Raising a proud little Aussie

We start ém young!

Some would say you are considered a true Aussie if you cant remember the words to the national anthem!

(and we are not like America in drilling kids with states and presidents!)

I want little Koala to think of Australia in more ways than a big party on 26th January every year!


I have started with Waltzing Matilda!!       (Many would say this should be our national anthem.)

Ali Mills  Waltzing Matilda Territory style  A must hear!
Koala is enjoying this version over any other we have heard. He loves the "baaa" bits.


Andre' Rieu Waltzing Matilda We like this one because the Aussies in the audience sing along!






This is John Williamson singing Waltzing matilda

Oh there once was a swagman camped in a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree
And he sang as he looked at his old billy boiling
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me

Chorus
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda my darling
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
Waltzing Matilda and leading a water bag
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
Down came a jumbuck to drink at the water hole
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee
And he sang as he stowed him away in his tucker bag
You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me

Down came the squatter a riding on his thoroughbred
Down came the troopers one two three
Whose is that jumbuck you've got in the tucker bag
You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me

But the swagman he up and he jumped into the water hole
Drowning himself by the coolibah tree
And his ghost may be heard as it sings in the billabong
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me

swagman: an intinerant farmhand, carrying his "swag" (his blankets) rolled into a cylinder billabong: a creek (normally with a pronounced "oxbow" bend) coolibah tree: a eucalypt (gum) tree ) waited till his billy boiled: a billy is a tin can used to heat water over a campfire to make tea jumbuck: sheep tucker-bag: bag or box used to store food squatter: farmer/grazier who simply found good land and took possession; some became extremely rich trooper: policeman or soldier on horseback

Not to be confused with the war song- and The band played Waltzing Matilda.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda  is a song written by Scottish-born singer-songwriter Eric Bogle in 1971  The song describes war as futile and gruesome, while criticising those who seek to glorify it. This is exemplified in the song by the account of a young Australian soldier who is maimed at the Battle of Gallipoli during the First World War.

The song incorporates the melody and a few lines of lyrics of Waltzing Matilda.

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli
How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again
Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me
So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away
And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all
Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?





Slim Dusty  Singing and the band played Waltzing Matilda



John Williamson singing and the band played Waltzing Matlida


Perfect youtube for brother Kangaroo to watch before ANZAC day.




These will be our special interest for March and April.

March- Listening to the Waltzing Matilda song, learning the words, learning the story behind the song http://www.nla.gov.au/epubs/waltzingmatilda/

reading related books, related craft

April -Looking at "The band played Waltzing Matilda" youtube for war photos, age appropriate story books about ANZAC day, looking at inherited war medals and attending the local ANZAC day march and ceremony.








I will be adding other Aussie bits and pieces as we go.