'Waltzing Matilda'

Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,

Under the shade of a coolibah tree,

And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled,

“You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.”

Considered the unofficial national anthem of Australia, Waltzing Matilda is a folksong, or bush ballad, originally written in 1895 by A.B. “Banjo” Paterson to accompany a lyrical score played by Christina MacPherson on a zither (a lap harp).  Christina had been playing from memory the tune of Craigielee arranged by Thomas Bulch, which had been based on another song, Thou Bonnie Wood o Craigielee, for a gathering of friends at Combo Waterhole on what was then Dagworth Station of Winton.

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 tuckerbag,

“You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.”

The song details a swagman (a worker) who had gone ‘waltzing matilda’ (travelling by foot or horse from station to station, with all of one’s possessions wrapped up in one’s swag) and ended up at a waterhole.  Upon catching a jumpbuck (a sheep), he is then caught himself by the grazier and three policemen.  Instead of being tried for theft, he drowns himself in the billabong (wateringhole) which his ghost now haunts.

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred.

Down came the troopers, one, two, three.

“Whose is that jolly jumbuck, you’ve got in your tuckerbag?

You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.”

There is much debate about where the first official performance of the finished song was played – the North Gregory Hotel of Winton, the Blue Heeler Hotel of Kynuna, Oondooroo Station, along Dick’s Creek of Winton – though everyone can agree that its conception and first performance happened in the Winton Shire of 1895.  The song has changed hands since it’s original conception at Combo Waterhole, and thus changed lyrics slightly over the years as well.  In 1903, the rights to the song were sold by Banjo Paterson to tea merchant James Inglis.  James invited Marie Cowan, the wife of one of his managers, to rewrite the score to turn into a jingle to help sell his tea.

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong,

“You’ll never catch me alive!” Said he,

And his ghost may be heard if you camp by that billabong:

“You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.”

It is suspected that the influence for the song may have come from the tumultuous events of the shearers strikes in 1894 – the burning of many local shearing sheds, including the original on Dagworth Station itself.  In the instance of the Dagworth shed’s burning, a gentleman had seemingly taken his own life in the aftermath, which was investigated by three mounted policemen and the owners or managers of Dagworth and neighbouring Kynuna Stations.  During his visit to Dagworth Station, Banjo allegedly went riding one afternoon with one of the workers and they discovered the butchered remains of a sheep on the edge of a waterway, courtesy of a passing swaggie, which is also suggested to have inspired the song.  

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.