Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”. Observed on 25 April each year, Anzac Day was originally devised to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who served in the Gallipoli Campaign, their first engagement in the Great War (1914–1918)
With the coming of the Second World War, Anzac Day became a day on which to commemorate the lives of Australians and New Zealanders lost in that war as well and in subsequent wars. The meaning of the day has been further broadened to include those killed in all the military operations in which the countries have been involved. Anzac Day was first commemorated at the Australian War Memorial in 1942, but, due to government orders preventing large public gatherings in case of Japanese air attack, it was a small affair and was neither a march nor a memorial service. Anzac Day has been annually commemorated at the Australian War Memorial ever since. In New Zealand, Anzac Day saw a surge in popularity immediately after World War II. – via Wikipedia
This video, Australian soldiers during WW2 singing ‘Waltzing Matilda’ while marching, is moving, and affected me. It reminded me of the huge contributions these countries and their people made towards sustaining freedom.
I thought I’d share it with all WUWT readers.
Thank you to all who have served, past and present.
Lyrics:
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he watched and waited ’til his billy boiled,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong,
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tuckerbag
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tuckerbag,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
Up rode the squatter mounted on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers – one, two, three,
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
Whose that jolly jumbuck you’ve got in your tuckerbag?
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
Up jumped the swagman, and sprang into the billabong,
You’ll never catch me alive said he,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
Chorus:
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me,
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong,
You’ll come a waltzing Matilda with me.
For us Yanks, some information about the song:
“Waltzing Matilda” is Australia’s best-known bush ballad, and has been described as the country’s “unofficial national anthem”.
The title was Australian slang for travelling on foot (waltzing) with one’s belongings in a “matilda” (swag) slung over one’s back. 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 (ram) to eat. When the jumbuck’s owner, a squatter (landowner), and three 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 original lyrics were written in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, and were first published as sheet music in 1903. Extensive folklore surrounds the song and the process of its creation, to the extent that it has its own museum, the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, in the Queensland outback, where Paterson wrote the lyrics. In 2012, to remind Australians of the song’s significance, Winton organised the inaugural Waltzing Matilda Day to be held on 6 April, the anniversary of its first performance.
The song was first recorded in 1926 as performed by John Collinson and Russell Callow. In 2008, this recording of “Waltzing Matilda” was added to the Sounds of Australia registry in the National Film and Sound Archive which says that there are more recordings of “Waltzing Matilda” than any other Australian song.
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I was born in Christchurch NZ but have lived in Australia for the last 51 years. I very much appreciated this post.
I have tears on my keyboard as i write this.
Thanks.
PS Our Anzac service at Hardys Bay was terrific today. I took 3 wreaths to it to honour our dead on behalf of the various associations I am treasurer of here.
Here in Italy we celebrate 25 April as the “Liberation Day”. Thanks to all allies who died for OUR Freedom.
Sorry to say that young generation tent to forget the great sacrifice other people has done for US.
Thanks to all of you.
I am Australian, but of Italian descent, and none of my relatives fought for Australia in WW1 or WW2. However I deeply appreciate the contribution to world peace made by Australia, Great Britain, the US, and other allies, in those wars.
Anthony,
as an Australian Vietnam veteran I was very moved at your thoughtfulness in putting up this post. I thank you on behalf of all Australians and of all ANZACs, of which I was a member of a later incarnation 4th Battalion RAR/NZ (ANZAC).
Peter, I was in Vietnam at Dian, as an Air Traffic Controller. There was a Squadron of Australian OV-10 Broncos there, and “controlling” them was sometimes an adventure. Vietnam is an example of Australia supporting the USA. Riding co-pilot in an OV-10 with an Australian pilot, which I did many times, was totally different than anything else as they were very direct about engaging the enemy. Great song!
Thank you Anthony, very moving. My father served in WW2 in Singapore and Malaya, then was captured and as a prisoner went to Changi, Thai Burma Railway and Japan. He was one of the lucky ones, rescued by American troops, and returned home to his small town in country NSW. He married my mother and I was born 3 years after the war ended.
Anthony, A great tribute. Luckily I’ve never had to fight in any conflict, but deeply appreciative of all those who have. Once again a great tribute
The uncle I never met would go down with the HMAS Parramatta off Tobruk before his 21st birthday with so many young peers-
http://www.navy.gov.au/hmas-parramatta-ii
Surviving Seaman Harold Moss would write a letter to my grandmother explaining how her son had perished and also included a hand written account of an article in the Western Mail at the time describing the survival of Fred Tysoe which I tracked down here-
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/38422363
My father signing up at 19 would survive the war in the Pacific in khaki after also losing their cousin on the HMAS Sydney-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_between_HMAS_Sydney_and_German_auxiliary_cruiser_Kormoran
War is for the very young while older men command and fret for them.
Lest we forget.
I had the uncommon good fortune in my younger years, to know two gentlemen who had served in both world wars. One Ausrralian, the other Kiwi. There is no other conclusion to be reached other than that they KNEW what they were fighting for, and against. There is no other possible explanation for a man going through years on the Western Front, and putting his hand up for round two.
My great uncle is still “somewhere in the Dardanelles”. His name is on the New Zealand memorial there. Another came back from Gallipoli, shell-shocked, yet two other brothers returned apparently emotionally healthy.
I once asked my father – a WW2 New Guinea veteran – what was going through his mind when he signed up. “There was something bad coming, and it wasn’t going to be stopped by staying at home”.
I found wish that our current generation knew both how good we have it, and how easily it could vanish, if we let it.
Anthony….. thank you for remembering us on this day. There are worse friends to have than America.
Hi Peter,
I was too young to ask my Grandpa why he enlisted in the Royal South Australian Regiment 1939 before he passed away, but I did ask my Pa who enlisted in the RAAF in 1941 why and his simple reply was; ‘to protect the women’.
A comment on the motivation of Australians to join what some modern commentators want to call a “European War”.
Australians of that time were accustomed to living in a world divided into empires, few of which were as benign as the British Empire. The heaviest concentrations of artillery in the Southern Hemisphere guarded the entrances to Melbourne’s and Sydney’s harbours. We had recently gained our independence as a sovereign nation , and the public literature is very clear on how important that was in the public mind, so any threat to that independence was taken seriously.
That should not be confused with isolationism. We saw ourselves as part of an international “family”, and in a functional family, the responsible adults see it is their duty to support other family members under threat.
Participation in world events, as a nation and by choice, was seen as proof of our maturity as a nation.
I’ll be attending the annual ANZAC day service today in Weymouth, on the South coast of England. Weymouth had a hospital used by the ANZACs in WW1.
https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/17584544.honouring-the-anzacs-with-this-memorial-service-on-weymouth-seafront/
Thanks for your video and your touching text. In France, we remember the 295 000 Aussies who fought with their french comrades in the trenches during WWI. More than 60 000 lost their lives here as we can see in the Memorial of Villers-Bretonneux. We remember the Dardanelles in 1915 and the battle of Syria in 1941 with the Free French of De Gaulle against the traitors of the Vichy Army.
We are grateful for your support during these wars.
I was stunned to see this story at the top of the page. I had to blink a few times and then check that I had the right page. I’m amazed by your generosity in posting this for us down under. I understand that some of my fellow New Zealanders and our cousin Australians were great hosts during your visits here a while ago, and perhaps you gleaned from them something of what Anzac Day means to us?
Our family has only just in the past year found out that we lost a cousin of my grandfather just before Passchendaele in 1917. Even though 19 year old Graham only lived about 120 miles from my grandfather, the two families had lost contact with each other. Communication was not like it is now, nor was personal travel. It heightens one’s sense of loss that war can bring when even a distant family member is a casualty. Graham was the only son, so that line of our family did not continue as such. We are tracking down what happened to Graham’s sister, so hopefully we do have new cousins elsewhere.
Many thanks for your kind consideration.
I was in Narrogin during the trip. I had a dinner meeting downtown in the evening, and there was an ANZAC tribute pylon in the square. I spent time reading about it, and learning about it. It gave me an entire new appreciation for the sacrifice.
Anthony,
Thanks for the posting. We attended the ANZAC day ceremony in Kumara (NZ) today. My dad an uncle both served in WWII, one in the Navy in the English Channel, the other in the RAF as a bomber pilot. Both came home and raised families. Both knew why they going before they left for the war. Evil needs to be resisted. Neither felt comfortable discussing their experiences. Millions felt the same way, fought the fight, and thank god for that. The world owes them a great debt. We who live in peace and freedom should never forget.
I ran across the following in a book of quotations:
“A soldier doesn’t fight because he hates what’s in front of him, he fights because he loves what’s behind him.”
Thanks for taking the time Anthony. Your article is more comprehensive than a lot in the local media.
Lest we forget.
my grandad didnt make it back from the japanese , I dont celebrate us getting killed for other peoples wars, but that fight was ours,
but i do like the song and it damn well should be the anthem and the southerncross should be our flag,
enjoy the pidgin version of waltzing Matilda
Anthony
The marching song of one of America’s finest divisions, the 1st Marine Division is…Waltzing Matilda. Learnt after they were sent to Melbourne to recuperate from the Guadalcanal Campaign
We had an ANZAC Day parade and service in our local town of Marysville, Victoria. There were greater numbers than ever attending. This is a town in amazing recovery from the firestorm of 2009.
Thank you Anthony.
Thank you Anthony. My relatives fought with the ANZACs in WW1 and WW2.
G’day Yanks !
It is a shame that our politicians have sold Australia out. The diggers died in vain. Australia is being sold off to foreign powers. They died to have Australia sold off to foreign interests who will not treat us very well once we have been substantially sold off. For heavens sake, China have bought Darwin’s port and they have airfield capacity already. They have a secure beachhead for when they want to just take the rest.
As for those treasonous politicians-those traitors, remember the most enduring lesson of history-throughout history, the first to the wall are ALWAYS those that betrayed their people. ALWAYS. The new regime will not want to be associated with such low scum, besides, they will not want to pay out on their promises. Easier and cheaper to pay out in lead. Second reason-once the useful idiots realise they have been used-like toilet paper, they will turn on the new regime. Too late-they have been executed. Third reason- those that have been betrayed will at least get some consolation and be put on side when the traitors get their just deserts. The more treacherous they have been, the more grisly the demise the throng will demand. With the breakdown of society, the thin veneer of civility and misguided tolerance (tolerance = submission. Submission=slavery) breaks down and the innate savagery of humans that has been suppressed for decades will be unleashed.
For our treasonous politicians that have been selling what is technically the domain of Her Majesty. This is an offence against the Monarch-High Treason. Look back through history to what happens to those guilty of High Treason. Your treachery is worse than any seen in human history. Look back at say what happened to Guy Fawkes for what such traitors can expect. Remember, once society collapses, all bets are off on the civility that has been shoved down our throats – the beast in us all will be unleashed.
Hopefully Clive Palmer gets a substantial share of the votes come election time-even with the debacles that have plagued him politically, many Australians secretly resent political correctness and its hatred of our own culture and Sovereignty.
Myself, I am voting for the most politically incorrect candidates- One Nation, Fraser Anning, Conservatives and the last few dinky-di Liberals (Jim Molan, Concetta Feranti-Wells, Craig Kelly, Tony Abbott, Angus Taylor-more complete list to come from my contacts in the Liberal Party.) Queenslanders MUST vote for Malcolm Roberts, probably the best Senator Australia has seen in decades. They smear those they fear. We go back many years-back to the Carbon Tax rallies. The Greens and the CSIRO will need plenty of brown knickers when they have to endure 6 years of relentless pressure from Malcolm. If anyone can make the propaganda campaign of catastrophic anthropogenic global warming/ “climate change” come unstuck, it is Malcolm Roberts.
Thanks for posting.
I had the pleasure of attending the dawn service this morning at Port Elliott in South Australia.
New Zealand National anthem in Maori and English followed by Australia’s national anthem.
I was surprised by the number of people young and old who were there. All with some connection. My grandfather served in France in WW1. His brother was killed in front of him. Dad served in RAAF in WW2 in Northern Australia and Torres Strait.
Thanks Norm, Archie and Uncle George who never came home.
Thanks Anthony.
I am in the middle of reading “The fatal shore” by Robert Hughes about the British transportation policy which kicked off the initial history (white) of Australia. An horrific read on the attitudes and mores of the time; so unacceptable these days.
I suggest the Walzing Matilda song has far deeper connotations to that you describe and goes back to those terrible times. My interpretation goes something like this; but may well be wrong:
The swagman was a Bushman being an escaped convict now living in the bush by marauding on small local farmers, sheep (jumbuck) stealing, cattle rustling and the hunting of kangaroos etc. His ilk being a severe problem fo the authorities particularly as they had a degree of sympathy and support from the largely convict community prevailing at the time.
The waltzing matilda refers to the hangman’s noose which was the legal sentence for his activities.
The Squatter probably referred to a small farmer, an ex- convict who had served his time and had been given a parcel of land for cultivation. The troopers of course were a small detachment of the army charged with dealing with the problem, being very thin on the ground and not very effective generally.
Hence the leap into the billabong to avoid waltzing with matilda. Probably very wise judging by the sort of treatment given to the convicts in those days. – 300 hundred lashes for relatively minor offences at the whim of a purported magistrate.
It is not therefore surprising that this song raises deep subconscious feelings for the Australians when they think of what some of their ancestors suffered and of the family tales past down on the resilience shown.
The interpretation that Waltzing Matilda was based on conflict between squatters and shearers (who included itinerant swagmen) of the 1890s is far more credible. Squatter was the term for the big pastoral land-owners, the small farmers were called selectors. The troopers were police not army. None of the theories about Waltzing Matilda include convicts. Transportation ended in eastern Australia by 1850 – and there had only been two convict ships to Sydney in the previous decade – so the few remaining convicts would have been getting on a bit when Banjo Paterson wrote the song in Queensland in 1895.
The most accepted version is as follows:
“In Queensland in 1891 the Great Shearers’ Strike brought the colony close to civil war and was broken only after the Premier of Queensland, Samuel Griffith, called in the military. In September 1894, some shearers at Dagworth Station were again on strike. The situation turned violent with the striking shearers firing their rifles and pistols in the air and setting fire to the woolshed at Dagworth, killing dozens of sheep. The owner of Dagworth Station and three policemen gave chase to a man named Samuel Hoffmeister, a German immigrant also known as “Frenchy”. Rather than be captured, Hoffmeister shot and killed himself at the Combo Waterhole.
Bob Macpherson (the brother of Christina) and Paterson are said to have taken rides together at Dagworth. Here they would probably have passed the Combo Waterhole, where Macpherson is purported to have told this story to Paterson. Although not remaining in close contact, Paterson and Christina Macpherson both maintained this version of events until their deaths. Amongst Macpherson’s belongings, found after her death in 1936, was an unopened letter to a music researcher that read “… one day I played (from ear) a tune, which I had heard played by a band at the Races in Warrnambool … he [Paterson] then said he thought he could write some words to it. He then and there wrote the first verse. We tried it and thought it went well, so he then wrote the other verses.” Similarly, in the early 1930s on ABC radio Paterson said “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.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waltzing_Matilda
I think we should take Paterson’s word for the origin.
This version of the origins of WM closely matches my family history, where my great grandfather owned the Imperial Hotel in Winton, which town was the watering-hole for many of the players in the shearers’ strike that gave rise to the “swagman” drowning in the billabong.
Great-grandfather was also the acting Agent for the Shearers’ Union, and supported the striking shearers with supplies of food and staples.
My grandfather maintained that he could remember as a child the song “Waltzing Matilda” being sung in his father’s hotel at Winton.
I have had the honor to stand a pay my respects at the ANZAC Memorial in Brisbane. Thank you for your service.
Huzzah, Diggers! Never forget many of us up north will always honor your sacrifices!
And no, I could not watch the vid all the way through. Two songs make me cry, Waltzing Matilda and The Campbells Are Coming. You ain’t much of a soldier if you can stand dry eyed through either.