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Billy TeaJames Inglis, born in Scotland, came to Australia in 1877. Inglis was a journalist, an author of numerous books, a published poet and a politician. Following his appointment as an Indian representative to the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1880–81, James Inglis was able to establish his own company and introduce Australia to Indian tea via the registered trademark, ‘Billy Tea’. To advertise its tea, the company used on its packet an image of a swagman, or ‘swaggie’, boiling his billy. James Inglis’ association of his products with bush balladry led him to acquire the Banjo Paterson poem in 1902 from the publisher Angus and Robertson. Banjo had sold the poem along with ‘a lot of other old junk’ in 1900. Whether there was a formal agreement between Paterson and the publishing firm is doubtful. Inglis, with an eye for advertising opportunities, proposed to sell packets of tea together with free copies of the newly arranged sheet music of ‘Waltzing Matilda’; to this end the company gave Marie Cowan the task of setting the poem to music for use. Marie’s husband, William Cowan, was almost certainly responsible for Marie’s involvement. He was elected a director of James Inglis & Co in 1901 and had a keen interest in music as a performer with the choral societies Sydney Liedertafel and the Philharmonic Society (The Oxford Companion to Australian Music, edited by Warren Bebbington. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 575). Marie herself was an accomplished amateur pianist and singer, said to be fond of Scottish songs. |
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