Waltzing Matilda: A Song History

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Banjo Paterson wrote the words of "Waltzing Matilda" in 1895 while visiting a sheep station in Queensland, and the song is prized for its bush slang and its story of a swagman.[1] The station was Dagworth, managed by Robert Macpherson, whose sister Christina supplied the melody.[2] She played it by ear from her memory of a brass band at the Warrnambool races, and the State Library of Queensland traces it, loosely, to a band setting of the Celtic melody "Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielea."[3] Sources differ on that link: the Traditional Ballad Index editor doubts that one hearing could explain her tune and regards its origin as not entirely settled.[2] The title is thought to describe a swagman on foot with his swag, the bundle he carried on his back.[1]

Old stereo photograph of a river punt crossing among gum trees in the Australian bush

Unknown photographer, Golbourn Punt at Seymour, Australia, albumen silver prints, 1860s. A river punt at Seymour in the colony of Victoria, photographed in the 1860s, shown for the Australian bush of the song; the photograph has no connection to the song.

In 1903 the Sydney firm James Inglis & Co., maker of Billy Tea, issued sheet music with the melody arranged by Marie Cowan; the sheet-music version became the standard one, although the Traditional Ballad Index editor points out that the 1903 printing is not identical in every detail to the version that became standard.[2] The State Library of Queensland describes this first published edition as largely a promotion for the firm's tea.[3] Paterson's own original text appeared among his poems in Saltbush Bill, J.P., and Other Verses in 1917, and in the early 1950s John Manifold obtained a livelier "Queensland" melody for the words that departs considerably from Cowan's.[2] The song was not recorded until some thirty years after it was written, and it was Peter Dawson's 1938 recording, built on an arrangement by Thomas Wood, that turned it into a hit; Tex Morton and Josh White were among those who recorded it in the 1940s.[4]

In the 1977 national song poll, "Waltzing Matilda" came second with about 28 percent of first-preference votes, and "Advance Australia Fair" became the national song.[5] It is nonetheless often regarded as Australia's unofficial national anthem.[1] Maureen Sellers arranges it with melody and harmony parts in Simply Duets, a Fingers Of Steel collection of older songs set as mountain dulcimer duets in DAD tuning.[6]

Our book that contains the song "Waltzing Matilda"

Sources

  1. Encyclopaedia Britannica: "Waltzing Matilda".
  2. The Traditional Ballad Index: "Waltzing Matilda".
  3. State Library of Queensland: "Waltzing Matilda/Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigielea".
  4. National Film and Sound Archive of Australia: "Waltzing Matilda".
  5. Australian Electoral Commission: "National Song Poll".
  6. Fingers Of Steel: "Maureen Sellers, Simply Duets".
  7. Image: Unknown photographer, Golbourn Punt at Seymour, Australia, albumen silver prints, 1860s. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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