Waltzing Matilda

Bear with me for a bit. I've been on a bit of a gaming binge lately, playing Sid Meier's Civilization VI. One of the nice features of that game is the background music that takes (usually) a folk melody from each of the civilizations in the particular game you're playing and which advances in complexity as your civilization grows. For Australia, that melody is Waltzing Matilda.

As a toddler, I lived in Provo, Utah until age 3. I have vague memories, reinforced by my parent's retelling the story as I grew older, of standing on the front porch of the house we rented and singing Waltzing Matilda over and over. I can't have known much more than the melody and those two words at that age, but I do remember singing it along with the neighbor kids who were my same age.

This is me and the neighbor girls, Valerie and Jackie Bates, standing on the porch where we used to sing Waltzing Matilda.

Wikipedia states:

The original lyrics were composed in 1895 by Australian poet Banjo Paterson, to a tune played by Christina MacPherson based on her memory of Thomas Bulch's march Craigielee, which was in turn based on James Barr's setting for Robert Tannahill's poem "Thou Bonnie Wood o Craigielee". The first published setting of "Waltzing Matilda" was Harry Nathan's on 20 December 1902. Nathan wrote a new variation of Christina MacPherson's melody and changed some of the words.

The lyrics to the song contain a lot of period and Australian specific words that are difficult for current non-Australians to understand. They are as follows:

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 till 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 tucker bag,
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

(Chorus)

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred.
Down came the troopers, one, two, and three.
"Whose is that jumbuck[c] you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

(Chorus)

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."

* Third line of chorus changes to match preceding verse

Here's an explanation of some of the terms:

•  swagman - itinerant worker
• billabong - water hole, often an oxbow lake
• coolibah - kind of eucalyptus tree
• billy - pot for boiling
• jumpbuck - sheep
• squatter - landowner

Wikipedia has a nice explanation of what "Waltizing Matilda" means.

"to waltz Matilda" is to travel with a swag, that is, with all one's belongings on one's back wrapped in a blanket or cloth. The exact origins of the term "Matilda" are disputed; one fanciful derivation states that when swagmen met each other at their gatherings, there were rarely women to dance with. Nonetheless, they enjoyed a dance and so danced with their swags, which was given a woman's name. However, this appears to be influenced by the word "waltz", hence the introduction of dancing. It seems more likely that, as a swagman's only companion, the swag came to be personified as a female.  

In Germany the terms "Waltzing Matilda" have a very specific meaning:

It refers to the tradition where craftsmen, after having completed their apprenticeship, spend 3 years away from their hometown, travelling on minimal budget, working in many places in order to acquire experience and master their craft. See Journeyman Years for a detailed description. In this context, (Walz) or (auf der Walz) refers to this activity. And (Mathilda) is the patron saint of the road, looking after the men (and women), helping them but sometimes dealing harsh lessons.

Hence (Waltzing Matilda) would refer to the activity of a journey man traveling the road, only carrying a simple swag.

 Finally, here is a nice rendition of the song performed by The Wayfarers.