very strong indictment for those responsible for the tragic loss of life and limb in all wars.

The expression 'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda' is central to the chorus, and many of the versions that have been recorded end with a haunting rendition of a few bars of 'Waltzing Matilda.























"And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" is an anti-war song, about a war that was fought in Gallipoli, in 1915. It was written in the time period of the Vietnam war many thought it was about that war as well. They were different decades and different countries. The message is appropriate for both wars and for any other war:  WAR IS HELL!


Eric Bogle has written a powerful and passionate indictment all wars in general.  There are no winners for those who fight the wars!  Every combatant becomes a casualty.