(b) The 1901 newspaper version
A Popular Bush Song
"A bush poem entitled "Waltzing Matilda" is all the rage here just now,
says the "N.Q. Herald." and some clever fellow has managed to fit the
quaint trifle with an exceedingly catchy air. "Waltzing Matilda," it may
be explained for the benefit of the uninitiated means the same thing as
"Humping Bluey," otherwise carrying a swag, and jumbuck, as most people
are aware, means in blackfellow's lingo a sheep. The music of the song
has not been printed yet, but that omission will be rectified shortly."
Waltzing Matilda
Oh there once was a swagman camped on a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he watched his old billy boiling
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me
Chorus
Waltzing Matilda, Matilda, my darling
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched his old billy boiling
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the waterhole
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me
Down came the squatter a riding a thoroughbred
Down came the troopers one two and three
Whose is that jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me
Up jumped the swagman, sprang into the waterhole
Drowning himself 'neath the coolibah tree
And his ghost may be heard as it sings through the billabong
You'll come a-waltzing, Matilda, with me
A Song by Banjo Paterson©Banjo Paterson 1895
Australia's real national anthem.This is probably the first published version of the song six years after it was written by Paterson who set it to the tune as seen above. It was published in the Queensland regional newspaper The Capricornian of Saturday 14 December 1901 p. 8. The newspaper version is remarkably similar to the original manuscript while the promise to publish the music seems never to have occurred. The report shows how the song is regarded as a "quaint trifle" at the time although the tune was considered "exceedingly catchy". The next published version of the song seems to have been the Marie Cowan 1903 sheet music with a different tune and and changed words. In neither version is Banjo Paterson credited.
In the early 1930s on ABC radio Paterson explained the provenance of the song "The shearers staged a strike and Macpherson's woolshed at Dagworth was burnt down and a man was picked up dead ... Miss Macpherson used to play a little Scottish tune on a zither and I put words to it and called it "Waltzing Matilda"