National Library of Australia - Gateways

ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 62 | April 2003


Waltzing Matilda Sings Online!

Homepage of Waltzing Matilda Sings Online

www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda

 

During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, one of the National Library’s most frequently asked questions was ‘why wasn’t Waltzing Matilda played every time the Australian flag was raised?’. Similarly, during the Treasures from the World’s Great Libraries exhibition, the recording of a traditional folk singer singing the 1895 version of the song based on the original Christina Macpherson/Banjo Paterson manuscript held by the National Library provoked comment. ‘Why is the manuscript a “treasure”? Why does it differ from the version I know? How and where did the song originate? What do the words mean? Why has a song come to be an Australian icon?’

That a much loved and ubiquitous national song could engender such interest, and indeed provoke so much controversy over time, led the National Library’s music team to undertake some serious investigation amongst the collections for sources of evidence about the song—its origins, its history, meaning and cultural function. What we found was an extraordinarily large and rich range of original source materials, across all kinds of formats, held not only by the National Library of Australia, but also at ScreenSound Australia, the National Archives and in various State libraries, as well as in private hands.

Drawing on this material, the National Library has reproduced online some of the most important primary and secondary sources that have informed the stories, myths and interpretations behind the song. Representing musical manuscripts, printed music, sound recordings, pictures, books, journals, correspondence and ephemera, this new web site, Who’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?, reveals the complex history of the song. The materials have been contextualised and interpreted providing a rich and informative resource for teachers, students, researchers and the general public alike. Visitors to the Library’s web site can access this information at: <www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda>.

The site will enable you to:

The site is intended to be dynamic and growing. It can be added to as more materials are digitised and made available online by respective institutions. If you have special holdings and you believe they should be included on the site contact

Robyn Holmes
Tel: (02) 6262 1529
Email: rholmes@nla.gov.au.

In the meantime, perhaps you can discover why the site is called Who’ll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me?
—Robyn Holmes, Curator of Music

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