Waltzing Matilda - Australia’s unofficial National Anthem

Waltzing Matilda

Australia’s unofficial National Anthem
Lyrics by
 A.B. Paterson

Waltzing Matilda is Australia’s unofficial National Anthem and written as a poem by Andrew 'Banjo' (A.B.) Paterson (1864 - 1941) at old Dagworth Homestead, Queensland, Australia in January 1895

Waltzing Matilda the poem and the song is about a swagman, a “swaggie” or tramp, who camps by a creek and steals a sheep. Three policemen arrive, and rather than submit to capture, the “swaggie” commits suicide by drowning himself in the creek.

This tune is a traditional Scottish Melody.

Waltzing Matilda

Australia’s unofficial National Anthem
Lyrics by
 A.B. Paterson

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."

Chorus:
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."

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."

(Chorus)

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred.
Down came the troopers, one, two, and three.
"Whose is that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

(Chorus)

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong.
"You'll never catch me alive!" said he
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

(Chorus)

Slim Dusty - Waltzing Matilda - Video

Video of Slim sitting by a campfire singing Waltzing Matilda, interspersed with shots of a swaggie.

Run Time 3:22

Waltzing Matilda has almost become Australia's national identity.  If you hear Waltzing Matilda an Aussie is involved somewhere along the way.

Words and Meanings in the Lyrics

Waltzing

derived from the German term auf der Walz, which means to travel while working as a craftsman and learn new techniques from other masters before returning home after three years and one day, a custom which is still in use today among carpenters.[13]

Matilda

a romantic term for a swagman's bundle. See below, "Waltzing Matilda."

Waltzing Matilda

from the above terms, "to waltz Matilda" is to travel with a swag, that is, with all one's belongings on one's back wrapped in a blanket or cloth. The exact origins of the term "Matilda" are disputed; one fanciful derivation states that when swagmen met each other at their gatherings, there were rarely women to dance with. Nonetheless, they enjoyed a dance, and so they danced with their swags, which was given a woman's name. However, this appears to be influenced by the word "waltz", hence the introduction of dancing. It seems more likely that, as a swagman's only companion, the swag came to be personified as a woman.

Another explanation is that the term also derives from German immigrants. German soldiers commonly referred to their greatcoats as "Matilda", supposedly because the coat kept them as warm as a woman would. Early German immigrants who "went on the waltz" would wrap their belongings in their coat, and took to calling it by the same name their soldiers had used.

Swagman

a man who travelled the country looking for work. The swagman's "swag" was a bed roll that bundled his belongings.

Billabong

an oxbow lake (a cut-off river bend) found alongside a meandering river.

Coolabah Tree

a kind of eucalyptus tree which grows near billabongs.

Jumbuck

a large, difficult-to-shear sheep, not a tame sheep. Implies that the sheep was not 'owned' by the squatter or regularly shorn, thus not able to be stolen by the swagman.

Billy

a can for boiling water in, usually 2–3 pints.

Tucker bag

a bag for carrying food ("tucker").

Troopers

policemen.

Squatter

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