‘Swaggies, tuckerbags and jumbucks’
—what the words mean
For most people, the words of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ embody the
free spirit, resourcefulness and defiance of authority associated with
the Australian national character. The melody is memorable and spirited.
Some scholars and folklorists argue that the song is a political statement
in much the same way as classic children’s nursery rhymes attacked
political figures in earlier centuries. The song is not an explicit attack
on the squatters’ refusal to pay shearers higher wages. However,
it has been argued that the plot of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ is
based on the conflict that raged between these two groups in the 1890s
before the song was composed.
When Allan and Co. published the Marie Cowan version of ‘Waltzing
Matilda’ in 1936, they felt it necessary to print a Glossary Of
Australian Terms to explain the ‘dialect’ used by Paterson
(view
image).
WALTZING MATILDA The act of carrying the ‘swag’ (an
alternate colloquial term is ‘humping the bluey’).
Matilda is an old Teutonic female name meaning ‘mighty battle maid’.
This may have informed the use of ‘Matilda’ as a slang term
to mean a de facto wife who accompanied a wanderer. In the Australian
bush a man’s swag was regarded as a kind of de facto wife, hence
his ‘Matilda’. (Letter to Rt. Hon. Sir Winston Churchill,
KG from Harry Hastings Pearce, 19 February 1958. Harry Pearce Papers,
NLA Manuscript Collection, MS2765)
BILLABONG A blind channel or meander leading out from a river.
COOLIBAH Sometimes spelled coolabah: a species of gum or eucalyptus
tree.
SWAGMAN An Australian tramp, so called on account of the ‘swag’,
usually a chaff bag, containing his ‘billy’, provisions and
blankets.
BILLY An open topped tin can, with a wire carrying handle, used
as a kettle for boiling water into which tea was thrown.
TUCKER BAG A bag for ‘tucker’ or food; part of the
‘swag’.
JUMBUCK A sheep. The term is a corruption of ‘jump up’
(Macquarie Dictionary, 3rd rev. ed. Sydney: Macquarie,
2001)
SQUATTER A grazier, or station (ranch) owner. Note that the meaning
of the word changed later in the twentieth century to mean a person who
occupied or resided at a property illegally.
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