You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me...
I HEARD the wonderful voice of Liam Clancy on the radio the other day, singing, ‘The Band Played Waltzing Matilda’, that tragic song about Suvla Bay and the horrors which occurred early during World War 1 in an all-too-forgotten arena. It samples, in beautiful fashion, a couple of the lines from that iconic Australian poem and folk song, ‘Waltzing Matilda’ the true unofficial Australian National Anthem! (In fact, if you get the opportunity, try listen to the Tom Waits track, ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’, as it, too, wonderfully draws from the Matilda chorus).
I was stuck in thought for a moment about that marvellous, colourful expression, so decided to dig a little deeper.
Native Australians have an expression, ‘to go walkabout’. It refers to a certain time in one’s life, usually a youthful stage, when you just, take off. To explore your surroundings, see over the next hill, or perhaps just find one’s self. Walkabout. And the expression ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is not dissimilar. Waltzing, in Australian slang, refers to travelling on foot, and Matilda is the swag bag slung over one’s back for the journey. What a romantic notion, just taking off, plain and simple, hitting the road, Matilda and me!
However, in this instance, there’s a bit of a twist, and like many an old ballad that went before it, a bit of a tragic ending. Our hero, the swagman, sets up camp along the billabong (watering hole) under the coolibah (eucalyptus tree).
Whilst busy preparing his billy tea, he captures and steals a stray jumbuck (sheep) which he intends to eat. Alas, the local squatter (landowner) and three police hunt him down, but our hero declares he’ll not be taken alive and commits suicide by drowning himself in the billabong. Following which, his ghost now haunts the very site!
Yes, we could easily dismiss the simple tale, not give it a second glance. But it merits a bit more. Him and the only ‘her’ he needed, refused to be separated by the establishment and chose death instead. Chance had dangled hope and fortitude along his way, only for tragedy and ill-luck to intervene. But courage and conviction won out, leaving heart-breaking romance to become the legacy!
Banjo Paterson (1864-1941) may not be revered or remembered as anything resembling Shakespeare, but when he penned these lyrics in 1895, he did leave us a tragic little ‘beauty’. It has since gone on to be the most recorded of any Australian song, and remains the nation’s most celebrated bush-ballad. There is a centre named in its honour in the Queensland outback, and each year the region celebrates ‘Watzing Matilda Day’, on April 6.
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.
Banjo Patterson died as a result of a heart attack on February 6 1941. He is remembered as a poet, journalist, sports writer and author, as well as a father, husband and war hero. He is buried at Northern Suburbs, Sydney.