Wool was one of Australia’s largest industries by the 1890s. But as the wool industry grew, so did the number and influence of shearers. By 1890, the Australian Shearers’ Union boasted tens of thousands of members, and at their annual conference in Bourke in 1890, the Union laid down a new rule, which prohibited members from working with non-union workers, such as low-cost Chinese labour. Soon after, shearers at Jondaryan Station on the Darling Downs went on strike over this issue, then at Logan Downs Station, union shearers were outraged when they were asked to sign a contract that would reduce the power of their union. On 5 January 1891 the shearers announced a strike until their demands including continuation of existing rates of pay and the exclusion of low-cost labour were met.

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.”

The strike spread quickly. From February until May, central Queensland was on the brink of civil war. Shearers formed armed camps outside towns and raided shearing sheds, harassing non-union members while thousands of soldiers protected non-unionists and arrested strike leaders.

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.”

It was only when the then Premier of Queensland called in the military that the strike ended. But it wasn’t over yet. At Dagworth Station in 1894 striking shearers turned violent setting fire to the woolshed and killing dozens of sheep. The owner of Dagworth Station and three policemen gave chase to a man named Samuel ‘Frenchy’ Hoffmeister, but rather than be captured, Hoffmeister shot and killed himself at the Combo Waterhole.

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.”

Banjo Patterson wrote the words to Waltzing Matilda while staying at Dagworth Station in 1895. It is said that he would probably have passed the Combo Waterhole where Frenchy committed suicide and that the owners of Dagwood Station, the Macphersons would have undoubtedly shared the story of the violent uprising on their property and the man’s death.

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.”

Waltzing Matilda was first performed in 1895 at the North Gregory Hotel in Winton, Queensland. Finally in the 1930s in an interview with ABC Radio Banjo himself confirmed the origin of Australia’s unofficial National Anthem

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

“The shearers staged a strike and Macpherson’s woolshed at Dagworth was burnt down and a man was picked up dead … Miss Macpherson used to play a little Scottish tune on a zither and I put words to it and called it Waltzing Matilda.”

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.”

Writer Matthew Richardson said in 2010 that Waltzing Matilda was more than likely written, ‘as a carefully worded political allegory to record and comment on the events of the shearers’ strike.”

For many Australians it has become so much more than that.

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.”