Jumbuck. Billy boil. Swagman. Billabong. If these words ring a bell to you, it's because
you might have heard it from a song called Waltzing Matilda.
It's the most recorded Australian song in history and, it's so popular that it
even has its own museum and commemorative day. Also, its lyrics were
once microprinted on Australian passports. And even though it lost to
Advance Australia Fair in a 1977 plebiscite to be Australia's national anthem, many
believed that it does a better job of capturing Australian ideals. So, how can a
song with seemingly obscure lyrics became so ingrained in the national
psyche? What exactly do the lyrics mean? Most importantly, how does the song relate
to the everyday Australian? To understand all this, we have to go back to the year 1891
in the town of Winton in the Queensland outback.
During this time, wool was one of Australia's largest industries. This gave
rise to a demand in sheepshearers -- those responsible for removing wool from
domestic sheep. As the wool industry grew, working conditions also started to
decline and this gave rise to what is now known as the Great Shearers' Strike.
Union workers were trying to fight for fair wages and workers' rights, among
other things. The situation cooled down but intensified again three years later and,
one day, in 1894, some shears set the woolshed at a cattle station on fire, killing
dozens of sheep. The station owner and three policemen chased a man named Samuel
Hoffmeister. But instead of yielding to be captured,
Hoffmeister shot and killed himself in a waterhole in that Diamantina River.
Months after the incident, Banjo Paterson, a solicitor, journalist, and
bush poet, travel around the area and, along the way, spent time with members of
the family who owned Dagworth Station. It was during this time that he wrote the lyrics to
Waltzing Matilda and there's a good chance that it was inspired or
influenced by those recent events. The song narrates the story of a swagman, or
traveling worker, who carries a swag -- a bag of sorts containing his clothes,
cooking implements, and other necessities, packaged in a bedroll. He chanced upon a
jumbuck, or a sheep. The origins of this word likely being an Aboriginal pidgin for
"jump up", which something that most sheep do. He shoves the sheep inside his tuckerbag,
probably for dinner. Tucker is an old British word for food.
He did all these while camped in a billabong -- an isolated watering hole that
is otherwise usually dry. The squatters and troopers -- another term for mounted
police officers -- eventually pursue the man. Squatters were original settlers of
land that wasn't allocated by the government yet during this point in
Australia's history. These squatters eventually became wealthy land owners. In
this story, the squatter seems to be the lawful owner of the jumbuck. Continuing
the narrative, the swagman escaped, declaring, "you'll never catch me alive",
and proceeded to drown himself in the billabong where his ghost continues to
haunt the site. At a high level, it's a tale of an outlaw pursued by authorities and,
instead of facing prosecution, escapes and commits suicide instead. This story can
be a perplexing one to grasp. However to many Australians, the jolly swagman,
traveling from place to place, with minimal possessions and finding work
along the way, is an example of a carefree life, not dragged down by material
possessions. It also speaks of the Australian's inclination to side with
those standing up to authority or its love for the underdog -- a statement that
resonates from stories of Ned Kelly, the Gallipoli campaign, or the Eureka
rebellion. It's also a tale of freedom, with a swagman choosing to die then face
the possibility of being put in prison. As for him, living a life without freedom
is no life at all. So, the next time you happen to be wandering about the Australian
bush, just remember that this is the Jolly swagman's turf. As per the song, he
continues to haunt it while chanting the last line of each verse: you'll come
a-waltzing matilda with me. It's an invitation to live a carefree life -- a life
free from many of our modern mundane responsibilities, enjoying simple
pleasures, such as having a cup of billy tea, and defying authority when it threatens this
freedom.
[Music]