When Banjo Paterson and his fiancée’s old school friend Christina Macpherson sat down in the living room of Dagworth Station, near Winton (North Queensland), who would have thought that there and then, January 1895, they would pen down the most memorable and recognizable of all Australian songs? By her own account, Christina was a poor musician, merely using a tune she remembered hearing at the races in Warnambool (Vic). Banjo however, named after one of his father’s favourite horses, was a young solicitor and poet who loved the bush, horse-riding and storytelling . On one of the rides around Dagworth Station he had come across the remains of a shearing shed burned in protest after a wage agreement proposed by Queensland squatters. One of the shearers who had taken part in the disturbance, a swagman with the name of ‘Frenchy’ Hoffmeister had been found dead at a nearby camp. In Banjo’s poetic mind, this occurrence was combined with the story of an earlier suicide by drowning of a ‘swaggie’ at Combo waterhole between Dagworth Station and the town of Kynuna, and thus found its way into the narrative of Waltzing Matilda. The famous first two words of the chorus refer to itinerant (waltzing) workers, carrying their bag or swag (Matilda) over the shoulders, a term that originated somewhere in central Europe and found its way into the Australian vernacular, immortalized by Banjo Paterson on that hot day in January 1895.
Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
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 sat and waited by the billabong
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.
Down came a jumbuck to drink beside the billabong
Up jumped the swagman and seized him with glee
And he sang as he tucked jumbuck in his tuckerbag
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda…
Down came the stockman, riding on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three.
“Where’s the jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me
Waltzing matilda, waltzing matilda…
Up jumped the swagman and plunged into the billabong,
“You’ll never catch me alive,” cried he
And his ghost may be heard as you ride beside the billabong,
You’ll come a waltzing matilda with me.
Authentic Australian Version, credited to A.B. (Banjo) Paterson
- Billabong: A waterhole.
- Billy: A can or small kettle used to boil water for tea.
- Coolabah tree: A type of native tree in Australia
- Jumbuck: A sheep. There are 20 times as many sheep as there are people in Australia.
- Matilda: Although there are several schools of thought, Matilda as originally used is of Teutonic origins and means Mighty Battle Maiden, referring to the women in camps during the Thirty Year Wars in Europe. Later this more commonly referred to the great army coats or blankets that soldiers rolled into a swag and tossed over their shoulders while marching.
- Squatter: At one time, squatters claimed (seized) land for themselves in addition to land that they had been granted. Eventually through the continuous occupation of the land, their claims were legitimised in the eyes of the law.
- Swagman: Someone who lives on the open road. A hobo. The term came from the canvas bag that they would carry their bedroll and/or belongings in.
- Trooper: In Australia’s early days, there was no police force. The colony was protected by and policed by soldiers and even when a police force was eventually formed, they were still referred to as ‘troopers’.
- Tucker bag: A knapsack or bag for storing food in the bush.
