Waltzing Matilda

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 87, 21 February 1941, Page 5

Waltzing Matilda

BAN JO PATERSON was one of the most popular poets Australia has produced, and his verse has carried the sights and sounds and scents of Australia, and its ways of life, far and wide. Australian-born and educated, Paterson wrote verse and prose that were racy of the soil. We have nothing in New Zealand like his "Man From Snowy River,’ and "Clancy of the Overflow," or "The Travelling Post Office." They are popular ballads which have become part of the Australian heritage. Some of his ballads are likely to live for a long while and perhaps none is more assured of what is called literary immortality than "Waltzing Matilda,’ that song of the Australian outback, which of recent years has become so popular in and beyond Australia. The story of the song’s composition is worth telling. Paterson was staying in a Queensland sheep station, and one day as he was being driven into Winton, they passed a man Ccarrying a swag. "That's what we call ‘Waltzing Matilda’ in these parts," said Paterson's host, and Paterson was so struck with the phrase that he wrote the verses immediately; his sister wrote the tune; and the song was sung the same night. Dr. Thomas Wood, author of "Cobbers," who is a professional musician, describes it as "a thundering good song," "good enough to be the unofficial national anthem of Australia, as the Border sings ‘ John Peel.’" It is significant that a recent book on Australia by a visitor bears the title "Waltzing Matilda."-(Tribute to Banjo Paterson2YA, February 6). :