Waltzing Matilda- Aussies Greatest Song

Australia was a relatively poor country for a hundred and fifty years or more after first settlement and men would go bush looking for work on farms or to grab anything they could for survival. It is called the wide brown land for a very good reason, it is usually brown due to drought and irregular rainfall patterns, That makes farming difficult and it took place mainly in the temperate regions around Sydney and Melbourne before expanding into other regions.

The graziers who bred cattle and the sheep growers employed men known as swaggies in shearing sheds and as station hands. Their properties were located in the hot dryer parts of the country, either in Queensland, New South Wales or in the northern regions of Victoria in the very early days. Here the wool industry, which started Australia on the road to wealth, was the main attraction. It provided gainful employment for many bush wanderers.

Before transport improved, or even came into existence, the only way of getting from property to property was by foot and so gallant men set out and walked the many miles to the next job. Along the way they camped where they could and ate off the land. Around their fires at night they told yarns (stories), sang songs and dreamed of home.

Drovers drive their sheep or cattle along the major roads and highways to market or to other grazing properties and to shearing sheds, either on their own property or to team up with others. The familiar term for the verge beside the road along which they travel is called the 'long paddock'. During drought, such as the ten years of little rainfall which we are currently experiencing, the livestock are being moved around a great deal chasing whatever bit of greenery or water they can find.

Men are often recruited to help with these drives and to work on properties where they are labeled 'jackeroos, mainly because they are 'on the hop' so to speak. Now we also have 'jillaroos', their female counterparts. But now too we rarely see swagmen although there is one guy who has been walking with a swag for years. He does not buy food or anything much as he eats from the side of the road. He just trudges along day after day and has become somewhat of an icon to all who see or know of him.

This work is called hard "yakka", as we say in Australia. The men who did the job of shearing would have to travel hundreds of miles in a season to get work. So off they went with their backpack, or matildas as they were called. Camping here and there by rivers and ponds, called billabongs, they would boil up their billy and often pick off a lamb or two for dinner.

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

Down came a jumbuck to drink at the 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."

Up rode a squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred;
Down came the troopers, one, two, three:
"Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.
Who's that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker-bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!"

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!
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 fact that the swaggie is a loved icon in Australian folk lore coupled with his rebellious nature for another's property sets the scene. We are a country that allows the little guy his place in the scheme of things and we often barrack for the underdog. That's what this story represents. Genuine Australians never sought to be rich but to get by and that often meant working jolly hard for every cent made. We are also basically an honest lot and until a few years ago it was more unusual to lock your front door than to leave it open when you went out.

My mother used to leave the key in the door day and night and if she took it out she left the backdoor unlocked and we could always get into the house, as could anyone else who had a mind. But the rich were a race apart. They lauded over those who had less and drove around in their fancy cars and lived in their big houses and there was an air of arrogance about many of them that Australians don't like. We don't express pride in possessions as they do, we don't laud over others, as they tend to do, and we certainly don't rob anyone. So when someone gets away with escaping the law because he takes from a rich guy the country applauds it as long as no one is hurt.

One of our most notorious criminals was a highway robber named Ned Kelly (1885 - 1888). He did everything, including wearing a hood of iron to shield his face from the law. His luck ran out when he shot three policemen and fought a fierce gun battle at a place called Glenrowan. He was arrested and tried. Sentenced to hang a death mask of his face was made and is still an icon in the history of Australia. Even today he is some kind of a national hero and yet he was a young man who probably had no intention of doing anyone any good. But, like the swaggie who stole the sheep he was the underdog.






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That's what Australian's love about Waltzing Matilda.

Australians love their icons, We have many we savor and let no one insult them. You can run down our politicians, call us names, degrade our way of life but don't ever think of touching, hurting or insulting our icons.

The Australian Government Foreign Affairs Dept has posted the following information about our national icons:-
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"There is no absolute agreement on what constitutes a national icon-that elusive 'thing' or concept that is regarded as quintessentially Australian or instantly recognisable as uniquely Australian.

However, one thing is certain: stocktakes of popular Australiana are not limited to the great or the pompous and, in that sense, they reflect the innate irreverence and individualism of many Australians. What other country, for example, would include in its Olympic Games opening ceremony a sequence that commemorates mountain horsemen, a colonial fugitive and a humble backyard lawnmower, as Sydney did for the 2000 Olympics.

Most Australians would include on their lists of national icons natural wonders such as the Northern Territory's huge monolith, Uluru, man-made architectural marvels like the Sydney Opera House and the country's unique kangaroos and koalas. But their lists would be just as likely to include a cricketer named Don Bradman, a mighty racehorse called Phar Lap, a bushranger (outlaw) named Ned Kelly and a hat called Akubra, as well as the Aussie meat pie, vegemite, and a sponge cake square dipped in chocolate and coconut called a lamington."

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Browse this company's Australiana range and wear an Aussie T-Shirt to show your pride in our great country. Send overseas as a gift or grab a true blue Aussie souvenir of an Australian holiday!

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