WALTZING MATILDA

A way back, during World War II, when the 1st Marine Division's 5th Marines were fighting in the Pacific, they would be pulled out of the fighting and sent to Australia for rest, training and reorganization to prepare for the next assault.

As a tribute to the friendliness and caring of the Australian people the 5th Marines adopted, as their regimental song, which was a favorite of the Australian people, and still is, "Waltzing Matilda".

Waltzing Matilda was in the beginning a poem composed by Andrew Barton “Banjo” Paterson . It is sometimes considered the second National Anthem of Australia . It was inspired by 19th century labor unrest -- a series of events known as the Shearers' Strike of 1894.

Waltzing Matilda is possibly Australia's best known song. Although it features some strange elements, including archaic slang, it seems to strike a chord with many Australians. When he wrote the words Paterson had no idea how enduring his poem turned ballad would be.

WALTZING MATILDA Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong Under the shade of a collibah-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!”

Definitions of the Australian Slang:

MATILDA: A word of German origin for a rolled up blanket. According to some sources German soldiers used to call women who followed the military camps around “Matilda” – the name had a slight sense of irony because it means “Mighty Female Warrior”. Eventually the name was also applied to the rolled up blankets that the soldiers carried (because like a woman it kept them warm at night). It was later applied to the rolled up blankets or knapsacks in which wandering laborers carried their belongings. The term found its way to Australia through German settlers. It was not widely used in Australia as swag but Paterson allegedly chose it because it had a better rhythm for a song.

WALTZING MATILDA: A term similar to “on the wallaby” meaning traveling the outback with your belongings in a knapsack. It is thought to have come from the German term Auf die Walz gehen, which means to take to the road. In English the term became Waltz. Although the term would have probably sounded quite Germanic to the people at the turn of the 19th century, it has become so well known because the song is now identified as being uniquely Australian.

SWAGMAN:   A swagman is literally a man who carries a swag or a bundle containing belongings. They travel the countryside looking for work as farm laborers, horse breakers or shearers. During times of economic hardship many men took to the roads or went “on the wallaby” looking for any kind of work. When Paterson wrote Waltzing Matilda Australia was going through a drought and depression so swagmen would have been common on the outback tracks. The term swagman is not in such common use anymore; today they would be called “itinerant agricultural laborers”.
In essence they are the same thing, however, most modern swagmen don't travel on foot and don't carry a swag. With his song Paterson helped to create an idealized image of the outback laborer as a worker struggling to survive but hounded by the rich (represented by the squatters) and by authority (the troopers). Paterson admired the freedom and the spirit of the swagman and was said to have been inspired by the story of shearer and swagman “Frenchy” Hoffmeister who died under mysterious circumstances during a shearers strike and by the story of a swagman who drowned. Both happened on or near Dagworth station where he wrote the poem.

COOLIBAH-TREE: A kind of gum tree (Eucalypus coolibah) that grows in the inland areas of New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia. It is a hardy, drought and termite-resistant plant growing 4 to 15 meters tall at adulthood. The feature that made it useful to outback travelers was that its branches spread wide creating lots of shade. The Coolibah tree is an important part of Australian folklore, not only does it feature in Paterson's song but it was also the kind of tree that was inscribed with the word “Dig” by members of the Burke and Wills expedition who buried supplies for the two men. Burke and Wills did not find the supplies and died, the dig tree near Innamincka is now a major tourist attraction.

TROOPER: A mounted policeman. The term could also refer to a cavalry soldier or militiaman, but in Paterson 's published poem he uses the word police. However, the word trooper made a song easier to sing, so in popular versions it stayed. The trooper represent figures of authority closing in on the free-spirited swagman who represents the battler – a worker struggling to survive.

SQUATTER: A term for a wealthy farmer. It originally came from the practice of people pushing out beyond the established boundaries of colonial settlement, occupying land and then claiming certain rights under the vague principle of squatter's rights. Unable to stop this land grab, and the frequent slaughter of Aborigines, the government allowed people to claim designated tracts of land and offered them long-term leases. Many of these farms failed, usually from lack of water sources. Those who did survive were usually larger landowners or those who cut off neighbor's access to water. Eventually any large landholder in Australia was called a squatter. In Waltzing Matilda the squatter is obviously wealthy because Paterson makes a point of saying he is mounted on a “thoroughbred”, a pure-bred horse. Even though his father was a failed squatter, Paterson sympathies were with the itinerant working man.

BILLY: A tin can, of about 2-4 liters, with a handle used for boiling water and making tea on an open fire. At 
Athough there were tin pails made for the purpose, swagmen would often improvise making their billies out of whatever tin can was available. To make the tea each swaggie had their own preferred method. Basically water is boiled and some tea leaves are then thrown in to be boiled for a short time (some throw in a gum leaf as well). The billy was then often spun around overarm to make the leaves settle on the bottom (presumably tea strainers were in short supply in the outback). The name Billy possibly comes from the Scottish word “bally” for a milk pail.

BILLABONG: A waterhole that is replenished after a rain or the old course of a river now cut off from the main flow that reconnects only after a rain. The word comes from the Wiradhuri or Wiradjuri language of the south western New South Wales from Bila meaning “river” and bang meaning “continuing in time or space”.

TUCKER BAG: A bag used for storing food. The work tucker was probably coined from the phrase “to tuck it away”.

JUMBUCK: An archaic word for a sheep rarely used. According to the Macquarie Dictionary it may have originated with an Aboriginal corruption of the words “jump up”, because the sheep tended to jump.
Swagmen would often live off the land on their way from job to job, stealing stock from local farm owners. Most would get away with their jumbuck without being caught.

Submitted by: 

Michael L. Galyean,
President
Central Florida Chapter
1st Marine Division Association
407.740.5097
koolade@earthlink.net