<b>Australia Day – 2011</b>

Here in Australia, today is the day we celebrate the birth of our Nation, and we call this day ‘Australia Day’, and it is celebrated each year on the 26th January, today.

This day was deliberately chosen, because it was on that day in 1788 that Captain Arthur Phillip landed at Sydney Cove with the First Fleet, this the start of white settlement in Australia. At the bottom of this Post are links to a five part series on the history that led to the settlement of Australia.

Each year I have Posted on this special day, explaining what it is all about, and why we have it on this specific day. The links to those previous Posts are as follows.

Australia Day 2009

Australia Day 2010

On both of those occasions I have posted a music video, with iconic Australian songs from iconic Australian artists.

Today I’m posting what can perhaps be called the most iconic of all Australian songs, from probably one of the most iconic Australian singers.

Today’s music video is ‘Waltzing Matilda’ from Slim Dusty.

This video was posted to You Tube by orthodoxquaker

Sometimes, a local folk song can ‘seem’ almost indecipherable, and such is the case with this song from Australia, probably the first song that every Australian learns as a child, and one that (absolutely) everybody sings along with whenever the song is started, and one that (absolutely) everybody knows all the lyrics to. However, for those people not of Australian heritage, they listen to the song, and the first thing they say is, “What was that all about?”

Because of that, I’ll add a translation also close to the bottom of this Post.

All across Australia today, in every city, big and small, and every town, Australians will gather to celebrate the day. The featured song will be sung, probably numerous times, there will be barbecues, parties, picnics, and large gatherings of people.

Also, the day is special on many fronts. Today, in ceremonies in hundreds of cities and towns, people who have migrated to Australia will be taking out citizenship, and becoming ‘dinki di’ Aussies.

Also on this day, a small number of Australians will be specifically honoured with special Honours, similar to the English Honours system, only specifically for Australia. The Honours are for service to Australia in many and varied areas. Today, 441 Australian will receive Honours in ‘The Order Of Australia’. There are 4 levels of the Order. 3 Australian will receive the highest Honour, Companion, and bulk of those will be in the Medal in the General Division of The Order of Australia. These Honours are only awarded three times a year, and only around 1,000 Australians will be honoured each year. Thousands are nominated and only one in five are Honoured after the two year checking procedure the Government undertakes.

In 2001, my Mother was awarded with one of these Honours, in her case, the Medal in the General Division of the Order of Australia for decades of service to the Community in the Girl Guiding Movement and in the Queensland Country Womens Association, shown at this link, something that we, her five children, are very proud of.

Also today, the greatest Honour of all is announced, that of Australian of the Year, and this year that prestigious Honour went to humanitarian Simon McKeon, and that article on his honour is shown at this link, which includes a short video of the presentation ceremony. Young Australian of the Year was Jessica Watson, who sailed her yacht solo, around the World. Here at our site, we reported on this astounding feat in the Post shown at this link.

Australia Day is, after ANZAC Day, the most important date on the Australian calendar, one solemn, the other joyous, celebrating what it means to be a true blue Aussie.

So, what is the featured song really all about?

Folk songs are something esoteric to the area where they are well known, and this is the most well known song in all of Australia.

The song is about an itinerant who is tramping around Australia. He’s resting for the night in the bush, waiting for the pot to boil so he can have a cup of tea. By chance, a sheep comes down to drink from the pool near where he is resting. The man steals the sheep, and kills it for the meat. He puts what he hasn’t eaten into the bag he carries with him. The land owner in the area where this pool is comes to the pool with the Police to arrest him for stealing the sheep. Rather than risk arrest and the punishment for this ‘crime’ the man, jumps into the pool and drowns, and his ghost then haunts that pool forever onwards.

Swagman. An itinerant man who tramps around the Country doing odd jobs for farmers. Swagmen have existed, and in many numbers, from the early 1800′s right through almost to the start of the Second World War, and these men were a form of itinerant farm labour mainly, offering their services for an evening meal and a place to sleep, before setting off the following day. Some made this their whole life.

Billabong. Rivers flood often in Australia. Sometimes, meandering rivers will carve a new channel while they are in flood. The old curve of the river, still relatively deep, exists from then on as a small section of water on its own, and this is called a billabong.

Coolibah Tree. This is a tree, native to Australia, one of the hundreds of species that go to make up the Australian Eucalyptus tree, and is also referred to as Coolabah. They are a large tree and provide good shade.

Billy. This is a large can with a handle, and can hold up to 2 pints. They are used for boiling water over an open fire.

Matilda. This is what swagmen called their ‘swag’, the large bag they carried with them, long before the days of back packs. It held all their worldly possessions, and more often than not was the blanket they used to sleep under at night. The term Waltzing Matilda refers to what the men did whilst on the ‘tramp’ they waltzed off with their ‘Matildas’.

Jumbuck. From the early 1800′s Australia became a huge sheep grazing Country, mainly for the wool, and the wool from the Merino sheep was at the time, and for more than a Century and a half the most sought after, best quality wool on Earth. There were literally millions and millions of sheep here in Australia. Some were wild and did not stay with the main flock. A jumbuck was one of these sheep, wilder than most, and this solo sheep came to drink from the same billabong where the swagman was resting.

Tucker Bag. This was a bag that the swagman carried his provisions in, and being on the tramp, that list of provisions was quite slim, mostly Tea, Flour, Salt, and Sugar. The flour was for that Australian ‘delicacy’ Damper, a form of unleavened bread made from flour salt and water, and then baked in the  camp fire. Until you have eaten warm damper with Plum Jam and washed that down with a tin mug of strong black Tea, you’ve not partaken of real Australian ‘tucker’ (food).

Squatter. The land owner for that area. In those early days of Australian settlement, most farmers would move into new areas and just set up farms, be they for crops, or for sheep. They virtually ‘squatted’ on the land, and after setting up, they became established as the land owners. The term Squatter in those days was not used as the derogatory term it is these days.

The melody for this song is an old Marching Song from England and dates back to the 1700′s.

The lyrics were written by one of the two most famous poets from early Australia, in this case Andrew Barton Patterson, the other being Henry Lawson. Patterson was always known by the fond euphemism ‘Banjo’ Patterson.

The song became iconic and at one stage, was even proposed as the National Anthem.

There are numerous wordings for the song, but the one featured from Slim Dusty is by far the most widely known and sung version.

A second version is also shown here today, and this version is being sung by another icon of Australian Music, John Williamson. the melody is similar, as is the wording, but varies a little.

The image at the top of the Post shows the Australian flag. This incorporates the British Union Jack in the top corner, and this shows our English heritage. The large star under the Jack is the 7 pointed Star, those seven points indicating the six States and the seventh point for the two Territories. The star formation at the right is The Southern Cross, which never sets in the Southern Hemisphere, and is the brightest and most visible grouping of stars seen in Australia. In those early days of settlement it was an indicator that sailors were getting closer to ‘home’ here in Australia, and in conjunction with the two stars nearby called The Pointers, (as they direction to The Cross) were used as a form of navigation because using the two groupings of stars, then you can work out true South from that.

I mentioned above the short series I Posted on the early days of Australia’s history, and the links to those Posts are as follows.

Part 1. Australia (Part One) The Genesis

Part 2. Australia (Part Two) Germ Of An Idea

Part 3. Australia (Part Three) Arrival

Part 4. Australia (Part 4) The Early Years

Part5. Australia (Part 5) Young Men In Boats

Tagged: Australia Day, Australian Flag, Australian History, Australian Honours

Posted in: Australia, Public Opinion