Waltzing Matilda
(Carrying a Swag)
Waltzing Matilda - meaning Summary
Outlaw Song of Wandering
This ballad tells a compact story of a wandering swagman who camps beside a billabong, steals a sheep, and is pursued by the squatter and police. Rather than submit, he drowns himself and his ghost is said to haunt the tree, still inviting companions. The tone mixes jaunty folk-song refrains with dark consequences, capturing themes of itinerancy, class conflict, and outlaw defiance in a simple narrative form.
Read Complete AnalysesOh! there once was a swagman camped in the Billabong, Under the shade of a Coolabah tree; And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling, “Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.” Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda, my darling, Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? Waltzing Matilda and leading a water-bag– Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me? Down came a jumbuck to drink at the water-hole, Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him in glee; And he sang as he put him away in his tucker-bag, “You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!” Down came the Squatter a-riding his thorough-bred; Down came Policemen–one, two, and three. “Whose is the jumbuck you’ve got in the tucker-bag? You’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me.” But the swagman, he up and he jumped in the water-hole, Drowning himself by the Coolabah tree; And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the Billabong, “Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?”
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