"Waltzing Matilda," while not Australia's official national anthem (that would be "Advance Australia Fair," which it seems no one knows nor likes), is the one that every Australian knows and loves. It is, I was told, the type that makes everyone just a little bit teary and the sort any Australian would join in and sing wholeheartedly in a pub overseas.
It was written by the famous Australian bush poet Banjo Paterson, who's known for funny rhyming poems as well as "The Man from Snowy River" about, we think, an expensive horse that got away.
"Matilda" is even more ambiguous. It's definitely about a homeless man and a sheep and his run-in with some cops that results in his suicide, but what precisely a "matilda" is is a bit unclear. What is certain is that it is not, as I had woefully assume for the first 27 years of life, a woman, much less a dancing one. The first Australian I discussed this with assured me it was like a knapsack of sorts, while the second Australian answered "a kangaroo!" without a moment of hesitation, though later amended the answer to "possibly a sheep."
I'm now highly intrigued to see what other possibilities Australians have in mind as to the nature of the beloved Matilda. I'll be sure to let you know when I find out.
And one more thing while we're on the subject of Australian bush poets: Henry Lawson is another. No clue what he wrote though. Sorry.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Advance Australia Fair is crap, Waltzing Matilda all the wayyy. A Matilda is kind of a bag, yeah. 'waltzing matilda' pretty much means travelling on foot with all your stuff rolled up in your swag/blanket on your back.
Close Amie. Waltzing Matilda refers to carrying your swag in front of you, with your arms wrapped around it as if dancing with it.
A 'Matilda' is the swag (bundle of cloth containing worldly goods needed by a craftsman / itinerant worker travelling on foot) that a swagman would carry as they travelled. The name derives from the common (during the 1800s) German female name "Mathilda" which was given to the swag as a way of personifying this thing that one carries around (like people name their cars, I guess). A lot of the early swagmen were German immigrants.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltzing_Matilda
Post a Comment