Coley Down Under: You'll Come A-Waltzing Matilda With Me

Sean and I were talking about something the other day and "Billabong" came up. "Yeah, like the surf company," Sean said. I said, "that's funny I think of 'Waltzing Matlida'." "A waltzing what?" "No way," I say completely stunned. "There is no way you don't know Waltzing Matlida. You know, 'once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong," I sang. He looked at me with a blank face. "Nope don't think I've heard it. What's a billabong?"

That is how this post came to be. Waltzing Matilda is not only my favorite Australian folk song, it has a fascinating history behind it! Of course, Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport and Kookaburra are favorites with the kids but Waltzing Matilda has everything; theft, tea, police standoffs, death by drowning, fun Aussie terms, and more!

So, with a little help from the National Library of Australia (they have a great website with archived collections and more so check it out http://www.nla.gov.au/), here is the story of Waltzing Matilda.

First of all we need a little reminder of how the song goes

Okay, before I get into the terms let me just say that I didn't really understand all of them until I got here. I always thought it was funny that "waltzing" Matilda wasn't even in 3/4 time. Ah, but waltzing doesn't mean dancing. It is a poetic term for the way the hobo hero of the story wanders through the bush.

The song was written by Andrew Barton Paterson, affectionately known as "Banjo" after his favorite horse. Banjo wrote a lot of poems about Australian life but none more popular than the unofficial Australian anthem of Waltzing Matilda. But did you know he also was the writer of "The Man from Snowy River" and "Clancy of the Overflow" which became the basis for one of the most awesome movies ever, "The Man From Snowy River"?

Banjo is on the tenner!

Well, good ol' Banjo was staying with the Macpherson family at Dagsworth Station, near the town of Winton in Queensland. He must have told the poem there because that led Christan Macpherson to adapt a song she had heard by a brass band and put the words to it. They thought that would make a good bush song. They were right.

Plus, how funny is it that the hero of the story dies by drowning in a country that prides itself on its swimming prowess? Heads have been rolling after their poor performance in the last Olympics. They have no time for such nonsense. If you're not first, you're last.

Here are some of the terms used in the song:

Waltzing Matilda: the act of carrying 'swag', a bush man's swag was regarded as his sleeping partner hence his 'Matilda'
Billabong: a small oxbow lake
Coolibah: Type of Gum/Eucalyptus Tree
Swagman: an Australian itinerant worker, a hobo
Billy: an open topped tin can, with a wire carrying handle, used for boiling water for tea
Tucker Bag: bag for food aka tucker/tuck
Jumbuck: sheep
Squatter: Station (ranch) owner NOT someone who occupied a residence illegally

Swag man, not really sure if he's jolly

Coolibah tree

Billy boiling

James Inglis, born in Scotland, moved to Australia in 1877 and was determined to establish his own Indian tea company in Australia. He trademarked 'Billy Tea' and advertised with an image of a swagman boiling his billy. He bought the Banjo Paterson poem along with "a lot of other old junk" in 1900. In 1903, he began giving away free copies of sheet music if you bought the tea. Marie Cowan was hired to 'tweak' it for commercial use and the version we now know was born.

Here are the lyrics for the Marie Cowan version we all know and love:

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