The original lyrics were composed in 1895 by Australian poet, Banjo Paterson, to a tune played by Christina Macpherson. When the jumbuck's owner, a squatter ( grazier), and three troopers (mounted policemen) pursue the swagman for theft, he declares 'You'll never catch me alive!' and commits suicide by drowning himself in a nearby billabong ( watering hole), after which his ghost haunts the site. The song narrates the story of an itinerant worker, or ' swagman', making a drink of billy tea at a bush camp and capturing a stray jumbuck (sheep) to eat. The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one's belongings in a 'matilda' ( swag) slung over one's back. It has been described as the country's 'unofficial national anthem'.
' Waltzing Matilda' is a song developed in the Australian style of poetry and folk music called a bush ballad.
