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by Robert Raymond
As our Nation is about to turn 100 years of age, we are
entering a vortex of self-examination. Australians are inevitably
curious as to who we are becoming and where we are going.
To know we are, and will be alright because we have the 'right
stuff'. Throughout our short history, moments occurred when
the essential qualities of our "Australianess" were revealed,
unique qualities that make us tremendously proud of who we
are. The existence of Waltzing Matilda, the song, is a contributor
to that sense of freedom and well being.
The emotional magic of Waltzing Matilda somehow tells us
this simple truth, and has united us spiritually during those
times of challenge and hardship. At this very special moment
(approaching a new century), as we look forward and look back
at the same time, Australians can consider our future whilst
remembering our past.
The 2001 Centenary celebrations offer a chance to reinforce
a lasting and positive self-image of ourselves. It seems that
whenever and wherever Australians gather to celebrate, Waltzing
Matilda is there. Waltzing Matilda has marched Australians
into battle and marched them home again; has celebrated every
sporting victory; echoed around the school room walls, and
walked prime ministers into office. It is sung at funerals
and occasions of major memorials, whenever and wherever Australians
gather to share their unique spirit. It has always been there.
One cannot remember ever having learnt the song, but we all
know it and can always sing along.
Now, many years after 'Advance Australia Fair' became Australia's
National Anthem through referendum, a great percentage of
Australians haven't got a clue as to the words in the second
verse of that song, or much less care either. Only one person
in one hundred would know the words for the second verse,
but ask them to sing Waltzing Matilda, and you will usually
get the whole song, word perfect. When the referendum was
held in the 1970's to select our National Anthem, 'Advance
Australia Fair' was chosen ahead of Waltzing Matilda. Very
few Australians have any idea when or why Waltzing Matilda
was written or, for that matter, what it meant. One can only
wonder what the decision would be today, if that same referendum
was held again.
Waltzing Matilda remains youthful - a song of freedom, and
above all 'a fair go'. It invokes feelings of national pride;
children love it; older people love it; people all around
the world love it because they know it is uniquely Australian
- a working-class song that promotes the little bit of larrikin
in us all.
On the surface, Waltzing Matilda can sometimes seem to be
a straightforward and 'jolly' song, certainly when listening
to the popular version. However, the version we know today
was re-arranged by Marie Cowan in 1903 for a 'Billy Tea' commercial
(some eight years after Paterson wrote the original song).
During January of 1895, Banjo Paterson was visiting Winton
in Western Queensland with his fiancˇe Sarah Riley. Sarah,
after meeting her old school friend, Christina MacPherson,
was invited to Dagworth Station where only months earlier,
the shearing shed had been burnt down by striking union shearers
at the end of the great Shearers Strike of 1894.
Whilst riding around the station with Robert MacPherson,
Paterson was told of the union shearer Samuel Hoffmeister,
who was found dead at a waterhole near Kynuna, 30 miles from
Dagworth. Hoffmeister, the leader of the union gang that torched
the Dagworth shed, was believed to have taken his own life
rather than be taken by the police. His body was picked up
by MacPherson (the squatter) and three policemen (troopers).
During the same visit, Christina MacPherson played an old
Scottish tune, Craiglee, which she had heard played at the
Warrnambool races earlier that year. It is said that the tune
'awoke the Scot' in Paterson and he supplied some words to
keep it alive. Not only did Paterson take a liking to the
tune; he also took a liking to the young and attractive Christina.
Their subsequent relationship was enough for Sarah to break
off her engagement of eight years to Banjo Paterson.
So there, in remote Western Queensland, amidst the background
of Australia's most volatile union strikes, the death of a
swagman, lovely music, soirees and an emotional affair, AustraliaÕs
greatest-ever folk song was written.
One can only wonder how A.B. (Banjo) Paterson would have
felt to hear 107,000 rugby fans singing his song, knowing
his elusive swagman has still 'not been taken alive', but
is now deeply etched into the Australian psyche.
It is fitting really, that this unique Australian should
leave us with such a great national song. Although Paterson
studied to be a solicitor at Sydney University, he began his
education riding a horse to a bush school. After studying
in Sydney, he 'went bush' again, gathering material for his
poetry and collection of bush songs. In the 1890's, Paterson
had virtually become a household name, having published 'Clancy
of the Overflow' and 'The Man from Snowy River' in The Bulletin.
In 1899, four years after writing Waltzing Matilda, he went
to the Boer War. Paterson again enlisted in 1914 for the First
World War, and was awarded the Bronze Star, Silver British
War Medal and Bronze Victory Medal.
But for all of this, Banjo was never really seeking approval
from anyone other than those he really respected - the Monaro
horsemen. These men taught him to ride and sing. As a boy,
Paterson had heard the bush ballads and possibly sung the
treason songs in hushed tones behind closed doors. His ethos
was that of the bushman - the fundamentally national ethos
shaped over generations by convict and bushranger, squatter
and shearer alike.
This curious trait of freedom in our national culture can
be traced back to the convict gangs and ticket-of-leave men
who worked out their own kind of internal rules after gang
overseers, floggers and even police were recruited from their
ranks. They were hard men - made so by the system that chained
them. Waltzing Matilda somehow captures that struggle for
freedom.
Banjo understood their undeniable resentment for authority
and a willingness never to be 'taken alive' - national characteristics
that resurfaced again in the 20th Century from the mud-soaked
trenches of the Western Front to the charges at Beersheba
on thirsty horses, or the young 39th Battalion that confronted
the Japanese at Kokoda. There was always a defiance to fight,
but never a hint of surrender. We, as Australians, can approach
the new millennium with confidence, knowing that these characteristics
of our unique culture will surface again.
The spirit of endurance in Waltzing Matilda carries with
it, confirmation that the fabric of our character is fundamentally
intact as we enter a new century.
Robert Raymond, stoked surfer, and partner Dennis O'Keeffe
are currently producing the forthcoming epic Australian film
- 'Waltzing Matilda'.
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